Winter Street Reading

*UPDATE* This event has been cancelled - wishing Elin a speedy recovery!

My favorite author is coming to town - so exciting! - but I can't go because of a meeting - so sad! - which means everyone has to go out and support her for me. Elin Hilderbrand is releasing her first ever Christmas novel, Winter Street, and she's doing a reading and signing at the Darien Library on Thursday night at 7pm. I'm pretty much crying on my keyboard that I can't go. While I love Elin as my favorite summer beach author, I have a soft spot for Christmas novels so this is the best combo ever to me. I'm going to save it for Thanksgiving weekend to enjoy by a big fire and get in the Christmas spirit!

RSVP via their Facebook events page - books will be available for purchase at the event.

Darien Library
1441 Post Road
Thursday, Oct 16th
7:00

If you can't attend the event, visit their website for a list of bookstores that will be carrying Winter Street, if you can, support your local booksellers!
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/elin-hilderbrand/winter-street/9780316376112/

Barrett Bookstore
314 Heights Rd
Darien CT

#iheartbooks

2013 Book List

The biggest request I've gotten from people when they ask about the blog is for book recommendations!

I did complete my 2013 resolution to read 52 books in 52 weeks {with two weeks to spare!}

So I thought I'd share my final reading list. Here they are in no particular order.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

The Song Remains The Same
I Have Iraq In My Shoe
Sharp Objects
Here We Go Again
Love Anthony *
Indiscretion *
Touch and Go
The Storyteller
Family Pictures
Six Years
Summer House
Fly Away
Ivy Secrets
The Great Gatsby {a re-read but it counts!}
Angels All Over Town
No Way Back
Tides Of The Heart
15 Seconds
Between Husbands and Friends
Fault In Our Stars *
Revenge Wears Prada
Tao Of Martha
Ladies Night
The Last Camellia *
Beautiful Day
Sweet Salt Air
Island Girls
Last Original Wife
Last Summer Of The Camperdowns
Time Flies
Looking For Me
Crime Of Privilege
Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop *
Chose The Wrong Guy
The Silver Star
The Silent Wife
A Hundred Summers *
Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls
The Widow Walz
Cuckoo's Calling
Second Honeymoon
The Lemon Orchard *
These Few Precious Days
The Girl You Left Behind *
Off Season
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt *
The Exiles
The Book Thief *
Nantucket Christmas
The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat Cafe
Blue Christmas
Tell The Wolves I'm Home
* donates some of my very favorites from the list

Yikes, it seems like so many more books when I type them than when I read them!

Happy Reading! #iheartbooks

Christmas Stories

Need to put your feet up and decompress a little during the holiday season? Grab one of these adorable Christmas stories and cozy up by the fire. They'll have you back in the holiday spirit in no time! {My 2013 resolution is complete - finished my 52nd book with 2 weeks to spare! I'll be sharing the full list soon}

A Nantucket Christmas, Nancy Thayer

Blue Christmas, Mary Kay Andrew

Christmas Bliss, Mary Kay Andrews

My favorite spot to cozy up with a good book!

Best Books of November

Some great books that I've recently finished on my quest to 52 books. So if you're looking for something to cozy up by the fire with this weekend check out some of my favorite pics!

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes - a love story about a painting, World War I and fighting for what you love. I love books that alternate time periods - I couldn't put it down.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - "Steel Magnolias meets The Help", a coming of age story in the 1960s in Savannah. You'll fall in love with all the strong female characters and the beautiful imagery of the low country. Made me smile and cry and then do it all over again.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - the ads for the major motion picture had caught my eye and I realized I'd missed reading this great best seller. The extraordinary NYT #1 bestseller set in 1939 Nazi Germany and narrated by Death tells the unforgettable story of the ability of books to feed the soul. Seems like the perfect book to end my year of reading.

Summer Reading List - Part 2

On track for my goal of 52 books in 52 weeks - reading book number 33 in the 33rd week! Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up through the Fall. This prompted me to share a second Reading List since I've read so many more wonderful books this summer - and a few that are already packed in my bag for our upcoming week in Chatham!

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams - I've been saving this book all summer to read on vacation, I cannot wait!!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - sometimes you just need to enjoy a little YA fiction! 

Crime of Privilege by Walter Walker - from Palm Beach to Cape Cod, this is a Kennedy-esq page turner!

The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop and Cafe by Mary Simses - got to support a former FFC writer!

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani

The Last Summer of the Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly - slow to start but once it got going I loved the story, especially the last page.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

Happy Reading!

Summer Reading List 2013

It's one of my favorite things about summer - all these great beach reads and plenty of beautiful beach days to enjoy them! They say you can't judge a book by it's cover but I think that's exactly what you should do with a beach read, so below are their beautiful covers, pick your favorites and then click the link to read more about them! Here is my 2013 Summer Reading List...

I have to start the list with my favorite summer author, the wonderful Elin Hilderbrand and her new book Beautiful Day - I can't wait to read this over the 4th of July in Chatham! Available 6/25

Island Girls by Nancy Thayer, 6/18

Tao of Martha by Jen Lancaster (I just love Jen so much and I know this will be absolutely laugh out loud funny and there will be a pretty good chance she glitters one of her cats...)

Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews

Sweet Salt Air by Barbara Delinsky, 6/18

Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice, 7/2

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio (One of my newest favorite authors, if you haven't ready 2011's The Bungalow add that to your list immediately)

Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank, 6/11

Could these covers scream summer beach reading anymore? I just can't wait! Happy Reading!

