Every so often I get a creepy anonymous comment, usually on a photo of my daughter, and I'm about tired of it, so from here on out anonymous comments are disabled and this journal will be 99% friends-locked. But I love my friends, really I do, so comment to be added to my flist. Only a very few vague, non-personal posts will be left public (memes and so forth, mainly).


FO Banner by jovi_diva

Here's the end of the 2011 reading list.

45: Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher (audiobook). I had seen the HBO special of her stage show of the same name, so parts of this were not new to me, but it's a very insightful book on the trials of drug and alcohol addition. Carrie reads her book in a matter-of-fact and utterly hilarious manner. It's only three discs long, so an easy listen for the commute (not so good for on the treadmill)

46: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling (reread). Recommended, but you really ought to have read the previous books in the series before reading this one. By this time Rowling assumes you know the backstory.

47: The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Read aloud to Sophie in chapters at bedtime.

48: At home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson. This was a very enjoyable read. You would be in error to assume it's a history of house-living, although it is that, but there is so much more. Absolutely fascinating and entertaining. Two thumbs up. Recommended.

49: Making the Most of your Food Freezer: New Ideas, New Techniques, New Recipes, by Marie Armstrong Essipoff. This was one of Mom's books. I think she picked it up at a yard sale somewhere for the recipes. It was funny to read in a "Wow, look how they did things in 1951!" sort of way.

50: Art of the Creche: Nativities from Around the World, by John L. Grovan. This was nice for Christmas reading. I couldn't understand why he said he'd never found a Japanese creche, because my folks' late 50s-early 60s era manger scene has "JAPAN" stamped on the bottom of each piece.

51: YOU: Having a Baby: The Owner's Manual to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy, by Drs. Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz. This book gets mixed reviews...the people who love "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" HATE this book, but the people who hate WTEWYAE love it. I personally fall into the latter camp. It's a very good book; up-to-date, informative, with a side dish of snark. Recommended.

52: Little Town on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This book has more Almanzo, so Sophie liked it better.

53: Not Dead and Not For Sale: A Memoir, by Scott Weiland with David Ritz. It's OK. Not the best rock-star memoir I've read in recent years, but certainly not the worst. For instance, it was not as good as Ozzy's book, but WAY better than Vince Neil's book. WAY.

54: These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was a little worried that Sophie would lose interest in the series when Laura became a teenager, but the romance between Laura and Almanzo has kept her captivated.

55 I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. Attention children of the 80s and/or early 90s! If watched MTV at all, you will like this book. Easy to pick up and put down, so you don't have to plow through it all at once if you don't have the time. Recommended.

And that's it for 2011.

Tags: books

OK, so the baby will arrive in two months, more or less. We are still in discussion about the "A" name...I've previously mentioned that the kid will be named James with an "A" middle name, and there's a good chance we will call him by the "A" name. Now I'm not saying that we will be naming our son based on the outcome of a LiveJournal poll, but I am interested in your opinion.

Feel free to suggest other "A" names, too. Out of contention are Aidan, Andrew, Arnold, Arthur, Albert, and probably Adam (too close to Aidan when you yell it; it would confuse the kids), and anything that just sounds too ethnically weird when paired with McGraw (such as Abraham).

Poll #1808779
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 16

What's your preference?

Tags: polls
Current Location: once again, home on the sofa
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: just the sound of me coughing my fool head off

I'll go back and add links to Amazon later. I just can't be bothered right now.

34: Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom, by Kristin Van Ogtrop. Funny. Would recommend to other working moms, and have already bought two copies as presents. It's not a particularly deep book, but it's an easy read, which is what a half-insane working mom really needs sometime.

35: It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy, by Laurie Notaro. Funny. Laurie Notaro is an essayist who happened to be at Arizona State University the same time as John was, prior to our wedding in 1993. She had a column in the school paper and he clipped them and mailed to to me. Her early work was more biting than her current writing, but I expect she was living a wilder life at the time as well. I remember one column about a black bra that was laugh-out-loud funny...wonder if I still have it around here somewhere in my box of letters? Anyway, John saw this one come through the library on the new books list and snatched it up for me, and I did enjoy it greatly. If you like snarky essays I recommend her other books as well.

36: Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. Factual, well-written, not scary, and concise.

37: Mustang Genesis: The Creation of the Pony Car, by Robert A. Fria.

38: A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties, by Suze Rotolo. Suze Rotolo is the girlfriend of Bob Dylan who was photographed for the cover of "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". This memoir is about her, not Bob, which makes it very enjoyable.

39: From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds, by Alexander Tsiaras. Amazing photography. My only quibble is that it dates the days and weeks of development from actual conception, while doctors date from last menstrual period, so you have to stop and do math all along the way if you want to see what the baby looks like NOW. For instance, when I say I am now 20-and-a-half weeks pregnant, it's actually been 18.5 weeks since I got knocked up. Most of the book focuses on the early stages of pregnancy, when the fetus is growing things and doesn't particularly look baby-like. Once it's all formed and has nothing to do but get larger, it kind of skims. John brought this home from the library for Sophie, but she wasn't very interested.

40: Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women, by Jo Packham. Everyone's studio is bigger and more organized than mine.

41: By The Shores of Silver Lake, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Read out loud in chapters to Sophie at bedtime.

42: The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson. I actually got this book AGES ago and had started it and never finished it. This time I finished it, and it's very good. If you speak English you probably ought to read this book, if only for the more clear understanding of just how much of our language has borrowed and transformed over the centuries.

