Month: November 2013

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Buffalo-Niagara YMCA Turkey Trot 2013

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  I hope you all had a fabulous day yesterday, filled with plenty of turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce (the Thanksgiving Trifecta, as I like to call it).  I did, and I’ll fill you in all about the whole weekend on Monday, but today I want to share how I started Thanksgiving Day: with 12,000 of my closest friends, running down Delaware Avenue in Buffalo.

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This was my third Turkey Trot, and it’s such a fun way to kick off the holiday season.  I ran the Buffalo Turkey Trot with my sister-in-law Grace back in 2010 and the Troy Turkey Trot with my dad and high school BFF in 2011.  (I didn’t trot in 2012, because I was still recovering from Hurricane Peanut.)  This year I had a big goal – I really, really wanted to PR (beat my personal record in the 8k distance).  I trained hard over the course of the fall and I was pretty confident that I’d get not only a PR, but a big one… until race day, when I woke up to this view:

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I’m all for a white Christmas, but a white Thanksgiving?  That’s real… unnatural.

Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy about the view out my window.  We live on a major, high-traffic road and the race was being run not too far from my neighborhood.  So I was just a leetle bit worried about the road conditions.  It looked as though the plough went through, but there was no salt on the road and there was an inch of slushy slop covering the entire surface.  If Delaware Avenue – on which 95% of the race is run – looked anything like this, I knew my PR was out the window.  I wanted to set a new record for myself, but not badly enough to break an ankle.  So I took a deep breath and tried to revise my goal to just have fun with my sisters-in-law and worry about a PR at the Shamrock 8k in March.

I grabbed an easy but filling breakfast (banana with pecan butter, Larabar and two cups of tea) and at 8:35 on the button, my father-in-law and sisters-in-law rang the doorbell.  I hopped in the car and my father-in-law dropped me, Emma and Grace off at the starting line.  We were almost late – thanks, snow and traffic – and had to run to the corrals, but we made it.

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Have I mentioned that it was COLD?  The temperature was in the high teens.  Brrrrrrrr.

I could tell immediately upon arriving at the start line that Delaware Avenue looked much better than my street.  Yay!  The city snow crews must have given my street a cursory effort because they were all busy getting Delaware into race shape.  (They obviously went back for a second pass at my street later, because it looks fine now.)  The road was a little wet, but otherwise perfectly fine.  I decided to go for my PR after all.  My A, B and C goals for the race were:

A – Beat my previous 8k PR of 56:19.
B – Run the entire race in under an hour.
C – Finish.  (This is always my C goal.  Heck, sometimes it’s my A goal!)

The loudspeakers played The Star-Spangled Banner, and we were off!

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(The start lines, viewed from the corrals just as we started to move.)

Miles 0-1

The first mile of the race was wall-to-wall people.  I tried to find some running room, but there wasn’t really much space to be had.  I waved to my father-in-law, who was cheering just past the start line and spent the rest of the mile fighting my way through the crowds.  The first mile does contain one of the most fun moments of the race – when you run under the “New York Central” bridge and everyone shouts “WOOOOOOO!” all at once.  Sorry for the crummy picture, but I was running:

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As expected, the first mile was my slowest – but I was so distracted by just trying to find an unoccupied patch of pavement to put my feet that it seemed like no time at all before I saw the flag marking Mile 1.

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Miles 1-2

Aside from the finish line, I was happiest and most excited during this stretch, because I knew that “my” spectators would be waiting for me.  Just as expected, right before the 1.5 mile mark, I saw my two favorite faces:

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Look how disgruntled Peanut is!  You can just see her thinking, “What new way have they come up with to torture me now?”  I took a quick detour to give her kisses all over her face, and she slapped me.  I laughed and headed back onto the road.

