Average Girl Reads

2009-11-06T14:27:00.001-05:00

Sue Barton, Visiting Nurse by Helen Dore Boylston

Genre: fiction, romance
On my TBR list?: Yes

Book 3 of 7

Blurb: In this installment of the series, Sue Barton has graduated from her nursing program and has been accepted as one of the famous Henry Street nurses in NYC. She loves her job, but will she choose it over marriage to Dr. Bill Barry?

I'm not sure what age group this book was intended for when it was published in 1938, but I imagine that it gave young girls a good idea of what public nursing was about. I know that it drove me to find out more about Lillian Wald and the real Henry Street program.

Another aspect of this book that I enjoyed is that Boylston shows Sue Barton as something of an independent woman, or as independent as a woman could be in the 1930s. Not only does she insist on having some time on her own before she marries, but this agreement with her fiance becomes a major plot point. This is in contrast to "The Real Thing" by Rosamond DuJardin, a book that was probably aimed at the same audience but that made husband-hunting sound like the main reason for going to college.

This is the type of book I would have no problem handing to my 12-year-old, but she probably wouldn't read it because of the outdated writing style. It is a good "palate cleanser" for an adult who just finished reading a more intense book, though.

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2009-11-06T13:58:00.001-05:00

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught by Neta Jackson

Genre: Christian fiction
On my TBR list?: Yes

Book 5 of 7 in a series

This book gives the reader another roller-coaster ride with the Yada Yada Prayer Group. They deal with people going into jail and getting out of jail, young love, pregnancy, job changes, a church merger, and domestic violence. All the while, our narrator Jodi struggles with staying strong in her faith.

Reading this book was like talking to a friend that you've known for a while. Old friends tend to repeat their stories, and Jackson did a LOT of recapping in this volume. I know that it is difficult to know how much you should reference previous events for the benefit of the new readers or those who haven't read the other books in a while. Still, this installment seemed to have a lot more references than the others. I found myself skimming a lot to get to the new plot points.

There also seemed to be a lot about transportation. This is the fifth book in the series; I'm not sure that we still need descriptions of how the various characters get around town, except in the instances when it is germane to the plot. Besides, shouldn't the Baxters have a second car by now?

All in all, it wasn't a bad installment of the series, but I'm starting to feel like I did when I watched the last season of "7th Heaven". I kept watching to the bitter end because I had invested time in the characters. I'm hoping that the last two books take the series out with a bang and not a whimper.

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"The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey" by Lisa Papademetriou

2009-11-02T13:53:00.003-05:00

The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls from Jersey by Lisa Papademetriou

Genre: YA, fiction, fantasy
On my TBR list?: Yes

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Brief description: Two girls who are total opposites get zapped into the fantasy book that they are studying for English class, changing the plot and themselves in the process.

I checked this out of the library for myself, but my 12-year-old daughter got to it first. She devoured it in two days and proclaimed that I had to read it. Her enthusiasm was the only thing that got me through this predictable book.

To be fair, the one-dimensional characters probably wouldn't be so predictable to a middle schooler who hasn't been exposed to as much television and film as I have. You have the nerdy girl and the rich airhead, the less handsome guy who turns out to be a better person than the buff hotties, and the wisecracking talking animal thrown in for comic relief. I knew before the end of the first chapter what lesson each girl needed to learn. This would be the perfect set-up for a Saturday night movie on Disney Channel, so I wasn't surprised to find out that the author has written novelizations of Disney series like "Lizzie McGuire" and "That's So Raven".

Not only was the book predictable but it also had an identity crisis. There were a couple dark secrets thrown in that didn't fit the otherwise light tone of the book -- not too dark for a 12-year-old to handle, but dark enough to make you wonder which direction the book is going in. If I had a choice, I would have gone with the more serious tone and get rid of the lame jokes that sound cute coming out the mouths of Disney's young ingenues, but fall flat on the page.

Bottom line: although many YA novels appeal to adults, this is not one of them. Save it for your kids.

