2017: Adventures in Reading

I read 26 books this year, which sounds low compared to other years.  But I didn't have as much time for reading, knitting, etc this year.  Still, there were some good books. 

I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb.  I love Wally Lamb books, I usually can't put them down!  ("She's Come Undone"  will always be a personal favorite.)  This one was a little strange and a bit of a slow starter, though.  I enjoyed how he revisits some previous characters, and I liked the premise of the ghosts and watching his life unfold as a movie, only to see what was REALLY going on at the time.

Hungry Heart by Jennifer Weiner.  Oh my goodness, this was incredible.  A biography of her life and how she came up with the ideas for her stories, and some of the best advice I've read in a long time about loving yourself and making peace with your (plus-size) body.  It also makes me want to hunt down my copy of "Good in Bed" and read it again!

I'm mentioning this one not as an award, but a reminder.  Turbo Twenty Three by Janet Evanovich.  The 23rd book in the Stephanie Plum series and what I believe will be the last for me.  I stuck it out longer than anyone else I know, hoping that it would recapture the fun of the beginning of the series, or at least end and we'd know who Stephanie ends up with:  Morelli or Ranger.  I don't think that's ever getting resolved, and the books are just getting sillier as we move along.  Next!

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa has to be one of the heart-wrenching books that I have ever read in my life.  Based on a true story, it's about a girl and her family fleeing the Nazis on the St. Louis.  The story goes back and forth, from the girl's point of view to her great-niece's present day view and then they come together in the end. I've read plenty of stories about the World War II era and this one punched me in the gut. Another WWII era book that I read was The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and that was a rough one as well.  I honestly needed something fluffy to read after finishing.

So for pure fluffiness, I read the Winter Street Series by Elin Hildebrand.  They were enough to keep me interested, but by the third one I was sick of them.  And the shameless plug that the author put in the third one for one of her books just annoyed me.  Another "fluffy" read was another vampire book called Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper which was funny and unlike any other vampire novels that I've read.  It has a sequel that I may or may not go back to read. 

The last one that I finished for the year was The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street by Susan Jane Gilman.  It's about an ice cream heiress, Lillian Dunkle, and basically is her life story, about how she came to this country from Russia in the early part of the 20th century, the horse and wagon accident that left her unable to walk, and about opening her ice cream brand, Dunkle's Ice Cream with her husband.  It was fiction, but very well-researched and felt like reality a lot of the time. 

So there you have it.  I'm starting to think about books that I want to read for 2018,too.  See you next year!

The 2016 Book Post

It's time for the Book Post of 2016....


I set a goal of 25 books, and read 44.  Sweet!

My favorites:

"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."

I'm sure that no one's surprised by this.  It wasn't nearly as great as the other Harry Potter books because A. it wasn't written by J.K. Rowling and B. it's a play.  Seeing a play is going to always be better than reading the play. ( And if I get a chance to get tickets to Cursed Child on Broadway in 2018, I will go excitedly and with extreme pride.  It's a pipe dream, I know)  But still.....more Harry Potter!!

"The Rose Years", Little House companion series.

Before Harry Potter, there was my childhood obsession with Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder.  And that has continued to my adulthood, where I have read anything I could get my hands on.  These books are about Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.   This book series wasn't written by Laura of course, but mostly by Roger Lea MacBride, who knew Rose personally.  They're written in a similar style of the original books.  I thoroughly enjoyed them, but like many others I liked the earlier ones of the series better.  A lot of people wrote reviews that they disliked Rose because she didn't turn out like her obedient mother.  Well, they aren't the same person!  Rose always had a taste for grand adventure, and kudos to her for following her heart.

"The Residence:  Inside the Private World of the White House."

I LOVED reading about the staff, occupants and daily life of the White House.  The pictures were especially stunning.


I also read several knitting books, and some short stories about Hogwarts and backstories of other Harry Potter characters.  And I'm finishing off the year with Lianne Moriarty's "Truly, Madly, Guilty."

I did stick with my goal of not buying books for the most part because of the clutter...mostly all that I read came from the library or I bought them for my tablet.  Five years running!  However, I had a giftcard to Barnes and Noble so part of my birthday was spent picking out books.

On tap for 2017:  "Hungry Heart" by Jennifer Weiner.  Wally Lamb's new book "I'll Take you There."  and "The Nest" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney are all in the house.  Just have to pick which one.

Wait's Almost Over!!

Two more days until this shows up in my Kindle account.  Two. More. Days.