43: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (audiobook). I enjoy the Harry Potter audiobooks. Jim Dale is an excellent narrator. The story seems different when you are having it read to you, rather than reading it to yourself. You have to go at Jim's speed, and you can notice little things that perhaps your brain skimmed over the first couple of times through the book.

44: Crap at My Parents' House, by Joel Dovev. Based on the blog of the same name. Meh. It was OK, and funny enough I guess, but it took me like 20 minutes to finish, and had I actually paid $14.95 for it instead of getting it from the library for free, I would have been extremely upset. The Cake Wrecks book is the same concept but way better.

Tags: books

Recently I have completed the following books:

24: Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving--and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, by Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell. I liked this one. It's very conversational...like your two runner friends are chatting with you about stuff like bras and compression shorts and chafing and dealing with Hell Week. One thing I liked is that they clearly identify who is writing what part of the book...Sarah is a Serious Runner and Dimity is slightly less serious. This is the sort of book you give to your friends after the baby is born, or take to your running club's Secret Santa gift exchange.

25: On The Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sophie is REALLY getting into these books now. She enjoyed this one best of any we've read so far.

26: 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!, by Dean Karnazes. Oh, Dean. I will never be able to achieve super endurance, but thank you for being so optimistic. This is a memoir of the North Face Endurance 50, a series of 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. I remember Dean running in Little Rock (#4)...it was in 2006 and the finish line was set up about a half-block from our office, with tents and balloons and what-all, and the big Endurance 50 bus was down there, and we were all huh, look at this guy who is gonna run 46 more marathons after this. But we didn't go down there and see what was going on, which I kind of regret now. Hindsight, you know? Anyway, Dean talks about it all in an upbeat, jovial manner.

27: You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation, by Susannah Gora. This book is really really REALLY good. It's not a repackaging of old interviews; Susannah Gora goes and finds the Brat Packers and others involved in the 80s John Hughes movie explosion and gets new interviews, and puts it all together with fascinating commentary. Two thumbs up.

28: Garden Mosaics: 19 Beautiful Mosaic Projects For Your Garden, by Emma Biggs and Tessa Hunkin. 19 beautiful projects that I admire but will never, ever do.

Tags: books

In recent weeks I have completed the following books:

13: Kiss and Sell: The Making of a Supergroup, by Chris Lendt. Out of print, but I got it brought in by Interlibrary Loan. Y'all, this book is FASCINATING. I've read plenty of band biographies before, but they are usually written by a PR agent or a band member/ghost writer claiming to be a band member or so forth. Chris Lendt, on the other hand, was the wallet of KISS, eventually becoming KISS's business manager. He started as an account executive for their management firm, traveling with the band in order to keep an eye on the investment. What you get in this book is a behind-the-scenes look at the golden age of KISS and their fall from the peak of stardom. I mean, dude outlines what it takes to mount a tour! And the marketing! And all the crazy ideas! Two thumbs up.

14: Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design, by Christiane Lemiaux. This is a beautiful book, full of wonderful ideas for your funky home. It's also full of the word "inveterate". One couple are inveterate collectors. Another are inveterate hosts. A third woman is an inveterate traveler who loves to decorate her house with finds. I enjoyed the book but after I noticed the third instance, it was like playing word find.

15: High Voltage Tattoo, by Kat Von D. Ms. Von Drachenberg is not old enough to write a full-on memoir, so this book is primarily a narrated sketchbook, with a little tattooing history, life history, and the story of the launch of "L.A. Ink" on the side. Her drawings are exquisite, and she clearly has a natural talent. Lucky for everyone, it was published before she took up with Jesse James.

16: Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid: A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West, by Steve Sheinkin. Classic Jewish folktales, retold in an old-west setting by the way of a charmingly-illustrated graphic novel. Need to bone up on folksy Judaica? This is a good place to start.

17: Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. You all know this one is good, right? Sophie and I read it at bedtime, a chapter at a time. She is thoroughly loving the series by now, and I'm sure we will work our way through at least two or three more of the books before the year is out.

18: The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love, by Kristin Kimball. A Manhattan journalist meets a handsome organic farmer, falls in love, and moves to the country to start a CSA farm. This book chronicles the trials, tribulations, and successes of their first year. So well written, and such a compelling read. Two more thumbs up.

19: Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: Advice, Plans, and Programs for your 1st Marathon or 50th: All New Third Edition, by Hal Higdon. This one was good. Lotsa good advice.

20: A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, by Anthony Bourdain (audiobook). Tony travels all over, eats everything, and talks about it. Fascinating to listen to, but I got it for use on the treadmill and it wasn't quite what I wanted to distract me while running in one place. This is more of a car-trip sort of audiobook.

21: True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World, by Lisa Birnbach with Chip Kidd. I was in 6th grade in 1980 when The Official Preppy Handbook was published. It was a fine example of light sarcasm and amused me to no end...my copy is tattered, torn and taped. It still amuses me; I reread it every few years just for the hell of it. This book, a follow-up more than a sequel, is cute enough, but it's way less amusing than the original. I don't think that's because I'm no longer 11 years old, I think it's because it's just less good. I mean, I'm not sorry I checked it out from the library...it definitely had laugh-out-loud moments, so I don't consider reading it time wasted...but I don't know if I will ever re-read it.