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Sunday Salon: Putting a Halt on the Alice Books

2009-10-30T10:00:00.004-04:00

My daughter C1, age 12, got interested in the Alice books by Phyllis Naylor Reynolds after we watched a movie based on them (Alice Upside Down). All I knew about the series was that there were several books and they start with Alice in 6th grade. I'm all about my tweens reading books with characters that are their age, so I checked out a few of the books from the library. C1 is a speedy reader and these books are relatively short, so she was devouring one or two of the Alice books a week.

If you are familiar with the Alice series, then you know where this little tale is going. C2 read so fast that she ended up at Alice On The Outside. In this book, Alice is in 8th grade and is curious about sex and the things she believes her late mother should be teaching her. It has some frank talk about sex in the first chapter that I'm not sure C2 is ready for -- or maybe I'm not ready for her to be reading. Seeing this made me do a little more research about the Alice series and now I realize that the subject matter will probably be getting even more adult in the later books. The author's intention seems to have been for the books to grow with the reader, and I respect that. It is just makes things difficult for kids who pick up on the series years later.

I know that other people would say that I should take this an opportunity to discuss sex with C2. Other mothers would probably hand her the book and deal with the questions that arise. Unfortunately, C2 is a smart kid who thinks she knows everything, so she would read it and not ask any questions. I am just uncomfortable enough that I wouldn't know how to draw her into a conversation. So I put a halt to C2 reading the series for now, to give us both time to grow up a little.

READ: Last week was a good reading week for me; I finished three books!

I have several other quick reads on my stack, so I expect this week to be another good one, reading-wise.

TBR LIST: The list stands at 109 titles. I'm trying to be good about not adding any more titles because I would really like to see the total go down. The longer some of these books sit on my list, the less I am interested in reading them. I start to feel like I already read them just because I've read so many reviews. Isn't that crazy?

CURRENTLY READING: I am still picking at Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible in between other books. His comments on the Bible are mildly interesting, but the book is divided in sections so it is easy to put down and pick up again.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

2009-10-29T19:50:00.002-04:00

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Genre: fiction, supernatural, vampires
On my TBR list?: yes

Book #2 of the Southern Vampire Mysteries

This is the second book in a series, so if you read the first book you already know whether you like these characters. Here are few things that I like particularly about this installment:

--Harris makes sure to show that there are good and bad supernatural creatures, just as there are good and bad humans.

--Sometimes an author repeats big chunks of the previous books in order to bring a first-time reader up to speed. This can be annoying for the hardcore fans. Luckily, Harris keeps the explanation in this book to a minimum.

--The sex in the book is in plain language but not overly graphic. I would put it between PG-13 and R.

I can see why these books are being adapted for TV; each book is like watching a TV movie. I can't wait to pick up the next one!

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I'm not a book buyer, but . . .

2009-10-29T16:33:00.002-04:00

. . . I was rather tempted to buy a few paperbacks when I was in Wal-Mart today. I'm almost finished with Living Dead in Dallas">Living Dead in Dallas and I saw that the next book in the series, Club Dead">Club Dead, is selling for $5.97 at my local store. Yes, I know that Wal-Mart is evil and all that. Still, it is hard to turn away from $6 for a paperback, especially since I know that I will have to wait another month to get the book from the library. Temptation, thy name is Wal-Mart!

Sunday Salon: Slow Going, for a Different Reason

2009-10-25T10:12:00.003-04:00

I am an eyeglass wearer, but I don't go every year to get my eyes checked. When I was younger, it took a long time to convince my mother that I couldn't see; I believe she thought I wanted glasses as a fashion accessory because I had always been attracted to them (Yes, I was the nerdy kid who actually wanted glasses and braces). With six kids in the family, glasses were considered a big expense, so once I got them I didn't go back for an examination until I couldn't see out of them any more. As a result, I never got in the habit of going every year.

The glasses I'm wearing now were purchased nine years ago. I probably wouldn't even be thinking about getting new ones if it weren't for my renewed interest in reading books. Magazines and computer screens don't give me a problem because the type is usually larger and there is more white space, which makes it easier for me to focus. When I had trouble getting into a couple books, I thought it was because the books were boring. I switched to large-print books a couple months ago and told myself it was because I'm a magazine reader and I'm used to big letters :-). This week, however, I have been choosing mediocre TV shows over Living Dead in Dallas, a book for which I was on a waiting list for over a month. Why have I been avoiding it? Because it is in small print. Time to be honest and get myself to an eye doctor!