Two more days til I log off of social media and read my face off, and not log in again til I'm done so i don't see spoilers.  Two days til I put down the knitting and not pick it back up til the book is finished.

Two. More. Days.

My Personal 2015 Book Awards

I read something like 43 books this year, and here's my favorites of the bunch:

"Rocks:  My Life in and out of Aerosmith."  by Joe Perry

This is a memoir written by the lead guitarist of the band Aerosmith, a favorite of mine for many years.  It was really eye-opening in some parts, I'd read their biography "Walk This Way" in college and reading it from Joe's perspective was quite different.  It's good to hear from "the quiet half of the Toxic Twins."

"My Year with Eleanor" by Noelle Hancock

Another memoir, with the writer on a journey of self-discovery using Eleanor Roosevelt's life as an example to follow.  I learned so much about Eleanor Roosevelt in the process and think of her now as a fantastic example of charity, class and stubborness being a good thing.  

"A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness

The lead character, Diana Bishop, comes from a long line of distinguished witches, and has absolutely zero interest in her bloodline of scorcery.  Until she is dragged down into the underworld.  I read this while I was sick with the flu in February and enjoyed it immensely.  It's a trilogy, and each book is quite long.  I haven't gone back for the second book yet, but I will eventually.

"The Boston Girl" by Anita Diamant

Honestly, this felt like nonfiction.....beautiful story of Addie Baum and her immigrant family in the North End of Boston.  It really made you feel like you were there.  

"As You Wish:  Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride." by Cary Elwes

If you are even a casual fan of the movie The Princess Bride, you should read this book.  It's written by Cary Elwes, who played Westley.  It's funny, it's sad and surprising.....just an overall great read.

"Yes Please" by Amy Poehler

Wow, perhaps 2015's theme for books is "The Year of the Memoir."  Amy Poehler is a comedian and actress that's originally from Massachusetts and was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live.  This was a fantastic book and after reading it you feel like you "know" Amy Poehler and would want her to be your friend.  I felt the same way about "Bossypants" by Tina Fey.  Tina and Amy are sometimes referred to as each other's "Comedy Wife."  Their sketches on SNL and their movies are hilarious.  And this year, my "besties" were awesome when they co-hosted "Saturday Night Live" on my birthday last week.  :)  I hope to see their new movie "Sisters" this week with a friend.  

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morganstern

I enjoyed the hell out of this book, with the magical circus just showing up without warning, none of the performers aging and the real purpose of the circus.  The characters were breathtaking.  I won't say any more, I don't want to ruin anything.  I'll just say that Brian got the audiobook for his commute based on my recommendation, and we rarely read the same books.  

"Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok

This was the story of a girl who comes to America at a young age.  She and her mother come from China after the death of the girl's father, and life isn't quite what they hoped it would be.  They live in a condemned building with no heat and they are slave workers in a clothing sweatshop run by a family member.  Riveting.  

"In the Unlikely Event" by Judy Blume

OK, I am a huge Judy Blume fan and read everything that she writes, even kids books.  This was her newest and was based on the real event of planes coming down from the sky in New Jersey in the fifties.  Mind-blowing stuff.  

"What Alice Forgot" by Lianne Moriarty.

Imagine having the perfect life, married to the perfect man and about to have your first child.  Then imagine waking up one day to find that you can't remember the last ten years of your life and in that time, you've had three children and are in the middle of a bitter divorce from Mr. Wonderful.  I couldn't put this down.  

And a late submission, I just finished "The Kids are All Right." by Liz Welch and Diana Welch.  It's (you guessed it) another memoir.  It's the very true story of four young siblings losing both their parents three years apart in the eighties.  It's a sad story, but has a hopeful ending.  Plus, there's a website to see family photos and a section dedicated to other people writing their version of the story.  

Next up, for 2016:

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins.  It's billed as "a debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives. "

"Choose Your Own Autobiography" by Neil Patrick Harris.  He's the incredible actor that brought you the characters of "Doogie Houser" and Barney on "How I Met Your Mother."  HIMYM is one of my all-time favorite shows, so I am looking forward to this.  

The Day After

Christmas has come and gone for another year....and it was a pretty good one.  For one thing, it's got to be one of the warmest Christmases on record!  It felt weird but I'm not complaining for sure.   We were festive, we were prepared, and we had fun.  For once I had all of the wrapping done in plenty of time, and I was only sewing buttons and weaving in ends on TWO projects during the day on Christmas Eve.  Considering other years, that's pretty good.  Brian and I hosted this year, and all was well.  Dinner went off with only a slight hiccup and dessert was really lovely.  The house isn't even as trashed as it usually is the day after Christmas.  No gift returns this year, and the best surprise was Alton Brown tickets for Brian.  All FOUR of us are going to see his show in April.  It was a great family secret and I'm particularly proud of the boys for keeping it.