22: Fast Times At Ridgemont High: A True Story, by Cameron Crowe. OMG y'all, I had NO IDEA this was a book before it was a movie! But it was! Young freelance writer Cameron Crowe spent a year posing as a student at San Diego's Clairmont High School, making friends and taking notes. Then, he changed all the identifying information and published a book in 1981, which was promptly co-opted and turned into the 1982 film we all know and love. The book is long out of print, but Interlibrary Loan will bring it to your hands.

23: Run Your First Marathon: Everything You Need to Know to Reach the FINISH LINE, by Grete Waits and Gloria Averbuch. All these running books are starting to sound alike to me. This one has a 12-week plan, which might be enough for some runners but is sure not long enough to get ME to the finish line. At least, not under my own power. Overall, though, the tone of the book is warm and encouraging, and attention is paid to recovery after the marathon, a detail which many other authors overlook.

Tags: books
Current Location: Sofa, soon to bed
Current Music: Last night's "Colbert Report"

10: The Eat-Clean Diet: Fast Fat-Loss that lasts Forever!, by Tosca Reno. Since I've started running more regularly, and since I discovered I can no longer eat red meat, I've been working on my diet, because basically, if I eat junky crap, I tend to feel like junky crap, and then I run like junky crap. And also I eat way too much sugar and way too much fat. There's nothing in this book that we don't already KNOW from common sense (the less processed a food item is, the more likely it is to be low fat, and better it is for you to eat), but Tosca does present the information in a very digestible (hah! see what I did there?) format. It's not really a diet book, more of a lifestyle book. Contains some good recipes, too.

11: Mastering the marathon : time-efficient training secrets for the 40-plus athlete, by Don Fink. Yeah, you're gonna see more books like this on my reading list throughout the year. I apologize in advance.



12: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, by Peggy Orenstein. A fascinating read over a variety of subjects, and probably every parent of a young daughter should pick it up. I'm not saying you should agree with every word of it, but at least pick it up. The part about the history of the Disney Princesses line of products was especially interesting. Marketing FTW!

Tags: books

bib number: 5539
age: 42
gender: F
overall place: 2668 out of 2915 half-marathoners
division place: 210 out of 232 40-44 year old women
gender place: 1533 out of 1721 women
time: 3:10:31
pace: 14:33
10k split: 1:26:59

Slower than I would have liked, but I'll take it considering the circumstances. Full writeup later. Right now, it's bedtime.

Tags: half marathon, running, video

Through February 5:

1: Oh No She Didn't: The Top 100 Style Mistakes Women Make and How to Avoid Them, by Clinton Kelly. Not as funny as his first book. A lot of this is just common-sense stuff, like don't wear sheer hose if you didn't shave your legs and don't wear reinforced hose with sandals and mom jeans are bad and make your butt look flat as a pancake. But still amusing. Clinton seems to have an obsession with sedatives, though. I had no idea!

2: Unclutter Your Life In One Week, by Erin Rooney Doland. Erin writes Unclutterer, but this is more than just the blog in book form. It's like Flylady on steroids. It is laid out in a week-long format, with three tasks/areas/assignments per day. If you have no spouse or children or roommate or anyone else who requires your time and attention, you could probably accomplish everything in the book in a single literal week. Otherwise, it's gonna take you a little bit longer.

3: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami. Memoir. This is SO GOOD, y'all. I recommend it for writers as well as for runners.

4: Black & Decker Building Garden Ornaments: 24 Do-It-Yourself Projects to Accent Any Setting, by the Editors of Creative Publishing International. I was looking for something on mosaic, but there's not really a lot here.

5: Road Racing for Serious Runners: Multispeed Training- 5K to Marathon, by Peter Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. Lots of talk about max heart rate and VO2 max and what all, and some serious training schedules with serious workouts. Too serious for me...most of this went right over my head.

6: Marathoning for Mortals: A Regular Person's Guide to the Joy of Running or Walking a Half-Marathon or Marathon, by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. I'm more of a regular person than a serious runner, so this one better suits me. Re-read as preparation for what is to come.

7: Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read this out loud to Sophie as bedtime stories. Since each chapter is a separate and distinct story it really worked well that way. She especially enjoyed it since Laura in the book is the same age as Sophie is now, and has requested we read more about Laura. Two thumbs up.

8: Skinny Bitch: A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide For Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous!, by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Should be called "Crazy Bitch" instead of "Skinny Bitch". If you are looking for a book on sensible diet and nutrition, this book is NOT it. If you are looking for a book chock-full of anti-government ranting and half-baked nutritional information, step right up. No thumbs up.

9: My Appetite for Destruction: Sex, Drugs and Guns N' Roses, by Steven Adler. I don't think that anyone who is not a GNR fan would particularly enjoy this book. As far as addict-memoirs go, it's not as compelling a story as Nikki Sixx's book. I still liked it, though.

Tags: books

I am cutting To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise loose and sending it back to the library. I have been trying to read it for a solid year, and I made it halfway through...it looks like I'm only a third of the way through, but a full third of the book is endnotes. It's interesting and all, but dry as a bone. I can't read more than a few pages without falling asleep.

Anyway, I can't count it on the Books O' The Year list since it's unfinished, so I'm documenting it here.

Tags: books

Since today is the 27th of December and it's currently 9:08 (and will be later still when I finish this post) and I hope to get to bed early for some actual sleeping, I will likely not complete another book this calendar year; if I do, I'll edit or do another post or something. Here's the remainder of the list of finished ones. We'll start over in January, howzabout?

