Average Girl Reads

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

My favorite movie of all time is The Women (1939). However, before I even found out that it was a movie, I was in love with the stage play that it is based on. When I was about 12, I would check out copies of famous plays from my local library. I loved the snappy dialogue in plays, and this play by Clare Boothe Luce had it in spades.

Even though I can rent the movie version whenever I want, I got a hankering this week to read the play again. Imagine how disappointed I was to find that the book was no longer in my library's collection. I know that a library can't house all the books ever written, and new books are in higher demand than something that is old and relatively obscure. Still, it was a letdown because this is the same library that I've been borrowing books from since I was 10. I keep expecting that my old favorites will still be there, but they've got to make way for the books that the current crop of 10-year-olds want to read. I guess this is the sort of occurrence that makes the rest of you out there buy books.

------------------------------------------------

In other disappearing news, you may have noticed that I've taken away the By My Bedside widget from my sidebar. It was powered by my Amazon affiliates account, and that account was closed this week. Apparently, North Carolina is working on a law that would make it too complicated for affiliate programs to deal with residents of this state, so Amazon decided it would be easier to cut us off now. I have mixed feelings about this. I should be saying "good riddance" because I never made a penny from the Amazon links on any of my blogs. On the other hand, I was hoping that if I improved the quality of my blog, I would increase my traffic and more people would use the links. Ah, well. Now I can stop worrying about it and get back to reading!

-------------------------------------------------

READ: I zipped through The Big Skinny and one of my kids' books Babymouse: The Musical (click links for my reviews). Both are graphic novels and quick reads. I took a break from my other book to read them so that I could reduce the stack of library books by my bed.

CURRENTLY READING: I'm still working my way through The Dirt on Clean. The book is filled with fascinating tidbits, but it doesn't compel me to pick it up. I read a few pages at odd moments, like when I'm waiting for my teakettle to boil. At this point, I may have to skim through the rest of it so I can be ready for the next stack of library books that I'll be picking up tomorrow.

UP NEXT: Besides a collection of Noel Coward's plays, I have nothing but kids' books on my table. I may have to read a couple of them because I am tired of non-fiction at the moment. I want to be swept away by a story. Maybe a romance would fill the bill.

Babymouse: The Musical by Jennifer L. Holm

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars


In this particular book, Babymouse tries out for the musical that her elementary school is staging. She is competing with her long-time nemesis Felicia Furrypaws for the lead role. Will she get it?

You can tell that the author is familiar with musicals. I caught references to at least 10 musicals including "Grease" and "Phantom of the Opera". My kids didn't catch that many, but they laughed out loud at the ones they did understand.

The Babymouse series of graphic novels is a favorite in my house. At first glance, you would think that these books are aimed at 2nd-3rd graders. However, I think the jokes would go over better with middle schoolers. If you have a 12-year-old girl in your life, you might want to add a little fun to her reading list with these books.

View all my reviews.

The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude by Carol Lay

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book is a memoir about Carol Lay's experience with weight loss. The twist is that she uses her talent as a cartoonist to tell her story. Unfortunately, the novelty of a graphic novel about health and fitness isn't enough to make it anything more than average.

Why do a fitness book in cartoon form, anyway? This was a big stumbling block for me. When I read a book about someone who has lost weight, I want to see some before-and-after photos. This is a book filled with drawings; for all I know, the author could still be overweight. How am I supposed to believe that what she is recommending works?

Putting the lack of photos aside, this isn't a bad book. However, I can't figure out the right audience for it. The graphic novel format might appeal to teenage girls, but the author is not in their age group and doesn't write in a hip enough style. The women who are Lay's age (mid-50s) have probably read enough fitness books in their lifetime to make this book seem like a kindergartener's guide to dieting. Even her personal story isn't compelling enough to recommend the book.

View all my reviews.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Frequent readers of this blog know that 99% of my family's reading material comes from our local library. When you are a regular patron of the library (as I have been all of my life), you learn to respect the fact that the book you are reading is not yours and that you need to take special care of it. At least, I've learned that lesson.

It took the ruination of a brand-new copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw to make me realize that I hadn't passed that lesson on to my kids thoroughly enough. One of my kids handed it to a neighbor kid to look at and it got left out on the porch where it got rained on. I was particularly mortified by this turn of events because there was a long waiting list for this book and we were the first to get our hands on it. You better believe that I gave the kids a lecture on how their classmates will now have to wait even longer to read the book because the library has to order another copy.

To stay in the good graces of our librarian and avoid damaging any more books, I've instituted a mini-checkout system for library books that come into our house.

--All the library books stay in my bedroom and each child is only allowed to take one book at a time.

--I write down the date, title, and initials of the child who took the book. I cross it off when the book is returned.

--A child is not allowed to give the book to a sibling to read. The book must come back to me, get crossed off, and checked out in the next child's name.

--Library books are not allowed to leave the house. No reading them in the car or taking them to Grandma's house.

We've been using this system for the past two months, and it is working very well. It has eliminated the mad scrambles through the house on Sunday nights, looking for books that need to be returned during our weekly library trip. The kids are finally starting to understand that they are responsible for the books they check out.

Do any of you have special rules for your kids regarding library books?

READ: I finally got around to listening to the first two books in Mur Lafferty's Heaven series, Heaven and Hell. I've been feeling guilty about not listening to these because I travel some of the same online circles that Lafferty does and I recommend her work to others, but I never made it past the first two chapters of Heaven myself. It's no reflection on her work; I just have to be in the right mood to read or listen to certain genres. Sci-fi and fanstasy, while I like watching these genres on TV, are the toughest books for me to listen to.