Miles 2-4

Somehow I missed the mile marker for Mile 3, and this felt like the longest mile of my life, until I realized… duh.  This was the stretch where I dug deep and focused on running a smart race.  There was one traffic circle and I carefully ran the tangents in an attempt to get down closer to the shortest legal distance.  (A smart strategy during any race, but especially a race like this, where the crowd never thinned out and I spent the entire time weaving between other runners – I knew that I was running much longer than the 8k distance.)  I dug into my bag of motivational tricks to keep my feet going: picking a spot on the pavement to stare at until I ran over it, and then another and another, and repeating my favorite mantras: “go mama go” and “strong legs, strong mind.”  I pulled out that second mantra when the lazy part of my brain started suggesting that I take a walk break – even though I knew that I didn’t need one.  My legs weren’t tired at all and the rest of me felt great too, so it was only my mind that wanted to slow down and walk.  I instructed my mind to get on board with my legs, and we kept running.

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Miles 4-4.97

Just before Mile 4, the road starts sloping noticeably downhill.  Yay!  (It’s pretty much all flat or downhill anyway, but the last major stretch is really downhill, and so much fun.)  My overall plan for the race had been to run at a comfortable pace for the first four miles and conserve plenty of energy, and then turn on the burners in the last mile.  So when I saw the flag marking Mile 4, I started to gradually pick up the pace.  By the time we entered Niagara Square, with just under half a mile left, I was flying.  (Or, flying as best I could while weaving in and out of the crowds of other runners.)  I turned two corners and saw the finish line looming up ahead.  Hooray!  Or maybe not…

The Finish Line

This was where my race experience soured.  I ran all out in the last short stretch and I felt like I was floating two feet above the road… until about five feet before the finish line, when I came to a screeching halt.  There was a bottleneck inside the finishers’ chute, caused by people crossing the line and coming to a dead stop (exactly what the pre-race email warned people not to do), and the bottleneck had spilled out of the finishers’ chute and was making it impossible to cross the finish line at all, let alone at a run.

I just barely managed to stop without mowing down the people in front of me and immediately screamed with frustration.  Was I really standing here, completely still, not moving at all, five feet before the finish line?  This had to be a joke.  Alas… nope.  Those last five feet took almost a full minute to travel.  I was incredibly frustrated because up to that point, I had run exactly the race I wanted to, I was feeling great about my training and the effort I’d put in, and I knew I was very close to my hoped-for PR.  I finally crossed the line, but instead of the huge smile I had worn for 99% of the race, I had a huge scowl.

Final time: 55:40.

So, despite the snag at the finish line, I did end up hitting my “A” goal for the day.  I PRed by 39 seconds.  I was happy to get the PR I wanted, of course, and I was proud of the effort I put into training and on race day… but it stinks to know that you could have finished faster, were it not for a circumstance outside your control, like bottlenecking at the finish line.  If I had missed out on a PR because of the weather, I’d have been bummed, but I wouldn’t have been too upset, because no one can control that.  But losing out on the chance to sprint across the finish line because of other people’s inconsiderate behavior – stopping in the finishers’ chute – really left a bad taste in my mouth.  I tried to reframe the experience in my mind to make it more positive: after all, if I hadn’t trained well, run smart, and poured it on in the last mile, I wouldn’t have hit my PR at all.  So the good work I did earlier in the race made it possible for me to have a good day and meet my “A” goal – my first PR in over three years! – despite hitting a snag at the finish line.

Still, I’m looking ahead to another chance to PR, and this time the way I want to, at the Shamrock 8k in March.  I’ll be crossing that finish line at speed, even if I have to sprout wings and fly.

If you trotted on Thursday, I hope you had a great race!  I’ll be back on Monday with a recap of the rest of our Thanksgiving festivities.

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Peanut’s Gratitude List

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ADULTS!

LISTEN!

Do you know what is happening on Thursday?  Thursday is THANKSGIVING.  You might not know about this holiday but I am here to remind you not to be lazy and to go make me some pie.  (Seriously.  Now.  What are you waiting for?)  I will have apple pie thank you.  Hold the cinnamon because I’m allergic.

