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Monday, June 13, 2005

A little light reading for summer

I've been reading a lot more lately. Not that I have more time to read ... but maybe I do. I'm finally using my internet time productively, searching the library catalog and requesting books to be put on hold. They even call me when they're ready! Now all I have to do is walk in and pick them up. No more trying to get the boys to behave in the "adult" section while I look for something on the shelves. Now if only I could put the magazines on hold ...
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So I recently finished Joshlyn Jackson's gods in Alabama, in a day and a half, and LOVED it. I highly recommend it to everyone!
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I've been working on Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka for the last six weeks. It's overdue and I'm only halfway through it. Somehow, the spirited children of the house keep getting in the way. I'll have to just return it and put it on hold again later ... maybe after school starts. I'm looking forward to the part where it helps me plan for the everyday getting up and out of the house thing.
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I started Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America, and it's true: I am seeing the world in a new way. Her experience working for a cleaning service has shown me that I'm not such a bad housekeeper after all. Oh, and I will finish this one before it's due.
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The new novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, has followed me around my various reading poses about the house (and yard) but I'm not progressing very far. It's not bad, just different, and it's taking me awhile to get into it. I don't usually venture into the realm of the latest novel from the latest prodigy out of NY, so this is a stretch for me. It feels good to stretch.
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33 things every girl should know about women's history (no caps in the title) is a collection of essays through history, written by women. I'm just bouncing around, looking for ones I've never read before (as some of them are fairly well-known, others not so much) and learning a few tid bits that I should have learned in school. It was interesting to read Abigail Adam's letter to her husband while he was in Philadelphia drafting the Declaration of Independence, and his typical MCP response. The Women's Movement isn't new, and like household chores, it'll never be finished.
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I'm also reading a YA novel, The Wind Singer by William Nicholson. I picked it up more as research to see how it's done, as I've started one of my own, but I can't help enjoying it! And it's book one in a trilogy, so there are at least two more to come. I just have to remember not to get lost in it, as I have a tendency to do. It is research, after all.
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And I'm still keeping Shirley Jump's The Devil Served Tortellini on my night table, although it is presently covered up by at least two magazines (I've recently cleaned out the pile, or rather, moved it someplace else!) If it weren't for the recipes, that would be truly light reading. Which reminds me ... it's time for a
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Virtue Report
I've discovered I don't really like salads. I'll keep on trying new ones until I do. I still don't have a scale, but my first week back at exercise class and I'm already feeling better. And snacking is under control, as long as I go to bed early.
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And there's no cookies in the house. Cause I ate them all for breakfast.

1 comment:

Running2Ks said...

Now for some really light reading, "Summer Sisters" by Judy Blume. And for some "SIGH" reading, "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks. Good luck getting to read. Don't read on the highway--like I've actually seen some doing ;)