21 Steps to Happiness, June 2009

[Stacy]

And we have a winner!
21 Steps To Happiness
You don't have to wait until June to start reading if you want to read it now. And please feel free to start discussing it.

[Kourtney]

Yay I haven't read this one yet! Once I finish with the Boy/Girl Meg Cabot series I will start this one :)

[Tara]

I haven't read this one either. I requested it from PBS so hopefully it will be here soon. :)

[Jen B]

This was one of the first books I ordered from PBS when I joined last fall, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Looking forward to starting it!

[Joanne]

I just downloaded this onto my Kindle, I am going to start it as soon as I am done with something blue!

[Stacy]

Oh good Joanne, I'm glad that you were able to get it so you can join in on the discussions this month! :)

Am I silly to wait until June 1st to start reading?

[Tara]

I don't think you're silly Stacy. I am doing the same thing. I always read them to fast....as you already know!

[Stacy]

Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one waiting then. Although, I'm starting to wonder if I should start early since there are two books for the month in UK Authors...

[Kourtney]

I'm debating if I want to start this one today...my fear is I'll finish it before this week is over and then what will I read?!!? Lol!

[Stacy]

Well, there are two books for UK....or have you read those already?
Tara told me you got the Swimming Upstream Slowly - GREAT book!!!!

[Kourtney]

That I did! I read Love Rosie and don't have Thirty Nothing so this is all I have! I started reading it and 3 chapters in I stopped so I can wait for Monday :)

[Joanne]

I started it 2 days ago, it is good so far, I am stuck in Iraq for another day so I will probably finish it today, the stupid Army canceled my flight, I was supposed to leave today...but I am not bitter...not at all!
I can't wait to get out of this place!

[Kourtney]

Yay Joanne!!! Have a safe flight home and try not to spend all your money on your first day back :) :) :) I speak from experience on that one lol lol!

[Stacy]

All right Joanne! I'm happy for you that you're finally able to come home. Have a safe flight and don't forget to bring a book! :)

[Kourtney]

So I started reading this book this morning (actually started it last week, but put it down to not finish it so quickly so I picked it up from where I left off...)

So far so good. I'm up to step 6. I don't know if I could do what she is doing (Lynn) - I would have been on the first flight back to the States after the first day! These French characters are CRA-ZAY! What's interesting is that the author is from Paris, so I wonder if it is really like the way she is describing it.

Has anyone been to Paris before?

[Tara]

I just got this book in the mail today and I think I am going to start reading it tonight!!!

[Stacy]

Oh! It's in steps?! I haven't even read the back cover yet so I have no idea what it's about! How fun is that?! I can't wait to read it!
Apparently I'm absolutely full of exclamations tonight! LOL!

[Dawn]

Kourtney wrote: "So I started reading this book this morning (actually started it last week, but put it down to not finish it so quickly so I picked it up from where I left off...)

So far so good. I'm up to step..."

I HAVE BEEN TO PARIS ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO FOR ONLY 2 DAYS.

[Stacy]

Dawn, I'm jealous.
:)

[Dawn]

ok now we are even lol.

[Kourtney]

Dawn - where there prostitutes all over Paris? Because that is how this book is making me see Paris!!! As hooker central!

[Dawn]

NOT THAT I RECALL. BUT MAYBE I WAS NOT IN THE RIGHT AREA.

[Tara]

Kourtney wrote: "Dawn - where there prostitutes all over Paris? Because that is how this book is making me see Paris!!! As hooker central!"

I know what you mean Kourtney. It sounds like a dirty place.

[Stacy]

Dirty, dirty Paris. LOL!

[Jenn]

lol I read this one a few months back and I laughed so hard since I did get to spend some time in Paris and a few of the people in the book so remind me of some of the people that I met over there.

[Stacy]

Ooh, I'm jealous of you too Jenn!
I'm starting this book today!

[Kourtney]

It makes me laugh that she keeps pretending to understand French then has no clue what people are saying to her. I loved when she was at the "girlie" bar and "smiled mysteriously" and the bartender was asking what she wanted to drink! LOL! Sounds like something I would do!

[Tara]

Kourtney wrote: "It makes me laugh that she keeps pretending to understand French then has no clue what people are saying to her. I loved when she was at the "girlie" bar and "smiled mysteriously" and the bartender..."

It made me laugh also Kourtney. I can just picture her in that bar. I like how she keeps asking for coffee everywhere to. I am not sure how I feel about Muriel B. She is definitely different and what's up with all those people living in her flat???

[Kourtney]

I know! Especially the "really bad writer" - I'm way too private so I would never be able to live like that!

[Stacy]

I'm on step four and she's cracking me up with all her inner dialogue (sp?) about Nicolas. (He's an angel!) I see what you mean about her pretending to know French Kourtney. She just did it with Nicolas when he said something about the wine at lunch. Oh yeah, and the goat cheese and eggplant dish - too funny!

