August readings- I've been busy!

My goal this month was to read more books than I read last month. Seeing as I bought an iPad at the beginning of the month and downloaded a few books onto it, I figured I could achieve my goal quite easily. And as I can tend to get bored with just one book, I read multiple books simultaneously. But that's a whole other issue.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. This was my book club book (go ahead and realize there will be one of these a month!!) It took me a REALLY long time to get into this book. Which is odd because the "trailer" on the back of the book seemed really good. Sisters and a mother who have never gotten along and are forced to care for each other when the father/husband (the only person who connected them) dies. The mother is Russian and tells her daughters a Russian fairy tale. Which may or may not be a true story. Once the fairy tale got going though, I really enjoyed it. I found myself unable to put it down and there were even tears streaming down my cheeks as I finished reading. Amazing story.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The first became the first book I read on my iPad. Despite missing being able to turn pages and feel the paper, I rather enjoyed reading a book on my iPad. I have always been a huge fan of the movie, The Wizard of Oz, and the sequel, Return to Oz (a cult classic as far as I'm concerned.). And as I was looking through the free books on iBooks, I realized that I had never actually read any of Baum's books. So I downloaded all 14 that are in the Oz series. All of them proved to be easy reads. As for the first, I really enjoyed the "true" story of Dorothy (although the music was greatly missed!). The second and third books were clearly where they got the plot line for "Return to Oz". Many of the characters were the same as the ones in the movie. There is a boy named Tip in the second book who basically handles the role that Dorothy had in the movie. But Dorothy returns for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh books, with a cast of new characters. The fourth and fifth books are just more of Dorothy's adventures in Oz. The sixth book changes everything, as Oz is attacked by evil creatures who want to destroy it. After they are thwarted, Princess Ozma asks Glinda to make her country invisible to anyone who doesn't already live there, thus making it seemingly impossible for Baum to learn any new stories about Oz. Luckily, by book seven, he realizes that he can telegraph Dorothy and still learn more stories, without having to actually see her. So she shares with him the story of Ojo and his adventure to save his uncle from being a marble statute. I really enjoyed entering the world of Oz, in even more detail than ever before!

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn. Another modern day fairytale. This one was Sleeping Beauty. Exact same set up, only this time, she sleeps for 300 years. Gotta be tough to wake up in the 21st century to discover that not only does your country no longer exist, but you don't even dress correctly anymore! It's a very cute love story and was a GREAT beach read!

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig. She writes historical fiction about spies in the 1700-1800's and has a whole series of books. Fortunately, they don't all need to be read together (or in order) to be enjoyed. The modern day story that links all of the books is a grad student writing her dissertation on "Aristocratic Espionage during the Wars with France, 1789-1815.". The spies she discovers are all flower names. And some are even women. Her books are great fun. This one takes place in British-ruled India. A very easy read, and if you are a fan of historical fiction, Lauren Willig is a master of the field.

Summer and the City by Candice Bushnell. The next installment of the Carrie Diaries, which are the prequel to Sex and the City. In this one, Carrie has just graduated from high school and moved to New York to take a summer writing class at The New School. She meets (and becomes the roommate of) Samantha, meets Miranda, falls in love, has sex, learns her strengths as a writer and meets a cast of characters (some of whom return later in the TV show). It's typical Bushnell- easy to read and good fun. I read the majority of it while sitting next to my pool and finished it once I got back inside the house. Yep, I read this one in one day. Hello, my name is Jane, and I'm a bookaholic. It's a problem....

Dating, it's virtually impossible out there

It seems like every time I turn on the TV, there are commercials about online dating. And all of them claim to be the way to find the love of your life. Oddly enough, I've actually tried online dating. Yes, me. The hopeless romantic has tried to be practical and find love in whatever way might be out there. Hey, it's worth a try, right?

First up, many years ago, was Match.com. The first guy was Fish Boy (see one of my earlier dating stories). The next was a guy I talked with quite a bit. We were even planning to meet. Then, one afternoon while we were talking, he had to go finish up some work and said he'd call later. That was about 7 or so years ago. Hope he hasn't lost my number....

Next up, eHarmony. It sucked. Nothing further to be said about that.

Third try, not really online, was It's Just Lunch. You actually meet with a matchmaker who asks what you are looking for in a mate. I had a few things. The first guy- divorced with a kid (I said no kids). The second guy- maybe 5'6" (I said taller than me). I didn't give them a chance to screw me over with the third date option. They didn't seem to listen to what I wanted.

Recently, I decided to try OkCupid. And omg- the guys on this site are disgusting. To the point that I might not even try to stick this out for very long.

To be honest, maybe I'm not really sure online dating is at all the way to go.....