Anyway, on top of being a holiday about making food for me to eat (get to work) Thanksgiving is also supposedly about being thankful for things.  I know this because Mommy and I have been reading a book about Thanksgiving called Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks.  If you don’t know this book, basically, it is about a bunch of kids who are sweeter than a pouch of applesauce talking about all of the things that make them happy.  (Bragging, most like.  That kid who is thankful for his teacher because she hangs his art on the wall and makes him feel special?  Can we say humblebrag?)

So Mommy says that we should spend time this week thinking of the things that we are thankful for.  Like, for example, Mommy is thankful for me.  (Well, obviously.  I’m stinking adorable and everybody loves me.)

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Mommy asked me what I am thankful for, so I made a list.

Peanut’s Gratitude List

1.  Cars.  Vroom vroom!

2.  Kitties.

3.  Doggies.  When are we getting one, Mommy?

4.  When Mommy and I go for runs in the stroller and she actually makes an effort to go fast.  Wheeeee!

5.  Wrapping paper.

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6.  Book ’ems.

7.  Doggies.

8.  Cheese.

9.  My stuffed tiger and my moose and my taggie blanket.

10.  Oh, okay, fine – Mommy and Daddy and my grandparents and my aunties and my uncle.

11.  Doggies.

Also, Mommy didn’t mention this part but there are some things that I could do without.  Vegetables come to mind, as does the pediatrician, and also footwear.  (Mommy, why do you continue putting sock ’ems and boots on my feet even though I rip them off and throw them across the room every single time?  Can you not take a hint?  Can we not learn from the episode where I threw my boot in Target and you didn’t notice and then we had to go all around the store looking for it?)  So, Mommy, if you could get to work on getting rid of these things and also everything else that annoys me I think I could be even more thankful next year.  Bye bye.

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Fall 2013, Instagram Edition

Thanksgiving is this week, which – in my mind – heralds the end of fall (my favorite season) and the beginning of that between-season called The Holidays.  It’s not exactly winter yet, since the solstice hasn’t arrived, but our thoughts turn away from autumnal glories and toward tinsel and evergreen and snow and all things twinkly.  But before that shift, I want to take a moment to share some of my favorite snaps from the fall.  I’ve been really into using Instagram lately (you can find me there @backyardyogini) to capture not only our daily moments – there’s plenty of Peanut in my stream – but also moments of beauty that I spot while out and about.  Enjoy:

My favorite family picture snapped this fall... maybe my favorite family picture ever.

My favorite family picture snapped this fall… maybe my favorite family picture ever.

A riot of color in my in-laws' driveway.

A riot of color in my in-laws’ driveway.

Perfect weather for hiking pants and flip-flops on crunchy leaves.

Perfect weather for hiking pants and flip-flops on crunchy leaves.

Early golden leaves appear.

Early golden leaves appear.

My favorite month.

My favorite month.

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These trees reminded me of the cover of “The Magicians,” by Lev Grossman.

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That’s a pumpkin spice chai latte in that cup there. No big deal.

So many perfect running days. This is where I pound the pavement.

So many perfect running days. This is where I pound the pavement.

I also logged some quality reading time on my in-laws' deck.

I also logged some quality reading time on my in-laws’ deck.

I love golden leaves against a bright blue sky.

I love golden leaves against a bright blue sky.

Too much to stop at just one picture.

Too much to stop at just one picture.

Leaves aren't the only thing that looks good against a backdrop of blue. This red-berry bush brightened up many a fall run.

Leaves aren’t the only thing that looks good against a backdrop of blue. This red-berry bush brightened up many a fall run.

A bounty of apples.

A bounty of apples.

More blue backdrop - these are Jonagolds ripening on the branch.

More blue backdrop – these are Jonagolds ripening on the branch.

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Peanut didn’t quite get the concept of apple-picking, but I think she had a good time. She’ll love it next year!