Today has been kind of a lazy day, and I feel really comfortable and happy.  We've let the boys run around and do whatever they like today.  That equals a huge blanket fort in their bedroom, breaking open geodes from the kit that was sent by Uncle Matt and Aunt Katie, eating copious amounts of treats and right now, building a robot from the kit that Will received from us for Christmas.  I spent part of it in new pajamas, reading "The Kids are All Right:  A Memoir" by Liz Welch and Diana Welch.  (It's a true story, and pretty riveting.  I had trouble putting it down.)  Later on I braved shopping and even that wasn't too terrible.  For the first time in 15 years, all of the wrapping paper and boxes/tissue paper have been purged and organized, and will be going back to the garage in better shape than they came upstairs.

Now tonight is a dinner of leftover pasta and meat sauce, and the movie Inside Out.  I'm loving this winter vacation.

A Gateway

With "March Madness" going on there hasn't been a lot of new television for me to watch while knitting.  So I've been reading a little bit more.  And I got to thinking:  I love it when books lead to more books.

For example, I read a book two years ago called "The House at the End of Hope Street," by Menna Van Praag. It was a total random find at the library, and I loved it so very much that I recommended it to all of my friends. Now I'm about halfway through her newest "The Dress Shop of Dreams" and I'm finding her sophomore effort spellbinding as well.  Books don't often suck me in and make me late to work anymore.  That was the case today, though and I totally didn't mind.

Another recent random library find:  "My Year with Eleanor" by Noelle Hancock.  Not the best book on the planet, but I did like it.  And without it I never would've picked up Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography.  What a fascinating woman!

"Pioneer Girl"

I got an email from Amazon the other day and literally squealed with joy....my copy of "Pioneer Girl:  The Annotated Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder" is on its way!!!!

This book was published just last year and the first printing went like hotcakes. I'll bet the second printing goes quickly, too.

I've been a fan of Little House on the Prairie (the books, not the TV show) for as long as I can remember.  I've read and re-read them so many times in childhood and adulthood that I know a lot of the material by heart.  I have all of my books and the only time I'm "sad" that I have two boys is when I'm reminded that they have no interest in reading them with me.  (That's what grand-daughters will be for someday, I hope!)  I've read many an article about the "story behind the story," whether Laura and Almanzo's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, "ghost-wrote" the books, etc.  I've even checked out the cookbook from the library to see if I was interested in making the "vanity cakes" from Little House on Plum Creek or the apples n onions from Farmer Boy.  Probably the only thing I haven't done is someday plan a vacation around the U.S., seeing the "Laura Sites" in Mansfield, Missouri, De Smet North Dakota and Lake Pepin, Minnesota.  (there are others but the names are escaping me.)  But for now, I'm going to bask in my "All Things Laura" fandom geekiness and stalk my mailbox.  Woohoo!

Books in Review and 2014 Reading List

I love books almost as much as I love knitting.  If I could find a way to read a book AND knit at the same time I'd be a happy girl.  Yes, I know that I could download an audiobook onto my iPod and listen to it, but that feels a little strange (and unsociable) in my own house.

For now, the 2013 review.  I turn to the fabulous tool Goodreads, which is so much better than keeping an Excel spreadsheet or (eek!) writing down all of those books in a notebook.

I left 2013 with 185 books on my "to-read" shelf.  This isn't an accurate portrayal of what I will actually read.  I put books on that "to-read" shelf if they catch my fancy for any reason.  Once in a while I go through and delete some of them in a "what was I thinking??" moment.

I read 96 books in 2013!  This includes books that I read aloud to the boys.  (Yes, I do think that they count.  I read them, didn't I?)  2013 was the first year that Will started reading books to himself, but I make sure to read out loud to him too, because I know that he loves it.   We are still plugging through the Harry Potter series, having finished the second book sometime in December and seeing "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"  during this past Winter Break.  I debated giving him "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"  for Christmas, but ultimately decided to take a short break and read something else.  He got a little afraid of some of the situations in the second book and the books get darker as the series moves on.  Perhaps this Spring we will start it, sooner if he breaks me down by begging.

