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Monday, October 13, 2003
two book reviews
I finished two books this weekend. (I am just on a roll lately!)
First was an Elizabeth Berg book (Open House), which actually helped to put me in an extraordinarily emotional mood when I finished it at 1:30 Sunday morning, as anyone who was unfortunate enough to happen upon that diary entry before it was deleted will know. Elizabeth Berg is very good at making mundane or sad or horrific situations into stories so wonderfully-told that on every page it seems like there's at least one line or paragraph that resonates so strongly with me that I have to re-read it several times to fully savor the rightness of it. Superficially, Open House about a woman heading toward middle age, dealing with a divorce and the increasing independence of her eleven-year-old son. But oh, there is so much more. If you're female, and you've ever loved anyone to the point of tears in your life before, you should read it. Especially if you're a mother. Be prepared to catch your breath, and cry, and laugh, and to shamelessly dog-ear pages that you want to go back to and re-read later.
Also, yesterday I read a book from start to finish. I don't know exactly how that happened. I had church in the morning and I had company over in the afternoon. And I wasn't rude to them -- really! My sister-in-law and I sat outside and watched the kids play and read for a while, and then after everyone went home and we got the kids in bed, T installed a game on our computer and spent a few hours playing that while I sat on the couch and read. I kept thinking I had to put the book down and go to bed, but I didn't, until I finished it. This book was called Same as it Never Was and it's the first novel by C Scovell LaZebnik. Obviously I liked it pretty well, considering the rapidity with which I consumed it. ;-). It's a pretty light read, but not too fluffy, about a cynical college student who becomes the guardian of her four-year-old half-sister when her father dies. It was a pleasure to see Olivia change from a college girl who'd built very high walls around herself to keep people out, into a young woman who cared about her sister, cared about decency, and cared about herself. The characters (except perhaps for the girl's father and stepmother, but they're only in the story for one or two "scenes" so their cardboard-cutoutness is excusable) are really well-written, and the relationships between them seem very realistic. I liked the book better and better as I went along.
In other news, today is a holiday for my husband and hence our school, and we're going to surprise the kids with a trip to the zoo. I'm looking forward to seeing their faces when we get there. ;-). I suppose I shouldn't go in a nightgown and my old threadbare gray leggings, though...
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Sunday, October 05, 2003
mostly a book review: The Time Traveler's Wife
I finished The Time Traveler's Wife last night (see Friday's entry). I really enjoyed it. The first third or so was a huge mental puzzle about time travel -- and of course I was reading as fast as I could trying to figure everything out, thinking, "I hope this book is still this good once the gimmick is explained." And it was, it really was. There was a lot to it besides just the time travel -- a good love story, well-written characters, and excellent dialogue. So often dialogue in books really bothers me, because nobody really talks the way the characters do -- and I don't mean in an antiquated kind of way either -- it's kind of hard to explain, sometimes it just feels fake. This is why I don't write; I have some fun ideas for stories but I know I would suck at making the dialogue sound natural. Anyway. There were a couple of things about the book that made me wish this first-time novelist had had a better editor (and the library copy I had was an advance reader's copy, so who knows, maybe these things were addressed before the actual book came out). Two things that come to mind: Overall the prose is modern but eloquent and almost lyrical, but during the sex scenes the words used for body parts are straight out of a high-school boy's locker room. Not that I wanted to read about "quivering shafts" or any other harlequin-ish stuff -- but it just didn't sound right. Again, another reason I'm not a writer. ;-). And there were a few episodes in the book that were jarring because they seemed utterly gratuitous -- had nothing really to do with the story, just tossed in to allow the author to broadcast her opinion about something. The two young "punks" at the party come to mind. Overall, though, this is an excellent book, especially for a first novel, and you should go out and check it out right now and read it. Go on, what are you still sitting here for?!? ;-)
In other news, today is the day that T is finally going to come home from the fire he's been working on. We have missed him a great deal, and we are really looking forward to his arrival. (how's that for an understatement). The kids even cleaned, voluntarily, to make the house nice for Daddy! My seven-year-old son emptied the dishwasher of his own accord and without prompting, can you believe that? Having kids is paying off! ;-) (would insert a whole row of winks here if it would help you to understand that really, even if I never had to lift a finger to do a chore again for the rest of my life, that would be only a drop in the lake of the wonderfulness of being the mother of my children. But I'll spare you the row of winks, and just tell you.).