To see the entire year's list of books, click on the "books" tag below.

46: Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen, by Vince Neil with Mike Sager. Summery: Vince Neil thinks an awful lot of himself.

47. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (audiobook), by Jane Austin and Ben H. Winters. I got this one from the library and put it on my iPod for treadmill time. It is HILARIOUS. ABSOLUTELY. Whomever narrates it does a first-class job. I've not yet read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but John says this is better. I'd trust him on that if I were you.

48. Those Aching Feet: Your Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Foot Problems, Revised Edition, by Dr. Christine Dobrowolski, Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. Plantar fasciitis. It's better now.

49. Not Buying It: My year Without Shopping, by Judith Levine. Not entirely accurate; should be called something like Not Buying Most Things: My Year Without Shopping For Things That Aren't Groceries And The Newspaper And Some Books And The Occasional Outfit.

50. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, by David Sedaris. Funny but surprisingly violent.

51. Eat This Book: A Year of Gorging and Glory on the Competitive Eating Circuit, by Ryan Nerz.

52. Cookin' Southern Vegetarian Style, by Ann Jackson

53. Perfect Porches: Designing Welcoming Spaces for Outdoor Livingite, by Paula S. Wallace. Pooooorch eeeennnnnnvy.

54. The Rabbi's Cat 2, by Joann Sfar.

Tags: books
Current Location: The chair next to the sofa
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"

I get bogged down in my book list mid-year and then have to post them all at once the last week of December. This year it was Daddy's hospitalization with pneumonia in July which got me off track. He's doing fine now, BTW.

This list does not include titles that I have not yet completed, or magazines, or children's books read to Sophie that are not chapter books.

I'll just do links right now, and come back and edit in reviews later, time permitting and if I feel like it.

33. Secret Recipes for the Modern Wife: All the Dishes You'll Need to Make from the Day You Say "I Do" Until Death (or Divorce) Do You Part, by Nava Atlas. PS: This is not really a cookbook.

34. Too fast for love: Heavy Metal portraits, by David Yellen, intro by Chuck Klosterman

35. The Messiah Formerly Known as Jesus: Dispatches from the Intersection of Christianity and Pop Culture, by Tom Breen.

36. How Did You Get This Number?, by Sloane Crosley. Entertaining.

37. You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After The Breakup, by Peter Doggett. VERY entertaining.

38. Runner's World Complete Book of Running: Everything You Need to Run for Weight Loss, Fitness, and Competition, by Amby Burfoot and the editors of Runner's World magazine.

39. 4 Months To A 4-Hour Marathon, by Dave Kuehls. Thought it might have some good tips for half-marathoning.

40. Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price , by Coolio. This is the most freaking hilarious cookbook I have ever read in my life.

41. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut, by Rob Sheffield. Good. Recommended.

42. Scott Pilgrim Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour, by Brian Lee O'Malley. Now I guess I have to go back and read Scott Pilgrim Nos 1-5.

43. Cassette From My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves, by Jason Bitner. VERY good. TOTALLY recommended.

44. Tommyland, by Tommy Lee and Anthony Bozza. Oh Lord. This book is short-attention-span theatre, jumping from one topic to another with the greatest of ease. Linear storytelling? Doesn't exist in Tommyland. And also, large parts of it are ghost-written by Tommy's penis.

45. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. (Linked to the edition I own...BTW, did you know Fenris Ulf's name does not stay Fenris Ulf in later editions of the book, but instead changes to Maugrim? I did not know that until day before yesterday!) I read this one out loud to Sophie in chapters at night. She really enjoyed it. She enjoyed Prince Caspian far less, and we've given up on it and moved on to other titles.

More coming soon.

Tags: books

I seem to have been neglecting my book posts lately. Like, since April. Sorry about that. Let's catch up, shall we?

In May, I read:

21: Live For Your Listening Pleasure, by David Sedaris (audiobook). As stated previously, I've been reserving audiobooks for exclusive use on the treadmill, so as to make the treadmill way less boring. While I was listening to this one I apparently laughed out loud several times, because John commented on it. Seems it's odd for someone on a treadmill to just laugh spontaneously. Some of the essays were the same as we heard last fall when David Sedaris came and read in Little Rock. I don't think I mentioned it at the time, but if you wanted to take out a few thousand of the biggest liberals in Little Rock, you could just arrange for David Sedaris to come do a reading and then bomb the auditorium (NOTE: if you actually do this, I'm totally turning you in, because the cops can narrow suspects from my flist. I mean it). Anyway, the animal fables are the best, and I hope he does more of them.

22: Runner's World Performance Nutrition for Runners: How to Fuel Your Body for Stronger Workouts, Faster Recovery, and Your Best Race Times Ever, by Matt Fitzgerald. As also stated previously, when I am confronted with a problem, I throw a book at it. My problem right now is that I've signed up for a half-marathon in October. There will be a lot of running books on this list between now and then.

23: The Noncyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races: Get on Your Butt and into Gear, by Dawn Dais. OMG. This one was my own fault; reading it was like a car wreck from which I could not look away. While not as bad as her book on running I read in February, it's still pretty bad. Admittedly her attitude is better this time, which she attributes to all the coasting involved in cycling. The gist of the book: go to the bike shop, do what they tell you, and practice a lot before your race. Oh, and she dropped out of her race without finishing. It figures.