Here's my list of books that I would like to read in 2014.  I'm trying to get some of the books that I queued on Goodreads when I first got my account (2008!)   There are other books, not counting any knitting books, and who knows what will catch my fancy at the library this year!

1.  The Yarn Whisperer.  (Clara Parkes)  I received this as a Christmas gift, so it will likely be first.

2.  More books from the Dresden Files series by James Butcher.  I stopped at the third one but will definitely keep going into the new year.

3.  Home Front.  (Kristin Hannah.)

4.  The Thirteenth Tale.  (Diane Setterfield.)

5.  The Post-Birthday World.  (Lionel Shriver.)

6.  Growing Up Amish:  A Memoir. (Ira Wagler)

7.  Bowling Avenue.  (Ann Shayne.)

8.  His Dark Materials (Phillip Pullman) One knitting friend told me that these books were enormously satisfying after finishing the Harry Potter series for the second time and missing them.

9.  The Wander Year:  One Couple's Journey Around the World.  (Mike McIntyre)

10.  The Signature of All Things.  (Elizabeth Gilbert.)

11.  We Are Water.  (Wally Lamb)

12.  Nothing Daunted:  The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West.  (Dorothy Wickendon)

Favorite Childhood Books

While packing up the basement a few weeks ago, I came across boxes of books from my childhood.  Some of them had been water-damaged so I had to crack open each box and assess the damage.  I kept a pad of paper handy to mark down the books that were ruined because I will eventually replace them.  Luckily, I only had to replace two or three. 

The first box was chock-full of Babysitters Club books, by Ann M. Martin.  Good Lord, I loved these!  I think I read about seventy of them...I loved reading about their adventures and would voraciously devour them as soon as they came out.  They came out monthly I believe, and my Mom always got the new ones for me.  What I didn't know is that there were over a hundred!  That's not counting the special "adventure" release ones.  I believe that it's on my Goodreads list to read the last one someday.  I thought of these books late last night as I was tossing together a "kid kit" to take with us while the house is being shown and we can't go home.  I think I did the original four members (Kristy, Claudia, Mary Ann and Stacey) justice with my snacks, water and juice boxes, two toys, Uno, paper and cool crayons.

Another series I came across:  The Little House books.  I am a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, even in adulthood.  I've read every biography I could get my hands on, and pored over pictures and wondered what life was really like back then.    This is one of the only reasons why I wish I had a daughter...to pass these books onto her.  But Will might enjoy them too, I certainly am going to try!  Sadly, this series took two casualties to the water damage, "Farmer Boy" and "Little House in the Big Woods."  They will be replaced someday. 

Another series that I was crazy about (but surprisingly wasn't in the basement) was the Ann of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery.  Reading about orphan Ann going to live with her aunt and uncle, growing up, getting married and starting a family....loved them.  Prince Edward Island sounded like a magical place growing up, with its sea and red dirt.  In 2006 I was lucky to take a trip there and it was every bit as beautiful as the books described. 

What are some of your favorite childhood books?



 

The Poet

Last year for Christmas, my parents got Will a copy of Shel Silverstein's poetry book "With Everything On It."  Will and I both enjoyed the heck out of it, reading a little every night.  Over a year later Will will occasionally mention a poem from the book "Mom, remember "A Mouse in This House?  that guy was crazy!"  or "Why would anyone want a kitchen sink on their hot dog???"  Since he loved that book, I picked up a copy of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" for Christmas this year. 

I never read much of Shel Silverstein growing up.  I was really big on books, but poetry never crossed my radar.  Now I'm glad I didn't, because we get to enjoy it together, and Will has already pointed out to me that there's another book called "A Light in the Attic."  Yep, we'll be getting that one too.

But the real joy is that all on his own, Will's decided to start writing poems himself.  He busies himself with paper and pen at the kitchen table coming up with things like "Swim with me, swim with me, swim with me baby."  Some of them don't make any sense, like "Do you like this new toy?  Is it your best?  It's mine."  But who cares?  This kid is writing on his own, sentences and everything.  Sure there's some backwards letters, and some of it is spelled phonetically.  But my goodness, is this Mom proud today!

Harry Potter Redux

22.  Read the Harry Potter series (9/17/12)

I finished the seventh Harry Potter book on Monday night.  And I bawled my eyes out.  These were such great books, I wish I'd discovered them sooner.  I never saw myself enjoying "Fantasy" books but I really, really did!  And words do not express how BUMMED I am that there's no more to read.  This is honestly the first time in my life that I've regretted getting books from the library instead of purchasing a copy.  (Which is of course easily remedied.)  I don't know if I could pick a favorite.  I really liked #4 with the Tri-Wizard Championship, but #7 was incredible.  I haven't felt this strongly about a series in an incredibly long time.

