Average Girl Reads

My goal has been to read more fiction, especially highly acclaimed books. It has been difficult to stick to this plan, though. The only books I want to read right now are YA books or how-to books. The kids' books are easier to jump into and finish in a couple afternoons, while the how-to books fuel my fantasies of a well-rounded life. I like to dream about gardening and knitting when I don't have the energy to actually do it.

TODAY'S BOOK: I'm reading The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. It is a book filled with step-by-step instructions for projects like creating your own self-watering planters and routing your washing machine water out to the garden. I'm only 50 pages into this book, and I've already recommended it to my best friend. What I like most about this book so far is that they are sticking to the "urban" in their title. Many books that I've read on self-sufficiency may have a couple paragraphs on planting in containers, or they talk about ways to save money so you can buy a place in the country. This book assumes that you are going to stay in the city and gives you strategies for working around the limitations of not being on a farm. I hope that I will get a chance to try a few of these projects this summer.

UPCOMING BOOK: I have several books on my bedside table (see sidebar) but I am probably going to read Whatever, Mom: Hip Mama's Guide to Raising a Teenager by Ariel Gore. Most of the parenting information I've found online and at my local library is about raising babies and toddlers. I'm well past that stage of mothering, so I hope this book will offer me some insight on dealing with my teen and tweens.