[Tara]

I am on Step 9. I am really liking this book. I find it weird that everyone always wants her to come to their apartment and in their bedroom to meet. WEIRD!!! Maybe that's how it is in Paris.

[Stacy]

I am finding all of these Paris people to be a bit off. What's up with Nicolas?? I'm at the beginning of chap- I mean STEP 10.
The French is driving me nuts though, I haven't a clue what they're saying. I took Spanish in high school so when I try to read it I can hear myself attempting to pronounce it in my head and I know it's completely wrong. Frustrating!!!

[Kourtney]

Am I alone on this island or is anyone else questioning the "relationship" between Nicolas and Lynn? I'm just not believing it for some reason, like I can't get into the storyline or something.

Maybe I'm just not connecting to the characters...

[Tara]

Kourtney wrote: "Am I alone on this island or is anyone else questioning the "relationship" between Nicolas and Lynn? I'm just not believing it for some reason, like I can't get into the storyline or something.

..."

I am not connecting with the characters either. I thought this was a good book in the beginning but I am kind of bored with it. I wish Nicolas and Lynn would just get together already, if that's what is going to happen.

Stacy-I am not sure what the French is either. It's confusing. I am ready to be done with this book already. 100 pages to go.

[Tara]

I have finished book. All I can say is "predictable." I will talk more about it when everyone is finished.

I am going to put it on PBS and Bookmooch if anyone wants it.

[Kourtney]

LOL you have to sell it better than that Tara to get rid of it!

I am almost done with the book...I've lost all emotion for it after reading Good Luck by Whitney Gaskell at the same time. It made this book lose it's shine so my recommendation is to not read Good Luck before or during this read :)

[Stacy]

I finished it last night. Only gave it two stars because it was "just ok."
I was Frustrated with Lynn basically throughout the entire book - until the end, finally! Don't want to say much more until everyone that's reading it is done.

I too will be putting it on the trading/swapping sites. You're right Kourtney, we need to sell it a little better to get rid of it, but it's not easy. LOL, all I can say is that not everyone has the same taste right? :) Some one is bound to enjoy reading it.

[Kourtney]

I forced myself to finish this book last night. For some reason I just couldn't relate to it so I ended up forgetting a lot of the characters (even Muriel!) and got frustrated trying to figure out who was who in the last few steps. I didn't believe the end for a second and felt very disappointed in the whole book. I know I'm not doing much to sell it either but I'll probably be putting this one up on the swapping sites as well (but can you take it off my PBS because I can really use the points on there :) hee hee!)

[Tara]

Kourtney wrote: "LOL you have to sell it better than that Tara to get rid of it!

I am almost done with the book...I've lost all emotion for it after reading Good Luck by Whitney Gaskell at the same time. It made..."

LOL! Someone has already requested it. YAY!!!

[Stacy]

Kourtney wrote: "I forced myself to finish this book last night. For some reason I just couldn't relate to it so I ended up forgetting a lot of the characters (even Muriel!) and got frustrated trying to figure out ..."

I don't think you're going to get any takers on PBS Kourtney. I put mine on there and BM and it's already been requested from BM. There are about a dozen people just waiting for someone to post that book...

[Kourtney]

It figures lol! All the books I want are on PBS and all my books get taken off BM! The grass is always greener on the other website lol

[Jen B]

Kourtney wrote: "It figures lol! All the books I want are on PBS and all my books get taken off BM! The grass is always greener on the other website lol"

Kourtney, do you use the "TBR List" feature on PBS? You can add the books you have (but haven't read) to it, and it marks ones that are on peoples' Wish Lists with a "W", so you can see which ones people are wishing for. So you'll definitely get points for those so you can order the books you want.

[Kourtney]

YAY!!! Someone requested this book from me within 10 minutes of me posting it to PBS! Look out PBS world another RDI book coming my way!

[Kourtney]

I haven't used much on PBS Jen so I'm not sure how all that works. I was lucky to post and request books :) I haven't poked around too too much on there. Is it easy to do?

[Stacy]

It's easy to add your books to your TBR. Just go to it and click on....I think it says, "Add book TBR." Then you just type in the ISBN # and follow the prompts.
If you have them in a spreadsheet or something like that, I think you can upload more than one at a time.

[Jen B]

Kourtney wrote: "I haven't used much on PBS Jen so I'm not sure how all that works. I was lucky to post and request books :) I haven't poked around too too much on there. Is it easy to do?"

You can also list books from your TBR (which saves you the trouble of entering the ISBN #s more than once). Just click on "Post this Book" and the ISBN numbers automatically come up. Of course, you have to check them just to make sure it's the edition you have...but it's less nitpicky than having to enter them all again!