The only complaint I have?  The epilogue in #7.  I won't spoil it for anyone...but it left me wanting more.  There's so many details that I wanted to know, and it was so far into the future.  I know I'm not the only person that feels this way, either.

At least I still have 6 movies to placate me.  And the third one just came in from Netflix yesterday!

Harry and the Whole Gang

Currently I am working on this Day Zero Item:

#22.  Read the Harry Potter series (3/7)


Oh, how I hate to admit this.  I am really enjoying the Harry Potter series!  I can honestly see what all the fuss was about.  I never gave these books much thought when they first started coming out because I thought that they were just for kids.  Well, they are kids' books but that's not stopping me from enjoying them.    However, I'm not sorry that I missed each book coming out and the dressing up and the release parties and everything.  Because well.....this way I can totally binge on the books.  No sooner do I finish one, I pull up my library account and request the next one.  Last time, I requested the next two books so there'd be no waiting, I'd already have the next one in the house.  I was really excited to get an email from the library the next day that my book was in.  I raced down there at lunchtime....only to find out that #5 came in and I'm waiting on #4.  Bummer.  I think that Will might be a Harry Potter fan later on too, I started reading a little of the first book aloud to him.  I'm a little concerned about continuing though, I think that there are some things in there that might scare him.  When he gets a little older, it's something I'd certainly like to re-visit.

I just finished Book #3 and so far it's been my favorite.  It felt pivotal really, with the life details of Harry and his family that it revealed.    It's also  the first book where Harry's a teenager.  I can't wait to see what the other books have in store.  And believe it or not, I want to see the movies now, too!  :)

Music to My Ears.

It's a busy Saturday, with errands, cleaning and the usual running around.  For the first time in over...oh I don't know how long....we all slept through the night! So that made all the running around a lot easier, though my sleep debt is still pretty high so I feel groggy.

Will was a lucky kid today, he got to go out on errands and spend time alone with first Dad, and then Mom today!  Daddy took him to BJ's for some staples, and he came home really excited.  "Mommy!  Did you know that you can eat a little bit of EVERYTHING in BJ's before you buy it?  I had a little cheeseburger, and some hot dogs with mustard.  And guess what?  I like mustard now!"  Ah.....so he's been introduced to the food samples.  And he likes mustard.....he is such a picky eater that if BJ's food samples got him to try something new, then I'm pretty stoked about it.

Later on, Will and I went to the library.  I had a bagful of overdue books, and a couple books on hold.  We spent about half an hour browsing books in the children's room, and he sat on the floor "reading" a book about the dentist.  We took another big bag of books home, including two DVD's of The Wiggles.  As we were walking out the door to the parking lot he said with a big smile and a satisfied sigh "Mom?  I LOVE the library.  Everything about it.  I love the books, the movies, the librarians.  Well, maybe not the parking.  But everything else.  I could just stay here all day!

Music to my ears.  I'm so glad to be raising a kid that loves the library as much as I do!

Open Book, Turn Pages, Repeat :)

Day 18:  What is a book you could read over and over again and never get sick of?


I have many, many, MANY books like this.  But if I have to pick just one....I choose "Good in Bed" by Jennifer Weiner.  (and this year is the tenth anniversary of "Good in Bed...hard to believe!)

Get your mind out of the gutter, it's not that kind of book.  My mom reads this blog!  Shame on you!  :)
The main character is Cannie Shapiro and at the beginning of the story, her boyfriend has just dumped her and written a column in a magazine about falling in love with a "larger" woman.  She is of course mortified and the book takes off after that.

I've lost count of how many times I have read this book.  It's my go-to book when I am looking for a quick couple of paragraphs to keep me company at breakfast, or bored with nothing else to read.  The characters and Cannie's life as a whole just seem very realistic to me, and the ending is beautiful.  No, I won't spoil it for you, if you haven't read it go and check it out.  It was Jennifer Weiner's breakthrough book, and she has gone on to write a few others.  None of them grabbed me the way "Good in Bed" did, but my second favorite of hers was "Little Earthquakes" and I did enjoy the others.  She is also now the writer and (I believe) producer of the show "State of Georgia" on ABC Family.