I Heart Books

This year I gave myself the goal of reading 52 books in 52 weeks - I've come close before but I figured this year if I focused on it I can definitely make it {plus we have two weeks of summer vacation this year instead of one so I can definitely get another 4-5 books in...no one try to talk to me at the beach!}

So far this year I've read some pretty good ones so I wanted to share my list to date...

The Song Remains the Same
I Have Iraq in my Shoe
Sharp Objects
Here We Go Again
Love Anthony
Indescretion
Touch and Go
The Storyteller
Family Pictures
Six Years
Summer House
Fly Away
Ivy Secrets
The Great Gatsby (re-reads count!)
Angels All Over Town
No Way Back
Tides of the Heart
15 Seconds

We're in the 21st week so keeping up a solid pace so far! : ) Next up will be FFC411's Summer Reading List!

Check out last year's here incase you missed it
http://fairfieldcounty411.blogspot.com/2012/05/summer-reading-list.html
And 2011's
http://fairfieldcounty411.blogspot.com/2011/05/summer-reading-list.html

Happy Reading!

Summer Vacation

I've been on summer vacation physically and mentally for the last few weeks and I just couldn't get the blog in the mix. I'm still mentally on vacation but home from a great ten days in Chatham and MV. I'll try to get back to blogging soon as there are always lots of great things happening in the FFC as the days start to get cooler and fall rolls in to town!

Celebrating the hubby's 30th bday

Tackling my "summer reading"

Welcoming the newest little baby girl in my life,
PHM we are so glad you're finally here! 

A week at our favorite place on earth!

Toasting our 1 year anniversary at CBI

Lobster bake with the fam!

Enjoying the blue moon

A quick jaunt to MV! 

Bye summer, I'll miss you!

Apron Anxiety

One of my favorite books so far this summer was the cute and culinary Apron Anxiety by Alyssa Shelasky. A memoir based on her blog by the same name, Shelasky shares the trials and tribulations of finding herself in and outside the kitchen, ending each chapter with the recipes that influenced that phase of her journey. Funny, sometimes racy, sometimes sad and sometimes even a little self absorbed but in the end you always find yourself rooting for Shelasky and drooling over some of the delicious dishes! I think everyone will be envious of the relationship she finds with her kitchen - unless you're a way better cook than me!

Some of Shelasky's recipes...
*Reality Bites Banana Bread
*Cheese Toast for Two Kids in Love
*Supernatural Brownies for Breakups and Breakdowns
*Herb Crusted Chicken for Hungry and Important People
*Rainy Day Rigatoni

This is the absolute perfect beach book if you like blogs and stream on conscious writing (which hopefully you do or you're really nice to read FFC411!) - I read it in two days.

What I'm Loving Now

I'm loving all the prime time coverage of the Olympics and I'm finding it just too hard to write interesting, coherent sentences and watch at the same time! : ) Soooo how about we do a little visual eye candy to kick off the week? Here's what I'm loving right now

My new C Wonder beach tote!

My next summer beach read - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Happy Birthday Jackie 

Cold Lemon Pasta - yummy!

Loving this photo - quintessentially summer!

Emily Giffen at Greenwich Library

One of my favorite authors, Emily Giffen, will be at the Greenwich Library tomorrow night from 7-9 to read from her new book Where We Belong.

"When is it justifiable to keep secrets from the ones we love? And if we do, will keeping those secrets irrevocably change who we are? These are the questions that lie at the heart of Emily Giffin's highly anticipated new novel, an unforgettable tale of two women, the secret that binds them together and its impact on the lives of those closest to them"

Giffen is the author of five NYT bestsellers including Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One You're With and Heart of the Matter. Four of these novels have been optioned for the big screen, the first movie having come out last May.

Doors will open at 6:30 for first come, first serve seating in Cole Auditorium. This is an author not to miss!!

Today Is The Day...

We've all been waiting for! It's officially summer - Elin Hilderbrand's newest beach read hits shelves today! Mine will hopefully be at my doorstep when I return home from work and I cannot wait. As much as I want to dive right in I'm forcing myself to wait until next week so I can read it on the beaches in Nantucket, my favorite ritual every summer.

So please, go out and support our favorite author and purchase your copy of Summerland! We heard Elin speak this spring and this book promises to be heart wrenching but fabulous. I absolutely can't wait!

We'll have to find something for hubby to do for the week!

Author Event

Join the Rye Free Reading Room tonight at 7:30pm to welcome bestselling other Jill Kargman to speak about her new book The Rock Star in Seat 3A . Her previous books include Sometime I Feel Like a Nut, Momzillas and The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund. Kargman has also written for magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country and Elle. She was also featured on my Summer Reading List! Books will be available for purchase and signing and refreshments will be served. Visit www.ryelibrary.org for more information.

What would you do if you were seated on a plane next to your biggest celebrity crush??

Summer Reading List

One of my favorite things about summer is the publication of new books by all my favorite chic lit authors. What's better than lounging on the beach with a great read? I can't wait to dive into all of these, the hardest part is saving a few for our vacation week in August!

The Rockstar in Seat 3A, Jill Kargman - May 22nd

Spring Fever, Mary Kay Andrews - June 5th

Summerland, Elin Hilderbrand - June 26th

Summer Breeze, Nancy Thayer - June 26th

The Next Best Thing, Jennifer Weiner - July 3rd

When In Doubt Add Butter, Beth Harbison - July 17th

Where We Belong, Emily Giffin - July 24th

Happy Reading!