TBR List: The total stands at 111 titles. I am currently working on Living Dead in Dallas and Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible. The second will be read slowly because I reading is with my Bible readings. I expect to finish the Sookie Stackhouse book today, though -- my pitiful eyes can handle small print better if I stick to daylight hours :-).

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee

2009-10-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee

Genre: nonfiction, food
On my TBR list?: yes

Read for the Spice of Life Challenge, Memoirs and Essays category

Chinese food (or, more accurately, American Chinese food) is my favorite cuisine, so I appreciated getting a behind-the-scenes look at the industry. That said, the last couple chapters of the book did drag for me. Lee's impetus for writing the book was to solve the mystery of how 110 people had all won the Powerball lottery using the same lucky numbers. It turned out that they had all gotten them from fortune cookies. This story was an intriguing introduction to the book, but then to carry on the supposed hunt for who invented the fortune cookie was a bit much. The fortune cookie sections of the book dragged for me, which is a shame because there is so much fascinating information in this book that I would like to be able to recommend it. As it is, I would only suggest it if you are a person like me who could eat American Chinese food three times a week and not get tired of it.

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Sunday Salon: Back on Track

2009-10-18T11:48:00.000-04:00

It has taken a couple of weeks, but I think I am finally settling in to my new routine as a working mom. I've created new schedules for chores and adjusted my bedtime. My days are fuller, but I think I can squeeze reading in again.

FINISHED: I finally completed The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. After I finished, I read some reviews on Goodreads and found that other people had trouble getting through the last few chapters, so I don't feel so bad. My next book, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough, was a breeze to finish by comparison. It is a series novel and it took me only a day and a half. Being familiar with the characters enabled me to skim through those sections where the author brings a new author up to speed.

TBR LIST: My list currently has a total of 112 titles on it. I did say that I would try to avoid adding new titles, but I'm in the middle of three series right now (Yada Yada Prayer Group, Sookie Stackhouse, and the vintage pulp Sue Barton nurse series) and I decided I should add the remaining titles to the list since I will definitely be reading them. I have several books from my list on hand and I am in a reading mode, so I expect to see my total go back down quickly.

UP NEXT: I'm not sure what I want to read next. There are four books from my TBR list at hand --

The first two are series books that I know I will zip through, but I'm not sure if I want to read them first. I'm still working my way through the B90X challenge, so I thought I might read Good Book next to stay in that same vein. Untangling My Chopsticks has a melancholy aura jumping off of it, and I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that right now. I guess you will find out next week what I chose!

Have I Really Made a Splash?

2009-10-13T17:41:00.003-04:00

Jemima over at The Reading Journey gave this blog a Splash Award. According to the description, this award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs. Wow! I don't know what to say. I don't usually think of myself as making a splash with this blog; most weeks, it is more like a tiny ripple :-). Thanks for thinking of me, Jemima!

It is customary to pass the award along. However, I know that many bloggers don't like memes such as this, so I don't want anyone to feel obligated to participate. I just want to acknowledge my gratitude in being recognized by one of my readers.

Who Shares Your Passion?

2009-10-12T14:01:00.001-04:00

This weekend, I spent some time with my best friend and her sister. They live an hour away from me so I don't get to see them often. It was fun, but it reminded me that I don't have people in my day-to-day life who share my passions. None of my friends or acquaintances read the books I read or watch the shows I watch. When I was a teenager, I used to take this as a sign of my individuality. Now, though, there is a sense of loneliness in not having someone you can discuss the latest episode of Mad Men with or someone that you can recommend a good book to and know that she will read it.

The problem is compounded by the plethora of choices in today's society. There are so many more entertainment options than there were when I was a kid, but there are still only 24 hours in a day. Even with the few people I know who do watch shows I watch, we don't all watch at the same time. There is no such thing as "appointment television" anymore. With DVRs and streaming internet options, there is no urgency to watch a show the day it airs which dissipates some of the excitement surrounding it. I may be excited to discuss Tuesday's episode of Biggest Loser on Wednesday, but if I have to wait until after you watch it on Friday it isn't as fun.