Some indoor fun was had, too. We visited this gigantic Jackson Pollack at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Some indoor fun was had, too. We visited this gigantic Jackson Pollack at the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Hope you’ve all enjoyed your fall!  And now… on to the twinkle lights.

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Reflections on my Second Whole30

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Last Friday I wrapped up my second Whole30.  For those who haven’t heard of the program, it’s basically 30 days of super-charged Paleo-style eating.  No grains, no sugar, no dairy, no legumes, no preservatives, no soy, no alcohol, no corn or white potatoes, no cheating.  As I said when explaining the program to my mom, it’s a little nutty, but you can be nutty for 30 days.  Here are some thoughts from the past 30 days:

Buddying Up

Both times I’ve completed the Whole30, I’ve done it with a buddy – my sister-in-law, Emma.  The first time we did the program, she was living with us and taking care of Peanut during the day.  This time, we kept in touch via motivating texts, emails and Instagram photos and exchanged recipes over the phone.  I’d definitely recommend doing the Whole30 with someone else.  Having a buddy to motivate me when it got hard – and it does get hard, but Emma and I cheered one another through those tough parts – was invaluable.  Hubby is supportive, but I don’t know that I could have gotten through it either time without knowing that Emma was in it with me.  When I was tempted to say, “Whatever, it’s just a little bit of preservative, what does it matter?” I remembered that she was sticking to the program and I needed to do the same.  Cheating on the Whole30 would have felt like cheating on Emma, and that pushed me to adhere to the program strictly.

Missing Halloween… Sort Of

Emma and I planned the timing of our Whole30 very carefully.  We started after my birthday (and weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake) and wrapped up well in advance of Thanksgiving.  It was important to me that I was free to really enjoy the heck out of my birthday, and neither of us wanted to miss out on Thanksgiving festivities.  But unfortunately, that meant that we kind of missed Halloween.  It wasn’t too awful.  I got to enjoy my favorite treat, roasted pumpkin seeds (see above) – I’m more of a salty girl than a sweet tooth.  But it was tough to miss out on the delicious-smelling cider donuts at the pumpkin patch, and I’ll admit to eating more of the Halloween candy that was still laying around after my Whole30 ended than I really meant to.  I’m packing the remainder of the candy up and sending it to work with hubby posthaste.

What I Really Missed

Everyone, it seems, has one thing that’s tougher than anything else to give up.  I’m okay abstaining from sugar (it’s actually easier for me to completely avoid sugar than it is to eat it in moderation), and I’m not a big drinker anyway so it’s not hard to stay away from alcohol.  (I do enjoy wine, but it’s not something that I’ve ever had trouble avoiding if I needed to, especially if there was a good reason – like pregnancy.)  Avoiding all grains is a little harder, but I typically stay away from “junk grains” like white rice and sandwich bread anyway, and save my carbs for really good stuff, like fresh kalamata olive bread from an artisan bakery, which is worth every carb and don’t ever let anyone tell you different.  But for me, the absolute toughest thing to avoid during the Whole30 was dairy.  I’m not a big milk drinker, but I love my plain Greek yogurt and my sharp cheddar cheese.  I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to eat cheese, of all things, than at the end of this Whole30.  (I’m eating cheese as I type this.  Mmmmmmm, cheese.)

Working Out on the Whole30

On Day 2 (which is typically my toughest day, when I get what I call the “lettuce hangover” where I want to destroy everything green) Peanut and I went for a three mile run in her jogging stroller.  It wasn’t the easiest run, between a bulky jogging stroller, a disgruntled baby, and a queasy tummy, but we got ‘er done.  And from there, it got easier.  Slacking on workouts isn’t an option at the moment, because I’m getting ready for a five mile turkey trot and ideally, I’d like to finish it without embarrassing myself.  Eating clean made my workouts feel easier and I felt my speed increasing run by run, much more so than it does when I’m not as strict about eating whole foods.  (I’m still not fast, but I’m faster than I was.)  They do say that you should really take it easy in the first week, and I did, but then I cranked it up and I feel like I’m in a pretty good position to achieve my goals for the turkey trot and a 5K that I have scheduled for a few weeks after, thanks in large part to eating so well during training.

