The new classics

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)

3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)

4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)

5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)

6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)

7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)

8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)

9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)

10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)

11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997

)12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)

13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)

14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)

15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)

16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)

17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)

18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)

20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)

21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)

22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)

23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)

24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985

25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)

26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)

27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)

28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)

29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)

30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)

31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990

)32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)

33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)

34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)

35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)

37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)

38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)

39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)

40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)

41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)

42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)

43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)

44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)

45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)

46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)

47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)

48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)

49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)

50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)

51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)

52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)

53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)

54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)

55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)

56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)

57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)

58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)

59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)

60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)

61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)

62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)

63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)6

4. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)

65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)

66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)

67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)

68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)

69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)

70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)

71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)

72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)

73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)

74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)

75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)

76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)

77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)

79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)

81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)

82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)

83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994

)84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)

85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)

86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)

87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)

88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)

89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)

90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)

91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)

92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)

93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)

94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)

95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)

96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)

97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)

98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)

99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)

100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

Dance recital... Do you believe in magic?

Sarah's Dance Recital June 14th2008

Sarah's danced to Do you believe in Magic by Aly and AJ! It was such an adorable show and seriously look how ridiculously cute those costumes were. She worked really hard and made us all so very proud. During the dance she looked over and gave her dad the thumbs up. She brought tears to our eyes and pride to our hearts. Here's her You Tube video. She's the one all the way to the right!

Milestones

Sarah's graduated preschool! June 2008 She was so spoiled at her Teen's and Tots program. She really blossomed there and enjoyed making friends and playing with all the kids. She recieved two awards: Class artist and Class Performer. In typical Sarah fashion she was always singing and dancing happy as can be. She also loves art and is a very meticulous colorer who always stays in the lines and uses lots of colors. Everything looks tie die when she gets done with it. It was nice that she was recognized for her abilities. The first pictures was taken with Ms. Latronica and her graduation build a bear in falcon colors!

Wow, Time flies

I can't believe how long it's been since I have updated this blog. Sarah has a ton going on these days with Pre-school graduation approaching and her dance recital. I will post pictures as they happen. Last week we had her Kindergarten orientation and then the assesment. The teachers loved her, so much that they made a huge display of telling me how awesome she was. They already said that they see her voted most popular or class president one day. All that from a one hour session! ha! Wait til they have her full time.

This weeks Books to be read ** in Pictures **

Bagel-iscious

Sarah chowing on a bagel. That girl has one heck of an appetite. Isn't she just charming? Kristy and Brianna took her to the bagel shop for some fun and food.

Snowboarding 2008

This is a really great picture taken of my 15 yo son at Mountain Creek. He loves skateboarding and snowboarding. When he sent me this picture on his phone I was instantly sickened. He's never been into organized sports so I never had those sports related ...omg moments. Talk about a love/hate relationship. I love that he is so adventurous and daring but yeah then I can't stand it. I would never have tried something like that no way no how, I am really happy that he found something he is so passionate about. He's so cool.

My to be read and all the extras for 2008

There is a website that has a To BE READ (TBR) challenge for the year. I missed the deadline because I am totally and completely clueless sometimes. It makes perfect sense that your list would have to be in before 2008, doesn't it? I decided to still make my list of twelve and my alternatives and just set a personal goal to read them. I will undoubtedly read many more this year as I can't stand to not have a book to read in the house. The website is great because it offers you some ideas of what others are planning to read. For me this is a blessing and a curse because I always have a running list of TBR.
I really had a hard time narrowing down the 12 top for my list. These are in no particular order and the alternatives may win over the top. I guess it all depends on my library and friends.
2008 book list

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen 3/2/2008The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 2/5/2008
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 3/31/2008
Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
Helpless by Barbara Gowdy
Summer people by Brian Groh done 1/17/2008
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boye
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 1/20/2008
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

***ALTERNATES and EXTRAS***
Rape: a love story Joyce carol Oates 1/20/2008
Flying Changes by Sara Gruen 1/27/08
The Dew Breaker by Edgwidge Danticat done 1/15/2008
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson 3/6/2008
Emma - Jane Austen
These is My Words by Nancy Turner
Sarah's Quilt by Nancy E. Turner
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
How I live now by Meg Rosoff
Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair By the Yarn Harlot

We've adopted a soldier

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My yahoo group has adopted a soldier. This is a fantastic program and I am so happy to be a part of it. We are at the introductory phase now. I just sent my first letter and am beginning to collect for his care package now. If anyone happens upon this blog and would like more information just go to www.soldiersangels.org and see how you can get involved. I felt it necessary to put all the politics aside and get involved some way. It's too easy to forget what others are giving up for our freedom and for the freedom of others. This program lets me say thanks and helps boost the morale of a us soldier.

Doing some catching up Sarah Style

I have really neglected this blog lately. The holiday season snatched up all my time. I am going to do a quick catch up with some pics to get me back on track.

The first picture to share is the lil miss Diva's pink poodle costume. I bought it off someone on Ebay and it was a tad bit small but we made it work. Isn't she the cutest?
The second is from Sarah's cousins birthday party. Evelyn had a tea party that had a fashion show too. She was able to pick out her "fashions" then strut her stuff down the runway. Let me tell you she was not shy at all, she just worked it like she had been strutting her whole life. Very diva-licious!

This last picture came from Sarah's cousins cell phone. Elizabeth has a great camera on her phone. I couldn't believe how well this turned out. We were visiting my brother in Virginia and the kids were all playing together. Check out the blue sky it was over 70 degrees that Thanksgiving weekend. It was so amazing to be playing at the park instead of freezing in the house.