I think this is one reason that social networks are so popular. They give you a forum for talking about your passions when you don't have anyone in your neighborhood to discuss them with. I use the forums on Ravelry to discuss various things and I enjoy them. However, I still miss the fun of being at a table with a friend and a cup of tea discussing a passion that we both share.

Do you have anyone in your real life who shares your passions, or do you rely on the internet to scratch that itch for you?

Sunday Salon: Is TV More Depressing that Reading?

2009-10-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

Several posts back, someone commented that I should read instead of watching TV after work to relax because TV makes people more depressed. I know that studies have been done on the link between TV and depression (this is the most recent one) and people reference them from time to time, but I have mixed feelings about them. I think whether you get depressed from TV depends on what you watch and how you watch it.

Just looking at my own viewing habits, I know that my mood is worse when I have a heavy viewing schedule of news programs and cop shows. As a matter of fact, I gave up watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit reruns because it was giving me nightmares. On the other hand, I feel enlightened when I watch CBS News Sunday Morning because I always learn something new. Also, when I watch shows that I have recorded, I feel a weird sense of accomplishment like I've finished something on a to-do list. Shows that spark a good discussion between me and my husband make me feel energized. To me, the purposeful viewing that has been made possible by VCRs, DVRs, and streaming internet video is different than the mind-numbing channel flipping that I used to do when I wanted to watch something but my favorite show wasn't on yet.

What does any of this have to do with reading? Well, for me a good TV show fills the same need that reading does: the need to listen to a story. I don't view one as being superior to the other. It's just that there are days where even the thought of holding a book open sounds like too much work, so I opt for watching TV to relax.

TBR List: The list hasn't budged; it is still at 97 titles. I may have to abandon Fortune Cookie Chronicles and try one of the other books that I have. As I said before, I'm enjoying the book but it isn't something I can read quickly. I've got two novels on hand that I know I can speed through and get them finished before they are due back at the library. Wish me luck!

Sunday Salon: Already Falling Behind

2009-10-04T11:05:00.003-04:00

I started my new job on Thursday, and already I am falling behind on my reading! It's not that the work is difficult; I haven't even gotten into the thick of it yet. It is the mental adjustment that is wearing me out and keeping me from doing anything. Either that, or the fact that I've gone from 9 hours of sleep to 6 hours of sleep a day :-). The kids early in the morning, the husband needs me late at night, and I'm working in between. I already miss my mid-morning nap!

CURRENTLY READING: I'm still working on The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. There are fascinating tidbits in this book, but it is one that I can put down at the end of a chapter and wait a few days to pick up again. It is difficult for me to finish such a book because I am easily distracted by TV and the internet. I need a book that grabs me and makes me forget other leisure pursuits.

I'm also trying to get into my Bible study group's challenge to read the Bible in 90 days. Sadly, I am 6.5 days behind in the reading plan. I'm not much of a re-reader, so it is difficult for me to read large chunks of the Bible in one sitting without getting bored. That may sound blasphemous, but I'm being honest. I may have less trouble when I get to less-familiar books like Nehemiah, but I've got to push my way through well-known books like Genesis first.

UP NEXT: My turn finally came up in the waiting list and I got the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, Living Dead in Dallas. I'm moving it to the top of my stack so that I can finish it before it is due to be returned to the library. After that, I need to find a food-themed novel to finish off the Spice of Life challenge.

TBR LIST: The tally stands at 98 titles right now. Unless the quality of the fall TV season takes a nosedive, I don't think the number will be going down any time soon. When I work outside the home, I tend to veg out in front of the TV rather than pick up a book. That should be good for my knitting, but bad for the TBR list.

Taking on B90X

2009-09-30T13:27:00.003-04:00

My small group (what some churches call neighborhood Bible study groups) is taking on the challenge of reading the entire Bible in 90 days. The church our group is affiliated with has a young hip congregation so they have renamed the challenge B90X. Like a crazy person, I decided to join the rest of the group and try it.