24: The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know--And Then Some, by Mark Remy and the editors of Runner's World. OK, this one was really short and cute, and fun to read. I'd get it as a small Christmas present for my runner friend.

In June I read:

25: The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, by Allison Bechdel. Man, Allison knows her way around a pen. I might not be lesbian but I can sure appreciate good art. This is a compilation of strips from the beginning till she went on hiatus following the publication of Fun Home (also very excellent). There's a few holes in the storylines, but not so many that you can't follow what's going on. And, the linework is excellent. I love watching her style mature over the years.

26: Curly Girl: The Handbook: A Celebration of Curls: How to Cut Them, Care For Them, Love Them and Set Them Free, by Lorraine Massey. I got this one and read it for my curly daughter. If you have curls, get thee to the local library and check this one out.

27: Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee. OH MY GOD. If you know a hoarder or someone you suspect is a hoarder, read this book. Just do it, OK? This book is crazy fascinating, and I just plowed through it from start to finish. So good.

28: You'll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again: One Woman's Painfully Funny Quest to Give It Up, by Heather McDonald. Debbie lent me this one, and it was meh. So Heather was a virgin till she was 27 and wrote a book about it, whatever. I think she only got her book deal because she's friends with Chelsea Handler. Chelsea is funnier, though. Best not waste your time.

So far in July I have read:

29: Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace , by Larry Shapiro. Good. Recommended.

30: The Salon, by Nick Bertozzi. A graphic novel mystery set in 1907 Modernist Paris. All the faves are here: Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Gaugin, Gertrude Stein.

31: Pretending You Care: The Retail Employee Handbook, by Norman Feuti. This is like a Dilbert book, the kind with words as well as comic strips, only for retail sales. As a six-year veteran of retail, I laughed...A LOT. Especially during the part about Christmas and how it lasts for six months. I recommend this to anyone working in retail, past or present.

32: Marathon Training for Dummies, by Tere Stouffer Drenth. I got this one from the library as part of my ongoing "read about running" series, and a lot of it duplicates the other books, but it does have some really good sections about drills and stretches, complete with photos so you can see if you are doing them right.

Tags: books

April saw the completion of seven books, including my first audiobooks.

14: Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions by Nancy Clark. I got this one from the library because I'm still having trouble figuring out how to eat for running. I'm fine for going three miles and under, but anything beyond that finds me running out of steam all too often. There has to be a fix somewhere. Since the book is aimed at people running 26 miles, I can't take the suggestions literally, but I've found I eat way too much fat and not enough complex carbohydrates. I've been trying to cut back on fat (trying...not necessarily succeeding) and to increase the carbs to about 50% of my diet, mostly in the form of fruit, and that seems to be helping, at least on the days I have running clinic. I had to return it to the library immediately after finishing it, because someone else put a hold on it, but I think I'll get back in line and read it again.

15: Marathoning for Mortals: A Regular Person's Guide to the Joy of Running or Walking a Half-Marathon or Marathon by John "The Penguin" Bingham and Coach Jenny Hadfield, M.A., C.P.T. I checked this one out since I'll be starting training soon for the Soaring Wings Half, and because I enjoy John Bingham's columns in Runner's World magazine. This one is way, way, way better than The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women. I propose that one go out of print and with the paper saved they print more copies of this book. The training plans are very do-able (they have you run x many minutes per day instead of x many miles, which seems more comfortable to me) and there's suggestions on food and necessary equipment, sensible advise for beginners and experienced runners alike, and a load of "you can do it" testimonials from real people, including one by LiveJournal's own wildcelticrose on page 176. I'll probably end up getting a used copy of this from Amazon Marketplace so I can refer back to it as I get closer and closer to October.

16: The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (audiobook). John brought this one home from the library at my request, to listen to while we drove to Dallas. This is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia books, the first one I ever read, when I was about 8 or so, and even now I re-read it ever few years. I love it because it's an excellent adventure and is the only book of the series which can stand alone on its own merits. All the others you have to at least read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to understand. Sophie didn't pay as much attention as I had hoped, but she did listen along, and John thought it was OK too, although I think he would have preferred music. I, however, was delighted by the whole thing. It was like being a little kid and being read to again, and your whole job is just to listen and let your imagination soar. The CDs total a little more than five hours in length, which was also perfect...we started them as we got on the interstate at Mayflower and finished just as we pulled into Craig and Cherise's driveway.

17: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (audiobook). This one was actually my introduction to the world of audiobooks, even though I completed it after The Horse and His Boy above. John brought it to me earlier this year because I was complaining about how boooooooring the treadmill is, even with my iPod. I've been saying for a while now that I intended to re-read HP&TDH before part one of the movie comes out this fall, since I'd only read it the one time (on the day it came out, natch) but I didn't know when I was going to get the time, because it's like 760 pages long and I have so many other books which I haven't read previously that need reading. And even the audiobook is 21 hours long! So when John brought it to me I ripped the whole thing into iTunes and made a "Harry Potter" playlist, and the rule was I could *only* listen to it while running. And it worked well as bait; I was amazed how much detail of the book I'd forgotten in the last three years, and if I wanted to finish a chapter, I had to run that much longer. I'll give this two thumbs up, because again, it's very pleasant to be read to, and because Jim Dale is an excellent narrator. I'm about to start Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters next, but I think once I get that one done I'll get the first Harry Potter book on CD and allow Jim Dale to read the whole series to me.

