Average Girl Reads

Sunday Salon: Sidelined by Injury

2009-12-20T13:03:00.004-05:00

If you aren't a reader of my other blog, then you may not know that I broke my foot. I wish I could say that it happened while I was doing something exciting like snowboarding, but I was just walking down the hall at work when my ankle turned. This has happened to me before and I've always recovered quickly, so imagine my surprise when I found out that I actually broke something!

Anyway, I have to stay off my feet for a while, which means good news for my blog readers. I didn't do much reading this weekend because I took that time to clear off my DVR. There won't be any new episodes of my favorite shows over the holidays and I've got a stack of library books waiting for my attention. So don't be surprised if you see a flurry of activity on this blog over the next week or so.

With Christmas falling on Friday and my current employer's generous holiday policy, I have five days off for the holiday this year. My family doesn't participate in a lot of Christmas activities, so that translates into about 4.5 days of boredom. Grown-ups don't get toys under the tree to keep them occupied, and the kids don't always share with me :-). That's why I make sure to do a library run before Christmas Eve. Sitting at home without entertainment is a guaranteed path to Christmas sadness for me.

QUESTION: Do you line up books to read for the holidays?

2009-12-08T09:36:00.001-05:00

Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by The New Yorker's Cartooning Couple by Liza Donnelly

Genre: comics compilation
On my TBR list?: Yes

This is a cute collection of single-panel cartoons about marriage. At the beginning of each section, there is a multi-panel cartoon about something in the cartoonists' own relationship. None of the cartoons are particularly edgy; I've laughed harder at webcomics like xkcd. The ones in this book remind me more of the ones I would see in Reader's Digest as a kid. Still, reading this book was a mildly amusing way to wile away an hour.

View all my reviews >>

2009-12-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out by Neta Jackson

Genre: Christian fiction
On my TBR list? Yes

Book 7 of 7

I read this final book in the Yada Yada Prayer Group series only because I have trouble dropping a series in the middle. The book wasn't bad, but it wasn't really necessary since there weren't any unfinished plot lines. This installment felt like a reunion special with the cast of your favorite childhood show; you want to spend more time with your favorite characters, but it isn't the best writing of the series.

The reunion vibe was especially strong in the beginning of the book. In the other books, only a month or so had elapsed between the end of the action in one book and the start of the next book. This last book jumps ahead a couple years, and not in the most graceful manner. I kept thinking that I had accidentally skipped a book because one of the 16-year-old characters was suddenly in college, among other changes.

Ultimately, this is a book for people who are already in love with the series and its characters. Unlike the other books, there is no real suspense or danger in the story. If you are able to quit in the middle of a series and dropped this one around book four, then this final volume is not a reason to jump back in.

View all my reviews >>

Sunday Salon: Progress on TBR List: Holiday Books

2009-12-06T09:42:00.004-05:00

I've been reading more than writing lately, which is why I haven't participated in the Sunday Salon for the past two weeks. With the recent holiday, I gave myself permission to read books back-to-back without worrying about posting my impressions of them here on the blog. I don't usually do it that way because my memory of a book fades quickly; however, many of the books I had on my stack were light reading so I knew that I could wait a few days to review them.

TBR LIST: With all this reading, I thought it would be a good idea to check my progress in taming my TBR list. I was prepared to see a dip in the total, and I did. From a high of 114 titles, I am down to 96. However, what I didn't remember is that when I started this I was only at 80 titles. Getting down to 50 titles by the end of the year is looking more and more like an impossible goal. The good thing is that the attempt to meet that goal has me reading more books instead of just reading about books.

HOLIDAY BOOKS: Although I was thinking about checking out some holiday books, I decided I'd rather make a dent in my TBR list. Funny coincidence: the next two books I picked to read, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out and Dead Until Dark, turned out to take place around the holidays. I actually started the Yada Yada Prayer Group book a couple days before Thanksgiving which is exactly when the action started in the book! I still may try a full-on holiday book, but it will have to be closer to Christmas. That is when my defenses are down and I can handle all the sentimentalism without making fun of it :-).

QUESTION: What is your favorite book set at Christmas time?

33 Things Every Girl Should Know by Tonya Bolden

2009-11-30T15:46:00.001-05:00

33 Things Every Girl Should Know: Stories, Songs, poems, and Smart Talk by 33 Extraordinary Women by Tonya Bolden

Genre: Essays
On my TBR list? Yes

This is a compilation of essays, comics, poems, and short stories that are supposed to be inspirational and build self-esteem in middle-school girls and older. I think it probably would have seemed cool to girls reading it back in 1998 when it was published, but it is dated now. My girls (age 12 and 16) have never heard of any of the women mentioned in the book and one of the comics does a Madonna parody that would go completely over their heads. The best part of the book was the short stories that were written from the point of view of a teenager because they didn't sound like an adult saying, "Things are bad now, but they'll be better when you grow up."