Lessons Learned

I’ve done the Whole30 before so I didn’t expect that this one would have anything new to teach me, but it did.  The main thing I learned is this: I need to stick with something long-term and not slack as soon as I see results.  It’s harder for me to moderate than it is to just avoid problematic foods.  I’m not saying that I need to abstain entirely and forever from sugar or grains, but I’m going to commit to making those foods count when I eat them.  Going forward, I’m going to make a real effort to only eat sugar or white flour if it’s really worth it to me.  (Kalamata olive bread?  Worth it.  Sandwich bread from the grocery store?  Not worth it.  Fabulous dark chocolate from my co-op, or my mother-in-law’s homemade pies?  Worth it.  Leftover Halloween candy?  Ugh, not worth it.)  I also had a good reminder that, as I said above, eating clean really helps me feel better when I’m running.  Since I have some big running goals for 2014 and 2015, that’s something to keep in mind.

Would I Do It Again?

You betcha!  Emma and I have talked about making the Whole30 a regular thing.  I think that 2-3 times per year would be about my sweet spot.  We both felt sorely in need of this “nutritional reset” (as the program dubs itself) this time, and I’m sure that we will want it again in another six months or so.  It’s well worth the headaches in the grocery store and the additional planning to feel as wonderful as we feel after a few weeks of strict Whole30 eating.

Have you ever done a Whole30?  Would you, or do you think it’s insane?

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Lucky # 10

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The Classics Club posted the lucky number for The Classics Spin #4… and it’s…

10

Which means I’ll be reading…

Excellent Women

Yay!  I’ve been looking forward to reading Excellent Women – in fact, I’ve been staring at it on my bookshelf for months.  Look for a review later this month or sometime in November.

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The Classics Spin #4

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Good news, friends!  The Classics Club is hosting another one of their Classics Spins!  This is the first time I’ve participated, so here’s the idea: you list twenty books from your original list, in no specific order except coordinating with categories that the club comes up with.  The club will randomly choose a number, and whatever book on your spin list corresponds to the selected number, that’s the book that you’re reading next (-ish; you have a certain period of time to read and blog the book – in this case, it’s the remainder of November, and all of December).  Here’s my list:

5 you are dreading/hesitant to read

1. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
2. Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
3. Everything that Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O’Connor
4. Finnegan’s Wake, by James Joyce
5. The House of Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

5 you can’t WAIT to read

6. Confessions, by St. Augustine of Hippo
7. Daisy Miller, by Henry James
8. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
9. The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
10. Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym

5 you are neutral about

11. The Ambassadors, by Henry James
12. Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys
13. Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne
14. Eugene Onegin, by Alexander Pushkin
15. Slaughterhouse-Five, by fellow Cornellian Kurt Vonnegut

5 free choice (I selected re-reads)

16. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
17. The Optimist’s Daughter, by Eudora Welty
18. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
19. Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier
20. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Can’t wait to see what my “assigned” reading turns out to be!  Check back to see what number the club “spins” and what book I’ll be reading.

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Friday Brain Dump

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~ I can’t seem to get organized and get blog posts up lately.  Not sure why that is…  I need to sit down and make myself draft them.

~ Related: I’m still kind of in a reading rut.  I have three books on the go right now, which is unusual for me, and for the past few weeks I’ve had a hard time really getting into anything.  I did start Joanna Trollope’s modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility (for The Austen Project) yesterday and I’m really enjoying it, so here’s hoping that’s the end of my rut.

~ Peanut and I just got back from a four day trip to visit my parents.  It was nice to get some different scenery and Peanut had fun playing with Nana and making some new little friends, but we really missed Daddy.