Why is this crazy? Well, I'm supposed to be starting a new job tomorrow so I won't have as much time to complete the challenges I've already set for myself. Why on earth would I take on another one? I guess it's because I am a Christian who has strayed somewhat from many of the trappings of my faith. I don't go to church and I don't listen to gospel music. I rarely watch sermons on TV. The only time I devote to God these days is a quick prayer at night and my weekly small group meeting. I want to jump-start my spiritual life, and this might be the way.

Sunday Salon: Back from a Bestselling Vacation

2009-09-27T12:17:00.002-04:00

I am back in NC after a week-long vacation, and it was a bestseller in more ways than one. For a start, the cruise shop was completely sold out so there were a lot more people than there were on our last two cruises. Among all those passengers, there were a lot of readers. I saw books everywhere. Which one did I see the most?

Yes, I saw Dan Brown's latest bestseller The Lost Symbol everywhere. Following at a close second were books by Janet Evanovich, although not her latest ones.

The fact that I saw anyone reading at all was a change. Last year I felt like the odd woman out with a book in my hand. This year even my husband, who isn't much of a reader, sat in a lounge chair and caught up on back copies of his favorite magazine Men's Health. Perhaps there was more reading because we took a longer cruise this time. I know that in our group, we felt free to sit and do nothing for a few hours between activities because we had plenty of time.

TBR LIST: I currently have 96 titles on my list. I eliminated three titles by James Lileks after discovering that I didn't like his writing style. On vacation I started
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food and hope to get it reviewed this week. After that, I expect that my reading time will be cut drastically since I start my new job on 01 Oct. My original goal was to get below 50 by the end of the year, but I think I'll be lucky to get below 80 unless I totally cut out TV watching -- and that's not gonna happen!

"Gastroanomalies" by James Lileks

2009-09-21T10:00:00.002-04:00

Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery by James Lileks

Genre: Nonfiction, food, humor
On my TBR list?: Yes

Read for the Spice of Life Challenge

When I picked this up, I expected a bit of snarkiness but I also expected actual recipes. I was looking forward to trying to recreate a few of these crazy dishes myself and passing my own judgment on them. What I actually got was pictures from vintage cookbooks with captions that were supposed to be funny. In fact, it can be funny in small doses -- say, as individual entries on a blog. Take said blog and compile all the entries in a book, and the humor becomes annoying.

I'm counting this in the Nonfiction category for the Spice of Life Challenge. Reading this has also helped me eliminate three other books from my TBR list which were also by Lileks. I'm not saying that this book is bad. I actually like sites like Cake Wrecks and Go Fug Yourself, which have a similar type of humor, but I enjoy them more when I only read one or two posts a day. Reading the whole book of this brand of snarkiness in one sitting bored me.

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Sunday Salon: Preparing for Vacation

2009-09-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

"Leaving on a jet plane,
Don't know when I'll be back again.
Oh, babe, I hate to go."

(RIP, Mary Travers)

By the time this is posted to my blog, I should be on a airplane headed to Ft. Lauderdale with my husband. We are taking a week-long cruise without the kids. This is our third year taking a cruise, so we are a bit more laid-back about it. The first year we ran around trying everything, especially since it was the first vacation we'd taken in about 15 years. Last year, we took the kids and extended family, so we ran around like cruise directors making sure everyone had a good time. This year, we plan to relax! Relaxing for me right now means reading. On the ship, I won't have the usual distractions of housework, TV, and the internet to pull me away from my books. I'm hoping to finish at least one book while I'm gone.

So what am I going to take? I thought I knew until I started writing this post. My bag is already packed with the latest copy of Good Housekeeping magazine and the next book in the Yada Yada Prayer group series. I was going with the idea of light beach reads. Now I'm thinking I should take something from my TBR list. I have three choices on hand:

I know I can jump right into the Yada Yada Prayer Group book, but these nonfiction books are more iffy. I may settle down in my deck chair with one of them and hate it after five pages. What will I do then? Of course, this could all be useless speculation. My husband claims that he wants to relax, but he may have me running around so much that I never get a chance to pick up a book!

TBR List: It stands at 99 titles right now. I've resisted the urge to add more books to the list even though there are a few that should probably be on there, like the Yada Yada Prayer Group books and the Sue Barton books. The first book of each series was on my list. Once I finished those, I knew that I wanted to read the rest of each series. I've been reading them but not adding them to the list. I'm reading them as fast as I can get my hands on them, so it seems silly to add them and then turn around and check them off again.