Other runners-up for books I could (and have) read over and over:

"Not Without My Daughter" by Betty Mahmoody.    The story of a woman and daughter being kidnapped by her husband and whisked off to his home country of Iran in the eighties.  Riveting stuff, especially since it's a true story.

"Sleeping with the Enemy" by Nancy Price.  Fiction, about a woman who escapes her abusive husband by faking her own death.  My copy is worn out from reading it.

Both are dark choices for my usual sunny disposition.  Both feature strong women getting out of bad situations.  And although I enjoy the work of both Sally Field (Daughter) and Julia Roberts (Enemy), I didn't like either film adaptation.

What books do you have on your "repeat" list?

Making Time to Read

I admit it, when it comes to books and Goodreads, I am a greedy clicker.  I'll look at my friends' book reviews and if the title or description catches me in even the tiniest way I add it to my "to-read" queue.  It's not like there's any harm in that, since adding them to a "to read" pile doesn't cost any money and nobody's going to be in trouble if I don't read the book.  Lord knows I love to read!  I used to get busted in grade school for reading while the teacher was talking.  I gnaw on books like bones.  Plus I joined a book club on Facebook a few months ago with some of my friends, we pick a monthly book and then talk about it afterwards on Facebook.  It's made me read books that I wouldn't normally, and I've really enjoyed it so far.

But the reading, though I do plenty of it, oftentimes takes a backseat to the knitting.  For as much as I love to read, I also love to knit.  And I know that I *could* do audiobooks but I just feel too strange doing that in my own home.   (this is the only thing I miss about having a one-hour commute to work, by the way)  Having had a Goodreads account for three and a half years, the list gets longer and the "read" pile will never catch up.  So it was high time to go through some of the oldest additions to my list and purge.  I've picked my six next books, some of the oldest on the list.  No time limit, I just want to be able to cross them off:

1.  Household Words:  A Novel (Silber.)  Added in February, 2008. 

2.  Couldn't Keep It to Myself:  Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution.  (Lamb)  Added in February, 2008.

3.  The Inheritance of Loss.  (Desai) added in April, 2008

4.  Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs:  A Low Culture Manifesto.  (Klosterman) added in August, 2008.

5.  Their Eyes Were Watching God. (Hurston)  Added April, 2009.

I have also had Anna Karennina  in the house since 2005 B.C.  (before children)  I really DO want to read it, but am intimidated by how many pages are in it!

I get asked this a lot:  "How do you find the time to read all those books?"  The answer is simple:  I just do!  For one thing, I'm a fast reader.  I also don't sleep, and I read (or knit) every free chance I get.  My bag always has a book and a small knitting project in it, no matter where I am going.  That way, you're not pissed off when you're in a half-hour line at the bank, or (the worst)your doctor is running an hour behind and you're there with nothing to do.  And I am the QUEEN of letting the housework go while I catch up with Stephanie Plum or knock off a few rows of a scarf or baby sweater.  

What's on your to-read list?

Inquiring Minds

For today's post, I have three questions...

1.  Why is it that we complain all winter long about the incessant piles of snow and cold temps...and then crow about the first heat wave of the year?  Human nature is a funny, funny thing.

2.  How in the hell did my family of four accumulate so much stuff!!??  I'm currently going through piles in my house and doing the seasonal clothing switch for all four of us.  (this process, because of work and school and everything else, takes about a week and the living arrangements get so badly piled with stuff that it is one miserable week.)

3.  I just finished Tina Fey's new book "Bossypants."  If you're a Tina Fey fan like me, you will like her even more after reading it.  If you're not a fan, well, you will be by the end of the book.  Especially if you are a working mom.  Or if you like to laugh.

4.  Yeah, I just realized that the last one wasn't a question.  I guess the last question could be...."Have you seen my mind?  :)" 

Out of my Comfort Zone...A Book Series Review

Awhile back, my friend Tracy recommended a book series to me called "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins.  There are three books in the series, "Crank," "Glass" and "Fallout."  All of them are about a young woman and her addiction to meth.  The books are written in poetic prose, which really adds something to the subject matter AND makes for quick reading. 