Other than that, there's nothing new. Seriously. Nothing even remotely funny has happened to me in the last 36 hours, just general happy sorts of things which bore diary readers to tears, so I'll keep them to myself. :)
random thought: After three days of the kids watching Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron once a day, I am ready to throttle Bryan Adams until his face turns purple...
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Friday, October 03, 2003
book sale
ooh, joy, joy, the "members only" opening night of our library's semi-annual book sale was tonight. I only realized the book sale was going on when I read a post on one of my many email lists, wherein someone was offering a possible explanation for the quietness of the list -- "is everyone off at library book sales?" At first I thought, what an absolutely idiotic thing to say, does she think everyone's library has book sales the same weekend? And then I thought, Oh my goodness, my library's book sale IS this weekend!! So I turned around and asked the kids if they wanted to go to the library sale and buy books. C was enthusiastic; LT was not. Now here's the awful kind of mother I am: I said, "But you know, they might have some Star Wars books... it'd be a shame to miss it if they had Star Wars books..." and before the words have even finished leaving my mouth I'm mentally kicking myself -- what kind of mother ARE you??? First of all, you're the mom, he's the son, you say we're going to revel in cheap books and by golly, he just has to go! And secondly, exactly what are you going to do when you get there and there are no Star Wars books? You manipulative, lying excuse for a mother! So went my mental self-flagellations. I needn't have worried on one count, though, because we'd barely arrived at the children's section before LT found not one but two Star Wars books -- a storybook of Return of the Jedi, with photos from the movie, and a comic-novel version of Episode IV, most commonly just called "Star Wars", but actually, if we're going to go with the naming conventions used in the other movies, it would be called "A New Hope". Egads, let's not go with that, shall we?
Anyway, I spent $17 on books, and they're 50c apiece. This time I got stuff for the kids or for school, almost exclusively; I only got two books entirely for myself and they're children's books also. I found an almost-complete set of the Narnia books from the 80's (missing The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, which, before someone determined to re-order the series, was #1). This edition is especially significant to me because it's the same as the set my brother and I had when we were little. I think I may even have our old copy of LWW sitting around somewhere. If not, I can find it on eBay. And I got a Trixie Belden book (#5, The Mystery Off Glen Road). It is my goal to re-accumulate all of the first 20 of this series. I had them when I was younger, and somehow they got lost or disposed of. I got a few horse-y books for C (I am a sucker where those are concerned. I figure she'll read them eventually...), and the rest of the books were just odds and ends that I thought we should have, either for reading aloud or for school or for both.
Enough about the book sale. We had a really nice evening after that. We came home and I barbecued chicken burgers and hot dogs for supper; I sat outside and read a library book (The Time Traveler's Wife -- maybe I was just predisposed to enjoy whatever I read tonight, but so far I am really intrigued by this book) while the kids played happily. It was a really happy scene, without a doubt the best part of the day. Earlier we went to the valley with the neighbor ladies; it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd worked myself up to think it would be, but still, it was not an insupportable amount of fun either. I got the very bright idea to walk along the bike/walking path in smallish-shopping-city from the park to Toys R Us, so we could look at stuff and the kids could work on their Christmas lists while we waited for the ladies to be done with what they were doing and ready to go home. It proved to be too much of a walk for C, and she had a spectacular meltdown on the way back to our car. I never expected to be one of those mothers pulling a sobbing child along by the hand on the sidewalk. Next time you see one of those mothers, please have some mercy in your thoughts of her, on my account. It was far less fun for me than it looked. The rest of the trip was nice enough, though.