2009-09-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking by Alton Brown

Genre: Cookbook
On my TBR list?: No

Read for the Spice of Life Challenge

This book, written by Food Network personality Alton Brown, is like a cooking course in a book. It would make a great reference book because he doesn't stop at giving you recipes. Brown uses his humorous approach to explain the different ways that heat can be applied to food and what exactly is happening to the food. He throws in plenty of illustrations and anecdotes from his own life to keep things lively.

The subtitle of this book is "Food + Heat = Cooking" so you won't find any cookies or cakes here. In this book, Brown focuses mainly on taking a meat or vegetable, adding some seasoning, and heating it up. You will find detailed information on searing, roasting, grilling, frying, boiling, and braising, among other things. If you've ever wondered how to make french fries without having them soak up a ton of grease, this is the book to tell you.

Part of the Spice of Life challenge is to try some of the recipes in a cookbook. I didn't get a chance to try any of the recipes from this book, but I did use the suggestion to dip my chicken cutlets in flour before I dip them in the egg and then breadcrumbs. It improved the crunch and made the seasoning stand out more. Next, I want to try Brown's method of microwaving popcorn in a brown paper lunch bag. That sounds like a money-saver!

For the challenge, I am putting this in the Cookbook category because it is useful to the modern cook. The next cookbook on my list is more historical (some might say hysterical), so I am putting that one in the Nonfiction category.

Favorite quote: This quote describes the cheap cookware the author found in a colleague's kitchen.

"Next I checked out the hardware and what I found frightened me badly. It was as if one aluminum pie tin had been melted down and cast into 15 different pots and pans, each of which had then been adorned with a rotting balsa-wood handle."

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The Spice of Life Challenge

2009-09-18T10:17:00.003-04:00

Michael from A Few Minutes With Michael seems to be paying pretty close attention to my blog. Not only did he give me a Zombie Chicken Award, but he also likes to give me helpful blogging suggestions. As you know, I don't do reading challenges because they usually feel restrictive, no matter how lenient the guidelines are. However, when Michael pointed me toward the Spice of Life Challenge, I couldn't resist! Here is the description from the challenge page:

The goal of the Spice of Life Challenge is to read and/or review books about food and eating our way through a good life. It will run from July 1, 2009 until December 31, 2009 so you can include all those scrumptious summer salads, savory fall soups, and yummy holiday books that get you in the mood for turkey dinner.

Doesn't that sound perfect for me? I would estimate that at least 75% of the non-fiction books I read are about food. If I looked through the books I've read since the official start of the challenge, I could probably count myself done already! I'm coming to the challenge late, though, so I'm only including books I've read since 15 Sep 2009.

I've signed up for the Sampler level, which means reading one book from each of the four categories. There are enough food-related books on my TBR list for me to complet the Feast level, but with my challenge track record I didn't want to be too ambitious. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy a few more food-related book reviews!

Attack of the Zombie Chickens

2009-09-17T13:35:00.002-04:00

Michael over at A Few Minutes With Michael sent me this Zombie Chicken Award. I'm not used to be singled out for these bloggy recognitions, so I'm touched.

Here is the description of the award:

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken– excellence, grace, and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all.

Now it is my job as a Zombie Chicken Award recipient to pass the fun along to five other bloggers, but I could only come up with four. I really had to stretch because I don't read a lot of blogs regularly and the ones that come to mind have already gotten the award. Anyway, here are my choices:

Kelly at Yannabe
Rachael at Yarn-a-Go-Go
Protecting Your Crown and Glory
Nora at Whopping Cornbread

The last two are not book blogs, but they are fun to read, anyway. Enjoy!

Meet My Kids

2009-09-17T10:33:00.002-04:00

I've made references to my kids in several posts, but a comment by KyleeJ made me realize that I've never really told you much about them. Many of the books I read were either read by them first or get passed on to them after I'm done, so you might want to know who is helping to shape my reviews.

--M is my 16-year-old daughter. She learned to read at an early age and loves it, but doesn't get to do much reading for pleasure during the school year. Right now she prefers manga and magical realism.