~ I’m getting SO excited about Thanksgiving – especially about running the Turkey Trot with my sisters-in-law.  My goal is to beat my time from the last time I did this race (2010) and I think I might be able to do it!  I’ve been running four days a week and I feel like I’ve gotten faster in just a few weeks.  We’ll see on race day, though.

~ Today is the last day of my second Whole30.  Sis-in-law Emma and I did the program “together” via text messages, emails and Instagram.  It went well and I feel awesome (just like the last time I did a Whole30), but I’m ready to be done.  I want to have a slice or two of pizza, and I want to be able to grocery shop without obsessing over microscopic amounts of additives.  But I’ve been thinking about what tomorrow will look like and I think I’m going to try to stick to Paleo about 80% of the time, because it seems to be a good eating style for me.  I just want the freedom to have a treat now and then, and to buy turkey jerky without scouring every label.

Happy weekend, friends!

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ANNE OF THE ISLAND

Anne of the Island

(Image Source)

At long last, Anne has realized her cherished ambition to attend Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia, and study for her B.A.  It took two years of working and saving to come up with her tuition, but when Anne finally reaches the longed-for day, she’s reluctant to leave her beloved Prince Edward Island.  She has some company in her exile, though: Queens Academy friend Priscilla will be studying at Redmond too, as will Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane from Avonlea.  Anne arrives in Kingsport and quickly reunites with Priscilla, but even with her old friends around her, she feels countrified and out of place.  If we know anything about Anne, though, it’s this: it’s impossible to keep her down for long.

Sure enough, Anne begins to put “soul-roots” into Kingsport and soon finds that the big, unfriendly city starts to feel like home.  She’s helped along the way by long rambles in a charming graveyard and by her rollicking social life with Priscilla, Gilbert, and new pal Philippa Gordon.  When Anne and Priscilla’s friend Stella (another Queens graduate) comes to join them, the girls move into a sweet, charming cottage called “Patty’s Place,” complete with two china dogs guarding their hearth and Stella’s Aunt Jamesina keeping house for them.  Patty’s place is the scene of many girlish adventures over the next few years: studies, parties, and love affairs.

Yes, romance has begun to pop up in Anne’s world!  She receives several marriage proposals: two are laughably awful, but the other two… I won’t spoil things, but Anne has some big decisions to make.  There’s Roy Gardner: handsome, rich, and charming – in short, everything Anne has always believed her Prince Charming would be.  But then there’s Gilbert, who makes no secret of the fact that he wants more than just Anne’s friendship.  The question is, are Anne’s feelings for Gilbert deepening, or will he always be just friend material?

Anne of the Island is my favorite of the Anne books, and has been since the first time I read the series.  I love seeing Anne initially out of her element, and watching her fall in love with Kingsport and grow into a serious, purposeful young woman.  The safe, cozy atmosphere of Patty’s Place is the perfect place for Anne to spread her wings, knowing her girlfriends are right there to call her on her nonsense if necessary, while they all support and cheer one another on.  Her romantic misadventures are both amusing and dramatic, and the final scenes of the book – when it becomes terribly clear to Anne just who the right man for her is, but it might be too late – are heart-stirring.  I can’t think of a single thing I’d change about Anne of the Island – basically, it’s perfect.

Buy Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery, here (not an affiliate link), or support your local indie bookstore!  I’m submitting this review as part of my Classics Club challenge.

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Reading Round-Up: October 2013

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for October, 2013…

Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #1), by Rhys Bowen – Lady Georgianna Rannoch (Georgie to her friends) is in an impossible position.  Thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she’s an impoverished royal who Queen Mary expects to either marry an odious foreign prince or accept a position as lady-in-waiting to an elderly relative.  Georgie doesn’t like either of these scenarios, so she flees her family seat in the Scottish Highlands for London, where the Queen immediately enlists her to spy on David, the Prince of Wales, and his entirely unsuitable (married! American!) flame, Wallis Simpson.  Georgie is trying to balance her new spying role with an incognito job as a maid when a horrible Frenchman – who is trying to steal Castle Rannoch away from her family – is found dead in her bathtub, and her brother Binky is the prime suspect.  Now Georgie must race against the clock to find the killer and clear Binky’s name.  This was a cute, silly, fun mystery set in the between-the-wars period in England.

MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy #3), by Margaret Atwood – The conclusion to the sweeping dystopic MaddAddam Trilogy was the best yet.  This volume focused mainly on the shadowy backstory of Zeb (a.k.a. “Spirit Bear” in MaddAddam parlance) as told to Toby and, through Toby, to the Crakers.  (The chapters in which Toby relates Zeb’s story to the Crakers are the best of the entire trilogy, in my opinion.  I laughed out loud every time I read the words, “Yes, good kind Crake.  Please stop singing.”)  Meanwhile, the Crakers have taken refuge with the MaddAddamites, who are rushing to muster defenses against another Painballer attack and, they hope, find their leader Adam One in the process.  I was hooked on this trilogy from early on, and MaddAddam was a wonderful conclusion.  Outstanding.

Anne of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables #6), by L.M. Montgomery – This sixth volume of the Anne books is the first that focuses more on Anne’s children than on Anne herself.  Each of the kids – Jem, Walter, Nan and Di, Shirley and Rilla – gets a chapter or two dedicated to his or her adventures.  Anne, however, hovers in the background as the children’s beloved mother.  A sweet addition to the series, but not my favorite.

Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell – Oh, my goodness, I just LOVED this.  I’ve been hearing so much about Rainbow Rowell since her most recent novel, Eleanor and Park, was released to general acclaim, but I thought Attachments sounded more my speed, so I grabbed it.  It’s the story of Lincoln, an “internet security officer” who finds himself, rather than fighting against online vice, writing reports every time one of the employees at the newspaper for which he works forwards an inappropriate joke.  In his “red-flagged” folder, Lincoln often finds email exchanges between Jennifer, a copy editor, and Beth, an entertainment reporter, who know that someone is reading their email but still share every aspect of their lives with one another.  Lincoln can’t bring himself to report Beth and Jennifer, because he finds himself liking them both and looking forward to reading their emails.  But soon Lincoln realizes he might have deeper feelings for Beth.  This book was SO sweet, and so much fun.  I read it in a day and loved every word.

Rainbow Valley (Anne of Green Gables #7), by L.M. Montgomery – Anne’s children are in that magical stage of childhood, and their active imaginations dream up all kinds of adventures in their favorite haunt, Rainbow Valley (named by Walter).  When a new minister’s family, the Merediths, moves into the manse on the other side of the Valley, the Blythe children take the Merediths into their hearts.  A runaway named Mary Vance rounds out the little crew (and introduces the occasional bit of friction).  I love all of these kids, but bright, spirited Faith Meredith is my favorite.  (The scene in which she marches into the home of a notorious curmudgeon and orders him to return to church and contribute to her father’s salary is priceless.)

Rilla of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables #8), by L.M. Montgomery – The final volume of the Avonlea books is the first in which the external world really encroaches on our dear Prince Edward Island.  When the book opens, international conflict is simmering, but everyone is shocked when full-blown war erupts.  Soon Jem Blythe and Jerry Meredith have left for the front, and more of the youth of Glen St. Mary are to follow – including my beloved Faith (by now, Jem’s fiancée!) who goes off to drive an ambulance.  Rilla, the youngest Blythe, is coming of age at home.  She turns from a flighty, boy-crazy girl into a serious woman who has been touched by tragedy.  This is one of the best books of the entire series – by turns heart-wrenching and uplifting.  Love.

