Today is a bit of a cliché day: it is cold and raining outside, I'm sitting by the fire, and am planning to curl up with the dogs and a good book! We've already been for our walk, both around the block and up the hill, and I've done most of my "to do" list, so getting warm will be next on the agenda. I know it sounds wimpy to be cold when it is 41 degrees when L & R are up north in the lovely 10 degree weather! But cold is cold.

I finally finished the Brothers Karamazov and found out that the author had only written 1/3 of what he had planned. The book did seem to end abruptly, but I did enjoy it. All of the characters were too ruled by their passions -- whatever those passions were. As I was reading, I thought the father was the one who ruined everyone and set the three boys on their various paths. I was trying to find another book to read and stumbled across Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Why the Greeks Matter) by Thomas Cahill. I have enjoyed all the books he has written in the Hinges of History series: Gifts of the Jews, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Mysteries of the Middle Ages, and the one that started it for me: How The Irish Saved Civilization. I received an email saying that my new Adriana Trigiani book is in the mail: Brava Valentine; I recently received an actual email from Adriana Trigiani.

The book we are reading for our book club is The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Borrows. At the onset, I wondered how two people could combine to write such a good book. After reading it, I found out Mary Ann Shaffer was the initial writer but her health declined considerably and she asked her niece, Annie Borrows, to help her finish it and do the necessary revisions for publication. Mary Ann Shaffer passed away in 2008. I really liked this book; generally I don't care for books with letters as the text.