CURRENTLY READING: I'm still working on Steering the Craft, the writing book. I'm not doing any of the exercises because I have to return the book to the library soon. However, I am learning a bit from the author's commentary and the literary examples provided.

I also have The Dirt on Clean on the go. I can't wait to share some of these historical bathing tidbits with my husband. Some of them are similar to habits that he has himself!

UP NEXT: The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude is at the top of my bedside stack now. It is yet another dieting memoir, but it is in the form of a graphic novel. I'm expecting it to be a quick read.

I find myself craving a light novel that will grab my attention right away. I read the first few pages of Vampire Kisses online and I would like to read that next, but my library hasn't finished processing it for checkout yet. I may have to grab one of my kids' books to hold me over.

This is my last week of work. In addition to job hunting, I plan to recommit myself to blogging regularly. One goal is to make a serious dent in my TBR list over at Goodreads. I don't know how long this period of unemployment will be, but I don't want it to be wasted. There isn't much worth watching on TV during the summer, so I don't have that as an excuse.

As for the 1001 Books list, I am going to put that on hold for a little while. I just don't feel any enthusiasm for any of the books on the list right now. The few that I really want to read aren't available at my local library, and we know I am not a book buyer :-). Rather than torturing myself, I am going to back off for now. Reading is supposed to be fun, right?

READ: This week I finished How to Pick a Peach. It is a pretty good book if you want to shop seasonally and don't know what to look for. It doesn't really help gardeners, though. For instance, it tells readers which states grow the majority of the bell peppers sold in this country and what time of year is best to buy them. I would love a book just as easy to read as this one that added in growing information for home gardeners.

I also read Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. My neighbor lent it to me because she thought I might get something from it. Perhaps I am in denial, but I didn't see myself in any of the situations in the book. The one situation that I did identify with (being overwhelmed by all the things I need to do) was handled in such a flippant way that the advice wasn't helpful. This seems to be a popular Bible study book right now and I was tempted to buy it. I'm glad I didn't.

CURRENTLY READING: I have another book that my neighbor lent me, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. If you've been monitoring my sidebar, then you know that I've had this book on my bedside table for a while. I've been interested in reading something by Ramsey for a while but his books are never available at the library. Everyone I've heard swears by him, but I have my doubts. The big problem I have with budgeting books is that most of them focus on how to get rid of unnecessary expenses. Anyone who knows us is aware that we moved past the stage of cutting out credit card debt and eliminating trips to the movies a long time ago. We have cut our expenses to the bone but we still feel like we are struggling. There doesn't seem to be a book for that situation, but I still keep looking.

The Dirt on Clean is my in-the-purse book because I think it would make a better conversation starter than the Dave Ramsey book. I am fascinated by books that give the history of different cultural practices without being dry like a textbook. This one talks about bathing through the ages. Everyone has their own idea of what they consider "clean" but they don't usually discuss it. This book is like a peep show!

UP NEXT: I have a copy of Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is a book of writing exercises so I am saving it for next week when I have more time to devote to it. Other than that, the bedside table is empty. I'm going to slow down on checking out books for a while so I can devote the proper amount of attention to the ones I have.

Any of you familiar with the picture book Bad for Them, Good for Me by Aaron Zevy? It springs to mind whenever I have a situation that means different things to different people, and I thought about it this morning. You may have noticed that my blogs have been suffering from lack of attention, mainly because I've been working 45-50 hours a week. Well, that will be changing soon because I will be unemployed again as of 19 Jun 2009. No job is bad for me, but hopefully more posting will be good for you!

(By the way, if you haven't read Bad for Them, Good for Me, it is a cute book for kindergartners. I believe it is out of print, but if you have free access to Tumblebooks through your local library's website you can find it there.)

READ:

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd -- I downloaded the audio version from my local library, and the reader definitely pulled me through it. This book was suggested by my reading buddy LS, and I think she enjoyed it more than I did. Even though the ending is supposedly happy, I found the book melancholy all the way through. Besides the enchanting voice of the reader, I stuck with the book because I thought that it was on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. LS and I were both disappointed when we checked the list again and found that it's not.

The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne -- I mentioned this book in my last Sunday Salon post and my first impression held true. Most people I know would be able to find at least one project that they want to try in this book.

ABANDONED:

Whatever, Mom: Hip Mama's Guide to Raising a Teenager by Ariel Gore -- This book wasn't exactly what I was looking for. The word "guide" in the title is a stretch. It is filled with essays detailing how Gore feels about being the mother of a teen, how her daughter feels about her mother, and how other moms and teens feel about their family life. That isn't a bad thing, but I wanted something that gave me suggestions on organizing chore schedules, setting up an allowance, etc.

CURRENTLY READING:

The 100 Best Love Poems of All Time edited by Leslie Pockell: Each poem in the book is by a different poet, except for two poems by Shakespeare. There are several familiar poems but I've also discovered a poet I hadn't read and requested one of his books from the library.

How to Pick a Peach by Russ Parsons: This book is not as preachy as some other books about eating locally and in season. Parsons just lays down the facts of why commercial produce tastes the way it does and how to make the best of it.

TO READ:

Who knows? In looking over my old posts, I've found that whatever I mention in this section isn't what I actually end up reading. I do know that I will be checking the 1001 Books list for another book to read with LS. I also have two writing books and The Dirt on Clean on loan from the library, but don't hold me to any of those!