The Tao of Martha: My Year of Living, or Why I’m Never Getting All That Glitter Off the Dog, by Jen Lancaster – This was my first Jen Lancaster book, and it was cute, but not as laugh-out-loud hilarious as I expected.  I mostly read it because I love Martha, and I did get a good giggle at Jen’s bumbling attempts to live according to “the Tao of Martha.”  And the Halloween chapter was pretty hilarious.  (I also have to agree with Jen that there are “Martha people” and there are “Oprah people.”  In fact, the only real argument that my BFF, R, and I ever had was a stupid disagreement over who’s better, Martha or Oprah.  I said Martha, she said Oprah.  Ultimately, we decided to agree to disagree, but it was tense for a week or so.)  Anyway, this was cute, but not as fabulous as I thought it would be.

A Royal Pain (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #2) – Georgie is back and the Queen has another assignment for her.  She is to play hostess to Princess Hannelore of Bavaria, in hopes that Hanni will draw Prince David’s eye away from the odious Mrs. Simpson.  But Hanni turns out to be more of a handful than Georgie expected, and Georgie finds herself working overtime to cure the Princess of her embarrassing habits of shoplifting and speaking in phrases culled from American gangster movies.  Then when Georgie and Hanni stumble across a body in a bookstore, ish gets real.  Another cute, fluffy mystery, and I loved Hanni.  (“I have some moonshine, please?”)

The Tent, by Margaret Atwood – This slim volume was outstanding.  Atwood’s collection of fictional essays, illustrated by her own hand, was creative and thought-provoking.  (I especially loved the Chicken Little piece, a call to action on climate change.)  I only wish I’d taken my time with this book.  I blazed through it in a day, but I should have taken a month, and read one story each day, and really let it percolate – because I think I missed a lot.  I’d like to read Good Bones, a similar Atwood book, and I’ll try that approach next time.

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell – Cath Avery is a fish out of water in her new life at college.  Between avoiding her surly roommate, Reagan, and Reagan’s boyfriend Levi, worrying about her party-girl twin, Wren, and keeping tabs on their lonely dad, Cath has next to no time for herself.  But she escapes into the world of online fan-fiction, where she is a popular writer of “fic” based on a Harry Potter-esque series of books.  But Cath will have to learn to navigate the real world eventually, as Wren and their dad spiral out of control and her friendship with Levi deepens.  Still, will she ever be as comfortable with reality as she is with her fictional world?  This was a sweet read, and although I didn’t love it as much as I loved Attachments, I was still fully invested and rooting for the characters.

The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paolo Coelho – I’ve been meaning to read this one for a long time.  One day, a stranger arrives in a mountain village and offers a bargain: if anyone in the village is murdered within a week, the entire village will receive a fortune in gold.  Coelho provides plenty of food for thought as the villagers debate whether to take the stranger up on his offer and, if they do, who should die.  This wasn’t my favorite Coelho (The Alchemist still beats all for me) but it was interesting.

Royal Flush (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #3), by Rhys Bowen – After an embarrassing attempt to earn a living as a dinner and theatre companion, Georgie is shipped unceremoniously back to Castle Rannoch in Scotland, where she must negotiate the demands of her horrid sister-in-law, Fig, and their even more horrid houseguest, Wallis Simpson.  And Georgie has another mission, too: someone is trying to kill off the heirs to the throne.  All three princes have had near-fatal accidents, and even Georgie’s brother Binky, the Duke of Rannoch (thirty-second in line) is laid up after getting his foot caught in a suspicious trap.  Who could want to bump off the royal family?  Georgie is going to find out.  Cute, as usual, and I’m enjoying Georgie’s exploits more and more.

It may not seem like it from this list, but I actually hit a reading slump this month, for the first time in a LONG time.  All of these books, with the exception of Royal Flush, were finished by October 18th or earlier.  The second half of the month, I just couldn’t seem to focus my attention on a book for anything.  I read plenty of magazines, and watched more TV than usual.  But I think I’ve finally snapped out of it and I’m enjoying Donna Tartt’s massive new book, The Goldfinch – more on that next month.  I expect I’ll have a better, more bookish November.