18: My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith by Benyamin Cohen. Benyamin isn't just a rabbi's son, he's an ultra-orthodox rabbi's son. He prays all the prayers and keeps kosher and wears the tztitzis. But he's no longer excited by Judaism and he's always felt a pull towards Christianity, in a grass-is-always-greener sort of way, so he gets approval from his rabbi (not his father) to spend a year investigating different Christian churches, from the Catholics to the Mormons. A very interesting read, especially to get a picture of modern Christianity though the eyes of an outsider.

19: Eat This, Not That! The Best (& Worst!) Foods in America! The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I checked this one out because I'd seen the column on which the book is based in Men's Health magazine, and because I was curious about the content. This is the 2009 edition of the book, the original of which was published in 2007, and it's amazing how much the franchise has exploded in the past three years. The premise is an appealing one...by making more sensible choices while eating out, you can still eat stuff you want and lose (or at least not gain) any weight. And who wouldn't like that? The books focuses mainly on restaurant meals, which is not quite as useful for me as it might be for someone else, mainly because a) I rarely eat out and 2) many of the chains profiled don't have outlets in the Greater Little Rock area. But it would be a helpful read if, for instance, you travel a lot for business and are frequently stuck eating road food.

20: Bob Dylan Revisited: 13 Graphic Interpretations of Bob Dylan's Songs. Very pretty.

Tags: books

I finished only two books in March, both of them last weekend while I was laid up with a bad back. Neither of them required much brainpower, which is good when you're hopped up on pain pills, and both were free, since Debbie lent them to me. This brings my total books completed this year to 13. I miss those days when I had vacant hours to spend with my nose in a book.

12: My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands, by Chelsea Handler. I liked this one better than "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea", which I read last year. I don't know why I'd prefer a book on sleeping around more than a book on drinking, except that I did. Some of her stories are quite humorous, and some will make you so glad that you're not Chelsea Handler. This would be an excellent book to purchase in an airport bookstore, to read while waiting on your connecting flight.

13: Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, by Chelsea Handler. This one was just published, and I like it best of all her books. The stories are more general...that is, not every one revolves around ONLY sex or ONLY booze, so there's more variety...and she includes a lot of her family in the storytelling. In fact, few stories don't involve her family in some way. There are actual cell-phone photos accompanying a lot of the stories, too, so you can see what the victimscharacters look like, and also some transcripts of email conversations between her and her siblings. She seems to be settling down some, too. Purchase this one if you have a long layover and/or long connecting flight, and will need more than one book in order to fill the time.

BTW I don't watch her show.

Music-wise, I have two new CDs. I actually got Them Crooked Vultures last month for my birthday, but I've only just started listening to it. I like it; it has a vaguely retro quality I appreciate. I think it sounds like what Cream might sound like now, had they stayed together and continued recording, assuming they evolved musically and didn't just release the same old thing over and over (ahem, AD/DC).

I also purchased the new 30 Seconds To Mars CD, which I am enjoying thoroughly. It sounds like U2 and My Chemical Romance were put in a bowl, with just a soupçon of The Killers and a boy's choir thrown in for good measure, then everything was mixed up and formed into a completely new band from actual Mars.

Tags: books, music
Current Location: Work

I managed to finish five books this month.

7: Cocktail Shakers, Lava Lamps, and Tupperware: A Celebration of the Lifestyle Design from the Last Half of the 20th Century, by Wayne Hemingway. I remember reading in ARTnews back in the late 80s about a controversial show at the MOMA called something along the lines of "High and Low". The gist of the show was that low art...comic books, graphic novels, package design, graffiti...was as valid as your ordinary museum-quality high art, seeing as it was all influenced in some way by high art. Or, remember the big speech in The Devil Wears Prada when Miranda gives Andrea the lecture about how her bargain-bin blue sweater was actually conceived by haute couture? It's the trickle-down theory of design, basically. This book is laid out along the same lines. You had your lovely expensive classic groundbreaking Eames chairs, sure, and eventually that whole look ended up in the Sears catalog. This is a British publication, and thus also includes samples from the English, German, French and Scandinavian equivalents of the Sears catalog. Highly entertaining and very witty, and contains a surprising number of references to sex, especially in the part about faux-animal fur rugs.

8: Style Evolution: How to Create Ageless Personal Style in Your 40s and Beyond, by Kendall Farr. This is better than the other book I read about dressing for my age. This one had actual shopping advice and everything, although I'm not sure I actually learned much. I mean, it's great advice for building a work wardrobe, but it's also kind of like what I think every time I watch "What Not To Wear" and Stacy suggest someone buy pointy-toe high heel shoes for her weekend casual wardrobe. I don't know anyone who dresses like that in the actual real world. However, if you need to reboot your work wardrobe and need to get some ideas, it might be worth a read.

9: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fighting Fatigue, by R.N., B.S.N., Nadine Saubers. Oh book, I needed you 10 years ago when I was so exhausted I could barely stand up straight, before I already learned everything you told me just now. In a nutshell: see your doctor, take your meds, eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep. You're welcome.