--C1 is 12 years old and the best reader in the house. She's the one who chooses to curl up with a book instead of watching TV or playing video games. Although her reading level is way above her grade level, she prefers to read books with a protagonist that is close to her age. Currently she is working her way through Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Alice series.

--C2 is a slower reader than her twin sister, C1. Up until recently, she has also been tough to fit as far as books have been concerned because her tastes were so narrow. Before, all she wanted to read were primary-level mysteries. Nowadays she still isn't reading quite at her reading level but she is branching out. This week she is finishing up Things Not Seen.

--My only son DJ is 11 and he runs hot and cold when to reading. Sometimes he can't be bothered with it and other times I have to force him to turn out his light amid cries of "One more page, please!" He reads the typical "boy" books, but he also enjoys books like Rapunzel's Revenge which has a female protagonist but doesn't make a big deal about "girl power".

I never was a person to coo over little babies, so I am excited that my kids are at the age where we can share books and other interests.

A Pleasant Reading-Related Surprise

2009-09-16T12:05:00.003-04:00

At the beginning of this school year, I decided that the children should renew their effort to keep their Goodreads accounts up to date. Since many of the books they read aren't on the AR list, I wanted another way to keep track of what they are reading and what they are getting out of those books. I told the kids they could either write a little review on Goodreads or on this blog.

Out of all my kids, the one who has taken this edict seriously is C2. She loves updating her profile, adding books to her TBR list, and writing mini-reviews of the books she's read. I still have to work with her on her review-writing, but the fact that she is doing it without complaint is a big deal. C2 is my reluctant reader who rarely meets her AR goals. In the past, she hated writing and didn't want to read for more than 15 minutes at a time. Her twin sister C1 loves to write and is the best reader in the house so I thought she would love doing this. How wrong I was! You should have heard the whining.

I'm hoping that this marks a turning point for C2. With four kids I knew that the odds were good that at least one of them would dislike reading, especially since their dad doesn't read much. I loved reading as a kid, but I wasn't much of a reading role model myself until I started this blog. Perhaps seeing me with a book instead of sitting at the computer all the time has made an impression on C2.

Adopt a Guiding Light Fan!

2009-09-15T11:11:00.000-04:00

Even though I stopped watching Guiding Light ages ago, I'm sad to see it go this Friday. I mean, it has been on the air for 72 years. I have a soft spot for anything that has managed to stick around that long.

As I was watching a retrospective of the show on Sunday, it occurred to me that watching soap operas (or "the stories" as most of the people I know used to call them) nurtured my taste for series fiction. Around the same time that I was heavily invested in the lives of the Bauers and the Spauldings, I started reading those huge family saga books that were written by authors like Howard Fast. I abandoned series fiction for several years after that, but lately I've found that I am drawn to it again. Perhaps because TV has been a constant in my life, I prefer to follow characters through more than one book.

Chances are you have a long-time Guiding Light fan in your midst. Maybe it's your mother, your auntie, or your kindly old neighbor. After this Friday, she will probably be missing "her stories". Why don't you help her with the transition by taking her a few books? Maybe if she has failing eyesight, you could read to her a little. Do any of you have some suggestions for series that might hook a soap opera fan?

Bad Day to Be Without a Book

2009-09-11T14:42:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned in my last Sunday Salon post, I couldn't go to the library this week because it was closed on my regular pickup day (Labor Day Monday). All week I've been going to my bedside table where I normally keep my library stack, and then I remember that I don't have any new books. Bummer.

Today is the worst. I've come down with a cold so I'm not up to doing housework. There is nothing to watch on TV, and I've watched the backlog on my DVR. It is on days like this that I envy the book buyers and the bloggers who review ARCs. Right now, I'd like to be neighbors with one of them so I could zip over and borrow something!

Removing Books from My TBR List

2009-09-10T20:38:00.003-04:00

I was scanning my TBR list, looking for something to request from the library, and decided to remove four titles. It seems like cheating, but I am no longer interested in them. My criteria is this: if I feel a zing of excitement when I read a title or think, "I should move that to the top of the list!", then it stays. Anyway, this is my game and I'm the only player, so I can change the rules if I want, right?