Wow.  I don't have any personal experience in my life with drug addiction, but I have friends and family who do, whether it is they themselves that have the issue or someone who loves them that is/has dealt with it.  This series, while powerful, was really, really hard to read.  The first book, when it was just the character of Kristina hurting herself with her addiction it wasn't terrible reading.  Later on, when she becomes a teenage mother and her drug addiction affects her kids and the rest of the family, that was really hard to get  through.  There were times that I wanted to put down the second book and run away from it, I was so uncomfortable with the subject matter.  But it's good to get out of your comfort zone sometimes, and it was interesting to say the least the all-encompassing way that Kristina's meth use, or "flirting with the monster" takes her life down the tubes.  What is even more tragic is how quickly everything turns to crap with this kind of abuse and addiction.  My generation is of the Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign, and I did "just say no."  I am of the school of "Drugs are bad, m'kay??"  But I've never had to question why.  This book tells you why, exactly.

At first I was shocked (shocked!) that this was in the Young Adult section in the library.  Not that I am into banning books, in fact, I'm quite against it. But then I guess that they would serve as a pretty harsh warning to teenagers thinking of using meth and gives a good case to what will happen if you do.  I think that my perception of when kids can first encounter drug use and/or be offered drugs is a big misconception.  I have a friend from college that I haven't talked to in ages, she works as a substance abuse counselor.  I remember a conversation with her five years ago regarding drug use and kids and she said then that she has regular conversations with her daughter, then seven, about the dangers of drug use.  She said that in her job, she has seen problems arise in kids as young as nine or ten.  NINE or TEN.  I can't say that for my generation, that I saw drugs at that age, or older even.  Perhaps I was oblivious, but I don't really believe that drug use was rampant on the playgrounds I grew up on.  High school, sure I knew kids that did drugs.  Mostly pot, but I didn't know anyone that did harder drugs.  I knew of a little more hard drug use in college, and working as a property manager in the city, I see it every day.  A lot of it in plain sight. 

Another thing that surprised me is that this is a work of fiction.  The situation seems so REAL as you're reading it and you're picturing the family and how they're dealing with it and the repercussions of people's life choices.  But it is not real.  However, the series is based on the author's daughter and her very real battle with drug addiction at a young age, and the author gaining custody of her son because of it. 

All I can say, after reading these books, is that I pray that I will not EVER have to deal with the subject matter in real life.  And that, after reading these books and seeing what I see every day in the neighborhood that I work in, to have honest, open discussions with my children about drug use, abuse and the affects. 

So Many Books, So Little Time....

I was checking out my list of books that I want to read on Goodreads today, and I'm shocked to see that my "to-read" list now has 176 books!  I should explain:  anytime I see a book that I remotely think I would be interested in, I add it to the list.  After all, clicking is free  (hooray for clicking!) and if I don't add it, I WILL want to read it later and won't be able to remember it!

I just finished up "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris.  As example, that one's been in the queue for two years!  OH MY GOD what a funny book!  I haven't laughed like that while reading in a long time.  Since I work alone, I'll often read a book while I eat my lunch.  It took me almost two weeks of lunch to get through that one, but I didn't mind.  It was funny in a way that I wanted to savor it's humor instead of digesting it quickly and calling it a day.  The descriptions of his family members are bizarre, and the recounting of his life in Paris, struggling to speak French are hilarious.  I went and added the guy's whole catalog to the list.   I'm famous for that as well; once I find an author I really like I'll bone up on their books. 

Surprisingly, I have not yet gotten Jennifer Weiner's latest, "Fly Away Home".  I think I'll make that the first book I download on the e-reader that Brian got me for Christmas.  I know....it's August and I'm way behind.  The people that know me best (and read this blog!) are certainly not surprised!

The Banned Books List

I've finally managed to finish "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou.  It's tough to finish a book when the most time you dedicate to it is standing by the crib, soothing a sleepy but stubborn baby!

This book was a real eye-opener.  I had never read anything by Maya Angelou before, and her biography of her childhood is shocking at times, including details of when she was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of eight and growing up in post-slavery racism in the American South during the 1930's/1940's.   Her writing is honest, beautiful and raw and I really enjoyed the book.  I looked at Goodreads reviews after I was finished and the average rating appears to be five stars.   Some people call it raw and empowering, others find it disturbing.  One reviewer even called it disgusting, adding that the details of the book made them sick to their stomach.  I wasn't surprised at all that this classic is often challenged and is on the original "Banned Books List."  Yes, I understand that people have a right to their opinion.  But I didn't find the book disgusting.  This is the story of Ms. Angelou's life, and the rape, though the details are just a small part of the book, really played a part of who she became and how it affected her life.  Without the details, she wouldn't have been able to illustrate to the reader what part it played in her later years.