10: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training, by Dawn Dais. I actually bought this one from Amazon Marketplace because the library didn't have it, and I'm glad it was cheap. Dawn is a couch potato in her mid-20s, whose grandfather dies of a stroke. Shortly after, she receives a notice about a charity marathon benefiting the American Stroke Association, and signs up to honor her grandfather. She gets a coach and a partner, raises her $1000 buy-in from sponsors, and does a 16-week training program in order to run the Honolulu Marathon. The book is her insights and journal excerpts. She makes much ado about being slow and fat and hating running, but she carries on, and finishes...but barely, among the walking wounded, in a time frame which remained undisclosed. On Amazon, one of the big criticisms of the book is that her coach set her up for failure with the 16-week schedule and she went too far, too fast, and that's why she blew out her knee. The general tone of the book is, "Hey, I hate running! And once I finish this marathon business I'm never running again! But if I can do it, you can too! Even though I'm never doing it again!" I hear she's written a new book about cycling a century, too, and I can just guess how that went for her. I'll probably keep this one for a while and read it again just for kicks, then give it to the library.

11: Half-Marathon: You Can Do It, by Jeff Galloway. I checked this one out because Debbie is badgering me about doing a half-marathon with her in October. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do it, because that's a LOT of running, and I'll just have to see how things go on Sunday and with running clinic (timed miles tonight, 13:20 for me. Although I wasn't the slowest, at least 6 other girls are slower than me. But I digress). And also I wanted to read the section on nutrition, because I don't think I'm eating right at the moment. Anyway, Jeff's big claim to fame, besides being an Olympic runner and 2:16 marathoner, is pushing the use of walk breaks on long runs instead of running the whole way through. He says you recover faster and can actually finish faster if you take brief walk breaks every so often. That's right up my alley, even if serious runners don't buy it and make fun of "gallowalkers". Jeff is the complete opposite of Dawn above, and he suggests that a sedentary couch potato take 38 solid weeks of training to go half as far as she did. This book would be helpful for anyone contemplating a half-marathon training program, because his schedules would be completely do-able for just about anyone. It does get repetitive at times, and Galloway does push some products by name A LOT. I wonder if he gets paid by Accelerade?

Tags: books

Here it is the last day of the first month of 2010, and I'm gonna try to be better about updating the monthly book post this year. Hopefully we won't have any hospitalizations or other drama to throw me off track like last year. Crossing fingers.

1: Cooking Dirty: A Story of Life, Sex, Love and Death in the Kitchen, by Jason Sheehan. Man, the first 3/4 or more of this book is FANTASTIC. The gist is that Jason Sheehan is a really talented, really fucked up young chef, who bounces from restaurant to restaurant, each time getting higher and higher on the food chain. He documents what really goes on back in the kitchen of your favorite swill-hole, and it makes for amazing reading. Eventually, though, he burns out on cooking and talks his way into a job as a food writer, and at that point the book becomes less interesting. However, he admits that fact his own self ("Writing about cooking is considerably more interesting than writing about writing") and by then you're almost at the end of the book anyway, so it's still all good. Two thumbs up.

2: Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong, by Jen Yates. Based on the blog of the same name. This is a fast read, because the book is mostly pictures. However, they are very funny pictures which will have you rolling with laughter, tears welling from your eyes. Most of the book content is previously unpublished so you will probably enjoy it even if you already read the blog. Sophie liked this book a lot, and wants her next birthday cake to be just like the hideous bridal-veiled unicorn monstrosity found in the middle.

3: In CHEAP We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue, by Lauren Weber. I dunno about this one. It starts off fascinating...an analysis of Puritanical emphasis on thriftiness and good old Benjamin Franklin and Poor Richard and his thrifty ways, and then it's WWI and WWII and we're rationing and buying War Bonds, and then all of a sudden, boom, we're in the 80s. So far so good. But THEN Lauren starts hanging out with Freegans and going dumpster-diving for gently-used trash, and the whole project turns all preachy instead of historical. I guess overall I enjoyed it, but at the end I felt that I had been misled by what appeared to be the original premise.

4: Food Rules: An Eater's Manual, by Michael Pollan. Anyone looking to tweak their diet in 2010 or just eat better in general needs to read this little book. It's short and fast...only 140 pages...and gets right to the point. Two thumbs up.

5: ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running, by Danny Dreyer. I finished this book on the plane while flying back from Colorado, and I think there's some good ideas in there that I might ought to put into practice. Before I return it to the library I need to either read it again, photocopy a bunch of pages, or buy my own copy (used, preferably). The premise is that certain Tai Chi principles can improve your running and make it easier on your body. You're supposed make your core tough as steel and your limbs soft as cotton and to let your chi pull you forward instead of propelling yourself with your legs. I'm not sure I understand it, exactly, but hey, whatever, if it works. Right?

6: Pure Ducky Goodness: The First SHELDON Collection, by Dave Kellett. Sure it's a collection of comic strips, but I have decided that they totally count as books for the purposes of my yearly count. It's not as if I read tons of them anyway. This one is cute and amusing, with good geek jokes. I had originally ordered it from Dave Kellett's website for Aidan's 8th birthday next March, but then I noticed it was signed, and that it's selling for $118 (!) on Amazon Marketplace, so now I'm not so sure I'm going to give it to him. I might put it in a lockbox and save it 10 years till he's 18, so he can sell it when he goes to college and buy a textbook or something.

Tags: books
Current Location: Sofa
Current Music: The Grammys (Zac Brown Band performing right now)

I have three books in progress on the nightstand but I didn't finish them in time to count them as read in 2009, so we end the year with 41 books. Fewer than I would have liked, but more than I expected considering the circumstances of the year. You know?