View all my reviews >>

Sue Barton, from Rural Nurse to Superintendent of Nurses

2009-11-24T11:21:00.002-05:00

Genre: vintage girls' fiction
On my TBR list? Yes

Books 4 and 5 of a 7-book series

These two volumes document the continuing nursing adventures of Sue Barton. In Sue Barton, Rural Nurse, we follow Sue back to her home state as she leaves the Henry Street nursing program to work alongside her fiance Dr. Barry. The events in this book lead to her becoming head of a nursing program in Sue Barton, Superintendent of Nurses.

The writing style of this series is different that what I am accustomed to. With other books, I feel like I am following the main character around and looking over her shoulder, waiting for the next event to occur. Boylston's writing style is more like an account of a certain period in time. As the reader, I felt farther removed from the events. It was like sitting down to coffee with someone and having them try to give you their life story in a nutshell as opposed to watching the events unfold for yourself in a movie. Other authors make you wonder right up until the end whether there will be a happy ending. In this series, I never doubted the happy ending, but I was still intrigued enough to wonder how it was going to come about.

I think this series might be a fun read for a nurse. There is a lot of information in each book about nursing procedures, and a modern nurse might get a kick out of reading about how things once were done.

"Good Book" by David Plotz

2009-11-17T09:47:00.004-05:00

Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible by David Plotz

Genre: nonfiction, stunt memoir
On my TBR list? Yes

DISCLAIMER: If you follow me on Goodreads, you will find this book on my Abandoned shelf. It is only abandoned because I didn't get to finish it before it was due back at the library. I'm posting a review anyway because I feel that I read enough to get the gist of the book.

I am a Christian who believes in reading the Bible. However, in actual practice I have trouble cracking it open regularly because I don't like to re-read anything. If you are like me, reading through the Bible for the third or fourth time and need help sticking to it, then this book might be for you. The title is a bit misleading because Plotz doesn't read through the entire Bible, but rather the entire Bible as Jews see it -- meaning the Old Testament. Still, it is interesting to read a fresh take on it from someone who isn't an evangelical Christian but isn't an atheist or skeptic, either.

The author describes himself as a lax but well-educated Jew who acquired most of his knowledge of the Bible secondhand through what his teachers told him and references in popular culture. Then a random reading of the Old Testament made him realize that he didn't know as much about the Bible as he thought he did. So he sets out to read every word of the Old Testament to find out what else he missed.

Good Book started out as a blog that I vaguely remember reading years ago. Although the writing isn't as tiresome as some blogs-turned-books, in my opinion this book would be better enjoyed in small doses. That's why I say it would make a good companion to a Bible reading program like B90X (reading the entire Bible in 90 days). Actually, the way Plotz has organized the book promotes such a use. His chapters correspond with the books of the Old Testament and then are further broken down so that you can easily read a couple chapters of Genesis and then flip to Plotz's comments.

Reading the Bible is supposed to be its own reward, but there are times when I need a little push. When you are trying to drag yourself through Leviticus, Plotz's pithy comments will lighten your mood. I especially like the bits where he describes how his newfound knowledge affected the way he practiced his faith. I think that this is a book that Jews and Christians could both enjoy.

View all my reviews >>

Sunday Salon: Do Boys Read Twilight?

2009-11-08T10:23:00.001-05:00

From Average Girl Reads

My 11-year-old son DJ started reading Twilight last week. In a way, I wasn't surprised that he picked it up. The book has been in and out of our house as each of his three older sisters made attempts to read it (C1 was the only one who found it captivating enough to finish and move on to the next book in the series). I was still a little worried when I saw him getting so engrossed in it, though. I wondered if other boys would pick at him for reading a "girly" book. After all, the jokes about the series always center around "sparkly vampires". To me, that sounds like the type of book that could get a kid beat up.

Turns out I needn't have worried. I decided to put my fears to rest and casually ask my kids if boys at their schools are reading Twilight. The consensus is that boys from 7th grade on up through high school think that the books and the movies are solid chick territory, but 6th-grade boys just view it as a painless way to rack up AR points. Even though it is rated as being on a 4th-grade reading level, the book is worth 18 points. An easy-to-read book with that many points is like the Holy Grail :-).

TBR List: I feel like I am treading water. Even though I finished three books last week, my list is still only down to 108 titles. That's only one title less than last week. Three books in a week is pretty good for me, so seeing the list barely budge is disappointing. However, I am reminding myself that part of my goal was to at least refresh the titles on the list if I couldn't reduce the number of titles. Also, I have several titles that are a continuation of the three series I'm reading. If I blaze through those, I should be able to make a dent in the list.

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

"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.

View all my reviews >>

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!

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.