After reading the book, it got me thinking about banned books.  I started a new shelf on my Goodreads account, "Banned Books."  Then, with a little help from the internet, I started sorting books into that category.  Out of the 500+ books I have listed (WOW!) I've so far found 11 that have been on a "Banned Book List" at one time or another.  I haven't spent much time on it, so I am guessing that there are more. 

I feel fortunate to have grown up in a household where my parents didn't censor what I was allowed to read.  My parents didn't freak out that I was reading "Are You There God?  It's Me Margaret" by Judy Blume.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that my mom picked that one up at a yard sale!  Nor did they storm the high school when my junior class was reading "The Catcher in the Rye" or protest when I listed my favorite author in the yearbook as V.C. Andrews.  I don't believe in censoring what kids should be allowed to read because of uncomfortable topics (Are You There God: religion, adolescence.  V.C. Andrews:  incest.)  Why should a group of people be able to sit down and make a list of books that nobody else is allowed to read??  I'm willing to bet that at the time these books were banned, the people doing the banning probably hadn't even read them!  

Since the original banning of these books (1970's/80's??) a lot of them have been allowed in schools.  But there still are groups out there that express their outrage by insisting that not only their kid not be allowed to read a book, that nobody's kid should be able to read it.  All I can say is that I will never be that type of parent that goes along with the crowd and reigns down on a school or library insisting that certain books are not to be read because of sensitive topics.  Without sensitive topics in books, how do kids learn about them?  (Judy Blume  has a really good take on censorship, and, having spent a long time on the Banned Books List, I believe she knows what she's talking about.)  The bottom line is, I don't believe that I have the right to limit what kids read.  I want my boys to grow up the same way I did, with the freedom to pursue whatever books they choose.

Yarn Stashing=Danger Ahead!

I knew that I loved Ebay for a reason!

Ok...I was on Ebay today looking for something Winnie the Pooh for my nursery.  I did find what I was looking for rather quickly, and then decided to have a wee bit of fun.

I had planned on making all sorts of handmade (mostly knitted) Christmas gifts for this past Christmas, and it was a major failure.  I came close to finishing two different gifts, one of which I won't mention because I'm saving it as a first anniversary gift.  (it was supposed to be a wedding gift, then a Christmas gift, now a first anniversary gift.  Whatever!)  Anyway, I had chosen a ball of blue sparkly mohair yarn from my yarn stash on Ravelry to make my aunt a one-skein scarf as a Christmas gift.  One skein, my eye!  On Christmas Eve I sat down to finish it, because y'know, there's no time like the present to finish something like that.  And I was freaking out because I was running out of yarn.  No way was I running out on Christmas Eve to find another skein!  Not only that, I had bought this yarn a couple of years ago so there really is no chance of matching up dye lots.  So last week, I was in Michael's with the guys and went looking for this particular yarn.  No go.  So just for fun, I typed in "Lionbrand Moonlight Mohair Glacier Bay" in Ebay's search engine.  Voila!  Lots of it, and for cheaper than I had originally paid!  So now I have another skein in the mail to me, and I didn't have to venture all over God's Green Acre to find another skein!

So then I typed in "Noro Kureyon" and "Lamb's Pride" just to see what's out there.  Wow!!!  I had to physically restrain myself.  I'm a "touch it before I buy it" kind of gal when it comes to yarn, so I'd never buy a yarn on Ebay that I wasn't already familiar with.  But just knowing that there's a world of yarn on Ebay just clicks away....that's dangerous information!  :)  Luckily I can hold back.

I also got a couple of knitting books from the library the other day.  One rule I have for myself is that I must check out a knitting book from the library first to make sure I reaaalllly have to have it, unless it's a gift.  I got "Domiknitrix," "The Yarn Harlot" and "Knitgrrrl."  I flipped through "Domiknitrix" on Friday morning over coffee in a little bit of alone time and I'm glad I didn't buy it.  It did have some good tips but the patterns really aren't anything I'd ever make.  "Knitgrrrl" is written more for teenage girls, but it had some great ideas, good online links for help AND I think I might have had a breakthrough on how to do seed stitch.  I'm dying to make Stitch n Bitch's "Big Bad Baby Blanket" but every time I try to cast on and do a seed stitch all my stitches get tangled and it's a huge mess.  I'm going to play with "Knitgrrrl" at my side with some yarn to see if I've figured it out in my head.  Which brings me to the "Yarn Harlot" book.  I heart this book, and I need to add it to the list of books that I need to own!  This woman....her sense of humor alone is worth the book, especially with her comments about having a yarn stash! 

Ahhh....I love knitting.  :)