36: Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase, by Jen Lancaster. Jen waxes nostalgic over her childhood and fixes each event to something she was wearing at the time. This is my second Jen Lancaster book to read (the first was "Such a Pretty Fat", which was better, but kind of self-loathing), and it will probably be the last. She's not as funny as she thinks she is, and comes off as kind of a self-centered bitch. I was glad when I got through with the book.

37: When We Were Beautiful, Bon Jovi. This is the companion book to the documentary of the same name, shot to document their 25th anniversary of the band. It's very nice; it's beautifully done, and contains photos and interviews which didn't make the documentary, BUT it didn't tell me too much I didn't already know. I really want something a little more exhaustive, like a Bon Jovi anthology. I'm never going to get that, of course, since Jon's such a control freak. Re that: David's interview is a bit telling. He comes this close to bitching about his job. I wonder if he's maybe a little sick of Jon after all these years?

38: SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This was VERY interesting. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the hookers. I am being serious! This books is maybe not quite as charming as the original "Freakonomics", but that was a fluke. Now they are self-aware. However, they also have carte-blanche to do pretty much anything they want, and they produced a darn fine sequel, IMO. Two thumbs up.

39: Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, by Crystal Renn. OK, you might not think that a 23-year-old fashion model's memoirs would be worth reading. Ordinarily I'd agree with you. HOWEVER, this one is good. In a nutshell, Crystal was discovered and signed as a teen, lost a ton of weight because they told her to, developed anorexia, decided it wasn't worth it, told the model industry to go fuck itself, put the weight back on, went up to like 175 lbs, signed with a plus-size agency and became a BIG FAT SUCCESS. She also seems very smart. I especially liked that she spent the whole book writing things like, "I read once..." and "at the time I was reading..." and "I just read this book that..." and so forth. That's nice from a model. Recommended.

40: Eating the Dinosaur, by Chuck Klosterman. His latest book of essays. I heart Chuck. Recommended.

41: Nightlight: A Parody, by the Harvard Lampoon. This one was kind of stupid. You probably guessed that already, though. If you haven't read the Twilight books yet, then I recommend it for some light weekend reading. Otherwise, don't bother. You know the story and probably have already made better fun of it your own self.

Tags: books

We're up to late September-early October, because I checked these out right after Mom was diagnosed.

31: The Breast Cancer Survival Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide for the Woman with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer, by John Link, M.D. A straightforward, helpful book, with good virtual bedside manner. The only problem is it was published in 1998 and much of the information on treatment and diet is outdated.

32: Breast Cancer Clear & Simple: All Your Questions Answered, by the American Cancer Society. Perhaps a little too simple, but straightforward and easy to understand, especially the part about making sense of the numbers and letters on your pathology report. This would be the book that they hand you when you get your diagnosis, sort of a "so you have breast cancer" text.

33: The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment, by A. J. Jacobs. Yes, I'm a fan; yes, I've read all his books. This one was enjoyable, but not as much so as his previous works. I think it works less well because he committed to these individual projects (outsourcing his life, brutal honesty, playing Cyrano for his assistant, among others) for only 30 days at a time, which Morgan Spurlock did first (with 30 Days...oh how I miss you, 30 Days!), and better. A. J. doesn't quite get the depth of experience that he does with a year-long project. It's still good, but if you haven't yet read The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, you really ought to start there, not here.

34: Altered! Art Projects, by Jill Haglund. Like scrapbooking, but in 3D.

35: Galloway's 5K/10K Running, by Jeff Galloway. Galloway's theory is that you can cover any distance in good time as long as you take brief walk breaks every once in a while. This book outlines his plan for 5K and 10K training, as if you couldn't tell that from the title. Some people hate the idea...they call the Galloway method "running" instead of running...but he's a former Olympian and has done a marathon in 2:16, so I'm willing to listen to him, at least for the time being.

Tags: books

26: The Flat-Belly Diet, by Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass. I read this one mainly to see what all the fuss was about. As diet books go, it seems reasonable...cut out foods which cause you to bloat! Eat in moderation. And eat monounsaturated fatty acids, which are good for you and make you feel full, so you consume fewer overall calories. The meal plans seem realistic, and the book is about half diet plan and half recipes. I'd buy it used, probably.

27: But Wait ... There's More!: Tighten Your Abs, Make Millions, and Learn How the $100 Billion Infomercial Industry Sold Us Everything But the Kitchen Sink, by Remy Stern. A history of the professional pitchman, with a side order of QVC. A very good read, if a little disorganized.

28: Overcoming Allergies , by Christina Scott-Moncrieff. Didn't tell me much of what I didn't already know ("avoid allergy triggers"), but the illustrations were nice.

29: The American Resting Place: 400 Years of History Through Our Cemeteries and Burial Grounds, by Marilyn Yalom and Reid S. Yalom. Do you like cemeteries? Want to know how some cemetery customs originated? This is a VERY good book. They only covered cemeteries that they personally visited and photographed, so here's hoping for a Volume 2 in the future. The photographs are spectacular, especially the ones of the old "death's head" style tombstones, which are my personal favorites. Note: When I die I want a tombstone like that.

30: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose. What happens when a big ol' liberal journalism major from Brown, who was raised Quaker and has lesbian aunts, transfers to Liberty University, the house that Jerry Falwell built, and tries to pass as a Born-Again Christian? Lots of stuff, that's what. I found this book fascinating, and read it through all at one sitting. It's like a peek inside a crazy secret club that I'd never want to join. Two thumbs up.

Tags: books