Olive Kitteridge

This book has been om my "list" for A LONG time. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2009, and was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award, so I knew it was a must read. I finally got it from paperbackswap.com a few days ago and was excited to start it.

This book has 13 chapters that all connect somehow to Olive Kitteridge. Olive is married to a well liked man who seems to never really confide in his wife and left the child rearing to her. Each chapter is more or less 13 short stories and the stories wander through many years, going backwards and forwards in time, set in a small town in New England. But almost every story has an older couple that has had an affair at some point in their lives. Some physical some emotional but all impacting their married lives. I found it all rather depressing. I found myself actually leave the story as I was reading and wonder about the author. I do believe Elizabeth Stout is a very gifted writer but I don't think she would like to hear I left her story to contemplate how someone could view marriage the way she does. Also if she wasn't writing about marriages that were shallow she was having her characters brood on suicide or murder. A book, a town, an author definitely missing Jesus.

In one of the chapters, Olive bursts into tears when she meets an anorexic young woman. “I don’t know who you are,” she confesses, “but young lady, you’re breaking my heart.” “I’m starving, too,” Olive tells her. “Why do you think I eat every doughnut in sight?” “You’re not starving,” the girl replies, looking at this large woman, with her thick wrists and hands, her “big lap.”
“Sure I am,” Olive says. “We all are.”

This is what I felt this book was trying to say. We all are starving for something. Attention, love, admiration. Olive feels everything is unfair and everyone is lonely. What a sad way to see life. There was no hope in this book, no real love. In fact the author does a great job of criticizing Christians (and Republicans).

I am not sure I recommend this book but I did think it was very well written. I am sure at least one of my readers has read this book. What did you think of the book. Am I missing something?

P.S.

I am so done writing about swagbucks. I know those of you not doing swags could care less and I don't want to loose the few readers I have. BUT I did feel a bit responsible to those of you asking how to get more points.

So tomorrow I plan on writing about books, especially one I am about to finish later today. (It gave me weird feelings and almost made me angry) Because I know YOU ALL love to read about books. :)

After writing all this I wonder why I even have one reader left. I would not want to read about what I write about either.

More swagbucks help

I know I have already posted this, or a very similar post, a few months back, but I have had some of you ask how to get more points at swagbucks.com

**First for those not doing swagbucks this is a search engine ran site. I used to go to msn.com to search. Now I go to swagbucks and I can earn points occasionally just for my normal searches. This is really all this site does. It is not surveys, offers, etc. It is a search engine. So I make points, and then turn those in for amazon codes, doing something I normally do anyway.
**Second, you should not do any more searches on swagbucks then you would normally on any other search engine. You will not get more points for more searches. Usually I can get a swagbuck in the morning, one in the afternoon and sometimes one in the evening.
**Next, and I think an important part of earning points, I also check slickdeals.com for codes. I go to this page and click the last page to be current. These people are great at catching and posting codes that swagbucks has put on twitter, facebook, their toolbar, etc.. Swagbucks puts codes out on popular areas to draw people to them and advertise. If you want me to I can email you the codes as I find them. Let me know if this is something you would like and make sure I have your email address. Sometimes the codes are good for a few hours sometimes they are out for a few minutes.
**Referrals are a good way to get some points as well. Every point that a referral makes, up to 100 points, you also get. You don't get their code points just there searching points. I have 5 referrals right now. If you can even get 1 or 2 people to sign up under you and they make 2 points a day you can add 4 points to your account every day.

So there you have it. And more questions?

As incentive I have now made $50.00 in amazon codes since I joined mid-August. I am saving the money for a present for Ben. :) That way he can't see what I am spending. :) Total surprise.

50 Days until Christmas. . .

But who's counting. . .

catch up

I am catching up on pictures that have been living on my card for the last month.

This picture is one of my all time favorites this year. Ethan and one of his very good friends that he has grown up with, 5 years together. Plus it shows the missing teeth without his cheesy smiles. Then there is Alicia with one of her classmates on this very same field trip. They are such different children. She will never ever give me a smile, unless I happen to catch her off guard.

For Halloween I had a disco dancer and a storm trooper. They were great costumes for dark nights. Alicia's outfit really sparkled and Ethan's was a nice white. We had a really nice day with soccer games, naps, carving of pumpkins--there first time, trick or treating and lots of family throughout the day.

Christmas reading

I like to read Christmas themed books at Christmas. I really like a good Christmas mystery. Last year I read an Agatha Christie Christmas mystery. This year I am lost? I have read quite a few Christmas themed mystery's over the past 5 years and so now I am having a hard time finding something new. Do you guys have suggestions for a good holiday themed book to read this year? I like mystery's but I like them to be more mystery then scary. I used to read a lot of Mary Higgins Clark (college days) but I think now she may be too much for me.

I need help for you all, those that post regularly and those that lurk and have never posted on my site before, to come up with your favorite holiday read. I NEED some help.

NaBloPoMo

So how many of you are doing the November challenge put out by NaBloPoMo? I know some of the blogs I visit usually do.

I love this month in blogger world. Those of you that post infrequently let me catch up on your lives for one month. Last year I made it almost the whole month before I forgot a day. O, well. There is always this year.