I am kind of bummed because I lost my really nice Mary Cassatt stamps. I have got into the habit of requesting something other than the ordinary standard stamps given out by default, when I buy stamps. A couple of months ago I requested Audrey Hepburn stamps; this last time I just asked for "something different", and the postal person handed me these really wonderful stamps with Mary Cassatt's artwork on them. I don't collect the stamps, I actually use them; it just feels all interesting and different to use a stamp that's something besides the traditional flag or whatever. I'd used about half the stamps on that sheet when I lost the sheet. I am far more upset about this than I should be. For one thing, I can just get more. It wasn't a limited edition thing or anything. But that's not what bothers me. I am just idiotic about stamps. One time the kids got hold of a partial sheet and stuck two or three them on their clothes like stickers, not knowing they were actually for mailing things. I went borderline ballistic, as if the stamps were worth, say $34 apiece instead of $.34 apiece. I know for a fact that I have spent more than $.34 per sticker for a sheet of stickers for them to play with, on more than one occasion. Don't ask me why the stamp thing bothers me so much, but it does. There are many strange things about myself which I will never understand.
random thought: I love how on amazon.co.uk it says that the item is "usually dispatched in 2-3 days" instead of "shipped".
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Thursday, September 11, 2003
The Book List
Emily graciously gave me her permission to steal the book list idea from her and Jenn. So here are my comments. The list originally came from ivillage, where they think you "must have been an English major" if you can correctly answer ten insanely easy multiple-choice first-line-of-what-book quiz questions. So be warned, this isn't the most authoritative "100 Best Books" list you can imagine. Oddly, though, it's hard to find any good ones, so this one will have to do.
1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
I own this. I've read it just a couple of times. It's a good book, much deeper than the movie which is also good. But in my opinion, Scarlet O'Hara, whom we're all supposed to admire, crosses the fine line between "strong woman" and "conniving bitch" and I do not like her.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I have this book and read it probably once a year. I have never been to the South (I'm really sorry about that, really I am, please do not throw tomatoes) but this is how I picture really small southern towns, or at least how I imagine they were in the past. Quiet, dusty, and full of life under the surface.
3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I have this whole series. Diana Gabaldon is a phenomenal writer and researcher. These will keep you up all night reading. They're sometimes classified as "romance" novels but they are so much more. Try 'em, you'll like 'em. :)
4. Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
I have never read this. I suppose if I'm going to give a rave review to a historical fiction romance novel at #3, I can't say rude things about how shallow it seems to have this be #4 on this list. Maybe I'll give it a try.
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
I tried. I have a hard time with most John Irving. I own this but have never managed to get past the first few pages.
6. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
I've read The Hobbit, and I own the trilogy after it, but I've never read them. The Hobbit seemed to be more of a mainstream sort of book than these are, and I am really not into fantasy. I'll try them again sometime though, and see if I change my mind.
7. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
I love Wally Lamb. This book is marvelous -- just as She's Come Undone amazes us with the ability of a male author to get inside a woman's head, I Know This Much Is True amazes me with the way it lets me get inside a man's head. And there are scenes that will rip you up with sadness as well. So well-written.
8. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I've never read this.
9. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Never read this either. I think about it sometimes. Maybe I'll get it from the library.
10. The Stand by Stephen King
I've read this three times. If you aren't a Stephen King fan, you should still try this book, because it is not like his usual books. This is an epic novel, dealing with human nature and the nature of good and evil, creating some very real and memorable characters and putting them in a fascinating situation. Try to forget who wrote it, and try it. Even my AP English teacher in high school, who was even more of a literary snob than I am, admitted that King had come close to The Great American Novel when he wrote this one.
11. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Another one that I tried. I really did. Such rave reviews, and I couldn't get past the first 50 pages.
12. A Tree Grows in Brookyn by Betty Smith
This is a wonderful, wonderful book. For me, it does for New York what To Kill A Mockingbird does for the deep South -- gives a tangible sense of what life was like there once upon a time.
13. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
I read this because I like Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. This has none of JE's good qualities, and JE's few bad qualities are magnified in this book to the nth degree. It is far too dark and foggy for me. And like I said in my movie list, it's like a soap opera published in Gothic language.
14. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I liked this better when I was younger than I do now, but I do still like it. I don't agree with all the people who are upset that Jo and Laurie don't end up together. Laurie was a flake, and Jo needed someone to challenge her and take her seriously. Laurie was much better suited to Amy.
15. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Never heard of it.
16. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
One of my favorites. I have all of L.M. Montgomery's novels. If AoGG is too childish for you, though, try A Tangled Web. It's a cat of a completely different color, and really funny and clever.
17. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I read it and did not see what all the hype has always been about. It's not a bad book; I just didn't find it as deep or important as everyone else seems to. Maybe it's going over my head. Who knows.
18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I could not finish this book. That was about eight years ago, though, so maybe I'll try it again now. I just got fed up with the high society whining and moaning, and I hated the characters, and I even hated the way they dressed (the 20's are not my favorite historical period from a fashion perspective, to say the least).
19. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
OK, this book is interesting for Christians to read. I've read the whole series and liked it OK for what it was. But it doesn't belong on a 100-best list, in my opinion. Shades of things to come further down, methinks.
20. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Never read it.
21. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Never read it.
22. Dune by Frank Herbert
I tried this in junior high. It was highly recommended to me by a teacher, but I hated it and didn't finish it. I remember something about a box, and a guy putting his hand in it and being in a lot of pain. Or something. I do not like sci-fi so I've never tried it again.
23. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Never heard of it. (sorry)
24. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
I've heard of this but not read it. It's supposed to be An Important Book so maybe, snob that I am, I'll add it to my to-be-read list.
25. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
One of my very favorite books. It's beautiful. Like Kathleen Kelly, I just get caught up in the language. And the characters. And the humor. And the satire. And the romance. YUM. I just finished re-reading this the other day.
26. A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford
My mom owns this, and she used to recommend it to me often. Someday when I'm housesitting for her or something, I'll have to pick it up and see if it grabs me.
27. Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
This totally shouldn't be here. Sorry. Cute book, but empty and not worthy to be on the same webpage as Jane Eyre, let alone 70 places ahead of it.
28. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
Never read it. Not a sci-fi/fantasy fan.
29. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Now, there I go saying I'm not a fantasy fan, but these books are so, so much more. I love them all. My kids are also infatuated with the books and the BBC movies.
30. Exodus by Leon Uris
Never read it.
31. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
I touched on this briefly above, but this is an amazing book. Every woman should read it. Tomorrow. It's another one that will keep you up late reading, too.
32. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
This is a good book but I don't re-read it very often. Don't know why. It's full of interesting ideas and characters.
33. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
Never read it.
34. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
I had a copy of this once but I never read it.
35. Beloved by Toni Morrison
Never read it.
36. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Never read it.
37. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I have this, and War And Peace. Every few years I try them both again to see if I've grown into them yet. So far, nope.
38. The Game of Kings: The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett
I think I started one of these once but I couldn't get into it. I was having a reading slump at the time so it's not necessarily the book's fault.
39. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I loved this book in high school. I'm not so keen on it now. It's really well-written, and gives an excellent view of what life was like for those people in that time period, but the overarching political message in it is bothersome to me, whereas once I gloried in it.
40. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Funny, my two senior AP term paper subjects, right here in a row (Steinbeck and Saint-Exupéry). This is a great little book. We read it in the original French in French class, and I didn't even read an English translation till years later. Both are good. You should have seen our French teacher trying to explain via pantomime, without speaking English which was forbidden in class, the concept of taming an animal, since none of us could figure out what that word meant in the story. Classic.
41. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling
I have never read these. Maybe someday I will, when the series is complete, the hype has died down, and my kids are old enough to have some discernment and we can discuss them together. I will say that I idly read through the first few pages of this at the library and wasn't sucked in at ALL.
42. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
I had heard such great things about Nicholas Sparks that I thought I would love this. I didn't. It was like it was written by a junior high student in creative writing class. The style was so choppy and undeveloped and obvious that the interesting story couldn't compensate for it.
43. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Never read it.
44. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Never read it.
45. Insomnia by Stephen King
Never read it.
46. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Never read it, but I'd like to.
47. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Never read it.
48. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
Never read it.
49. Katherine by Anya Seton
Never heard of it.
50. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
I tried this one. I kept going and going, waiting for it to cast the spell over me that it did over apparently everyone else. When I was a third of the way through and still not into the book at all, I gave up.
51. 1984 by George Orwell
Yet another person I wrote a term paper about. He was a very interesting, disturbed man. 1984 was a work of prophetic genius. He also wrote a short story about shooting an elephant that has really stuck with me through all the years since I read it. You should find if you can, and read it.
52. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Never read it, don't particularly care to.
53. Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Never read it.
54. Portnoy's Complaint by Phillip Roth
Never read it.
55. The World According to Garp by John Irving
I read this in high school. Someone totally spoiled the most surprising moment of it for me, and now almost all I can remember of the story is that part, and how I went through the whole book waiting for it to happen. I think it was a good book though. :)
56. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Never read it, although I do like a lot of Bradbury's stories.
57. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
I read this in high school and then again a couple of years ago. I liked it much better the second time. Some books are forced on teenagers too young, I think.
58. Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
Never read it, not into the vampire genre at ALL.
59. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Never read it. I don't think. Wait, maybe I have, is this the one that describes the marriage bed sheets for the strict Catholics? And where some woman takes off on a horse with a guy? I think I read this while babysitting once; it was on the family's bookshelf.
60. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Never read any Pilcher.
61. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
I read this and was not terribly impressed. I kept waiting for it to be something other than a falsely deep piece of chick-lit. I didn't even bother with the movie.
62. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I've tried this a few times and did not find it nearly as funny as everyone else seems to. (no tomatoes please).
63. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
You know, I used to really like this story until I got the annotated version and read more about Lewis Carroll. That was one creepy guy. Now I can't get that out of my head and it sort of ruins the story for me.
64. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I own this and have read it a couple of times. I don't remember much about it -- just a few scattered mental images. A woman with thin lips, boys learning how to drive a crank-start car, a dour moralistic woman, and a failed experiment in refrigeration. Maybe I should try reading it again...
65. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O'Toole
You know, this book was SO highly recommended to me. I ran right out and got it from the library. I read the first 90 pages or so and gave up. It was like one long fart joke.
66. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
I haven't read this, but I want to.
67. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
This is a book that all women should read, IMO. It's beautiful and terrible and wonderful, and vivid, and heartbreaking, and uplifting. Ack, now I want to go get it off my shelf and read it till dawn.
68. The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
Never read it.
69. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Never read it.
70. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Never read it, but I probably should.
71. Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice
Never read it.
72. My Antonia by Willa Cather
Never read it, but I want to.
73. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Never read it.
74. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Never heard of it.
75. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I've read a few of the stories (Hound of the Baskervilles comes to mind). I like them.
76. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Never read it. I suppose I should.
77. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
I read this when I was maybe 10 but haven't since. I think I'll have my son read it when he's junior-high age, and read it with him then.
78. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Never read it. I have Lord Jim by the same author and I can't get into it. Is Heart of Darkness better?
79. Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg
Another one that all women should read. Go and get it, today, and read it. It's short and you'll be so glad you did. It'll make you go hug your girlfriends.
80. Time and Again by Jack Finney
Never read it.
81. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I've read this several times and I like it.
82. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Never read it.
83. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
Never read it.
84. Watership Down by Richard Adams
I love this book. It is one that I get a hankering for every few years and then I just immerse myself in it for days. When my kids are a few years older, we'll read it as a family.
85. Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Never read it.
86. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Never read it.
87. …And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
Never read it.
88. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
Never heard of it.
89. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
This had a comment by some ivillager about "Ah, Mr. Darcy." I wonder if she felt stupid when she realized what she'd done. And I wonder how the ivillage editors happened to choose that for the quote to go with that title. *ahem* perhaps they've not read it? I do like this book, although I'm not quite as ecstatic about it as I am about Pride and Prejudice. I actually just finished reading it a couple of days ago, too.
90. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Never read any Christies.
91. Dracula by Bram Stoker
Never read it. That vampire thing again.
92. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
I read this once. It was engrossing, and seems like it's probably an important book. I wasn't as impressed as most people seem to be but it's worth a read.
93. The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
I read this. My SIL loves Anita Shreve. I couldn't put it down while I read it but I felt a little manipulated by it, and the ending was a total shock to me. I didn't feel like the body of the book had done even the slightest bit of foreshadowing about that. But it was pretty good, all things considered.
94. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Never read it.
95. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Never heard of it.
96. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Never read it.
97. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Never heard of it.
98. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Read it, liked it, have never seen a movie of it because I'm afraid they'd ruin it. Focus on the Family has a pretty neat radio theater presentation of it though.
99. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
WHY WHY WHY is this #99? Uncultured swine. I have a very hard time picking a favorite book, but whenever I'm forced to do so, this is it. I have sections of it memorized. Bliss.
100. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I read this aloud to T one Christmastime (I had read it a few times previously). We meant to make a tradition of it but didn't. Usually I get it out around Thanksgiving, and maybe read a chapter aloud, but then I get sucked into the book and by the time he's ready for chapter 2 a few days later, I'm done and don't want to start over. I like Dickens, paid by the word or not.
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Monday, August 25, 2003
what I'm reading, how my diet's going, stuff like that
Mood: Cheerful
Music: "The Kiss" from The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack
I took a good brisk walk this evening, 9/10ths of a mile each way, in just under 15 minutes going downhill and just over 15 minutes going uphill. And that is REALLY up hill, for a lot of it. I didn't do the whole almost-two-miles at once, though; I had a choir practice in between. I realized today just exactly how much exercise there is in doing stuff around the house. Cleaning my room this morning for example -- lots of bending and lifting, and I kind of exaggerated the motions, if you know what I mean, to get more exercise out of them (with caution so as not to hurt myself though). I'm sure it looked kind of silly but oh well, I was the only one looking ;). I am SO turning into my mother (and that is a good thing; I adore my mother) in so many subtle little ways. That is exactly the sort of thing she'd do if she thought of it.
All summer I've been on this committee trying to figure out how we're going to run and fund our community chorus in the future, since we were being dropped by the college which had supported us in the past. We had meetings, earnest discussions, lists of options and flow-chart like if/then scenarios worked out. Then the powers that be went to actually withdraw the class from the college to have it transferred somewhere else when we had finally, after all this, decided what to do, and the college decided not to drop us after all. Which simplifies things but sure as heck makes all those meetings look like wasted time. Oh well. :)
I am reading four or five books at once right now. I had resolved that this year I would do almost no re-reading, and I would read a bunch of new stuff. It lasted about seven months but now I'm buried in a bunch of comfort reads. To be fair, two of them are for online discussion groups, and one I'm in the process of reading to my dad. But I'm in the middle of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Silas Marner by George Eliot, Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati, and The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis. I kind of wore myself out on new-to-me books after a flurry of reading a bunch of Maeve Binchy and Elizabeth Berg. I'm temporarily a bit burned out on them and there hasn't been another new-to-me author to kindle my interest yet. What I should do is go through the books I own but haven't read, one by one, and read them all. The problem is, some of them are torturous -- like Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, and War and Peace (or anything by Tolstoy for that matter), or anything by Henry James. I get a few pages in and can't stand it any longer, and put them aside to try again in a few years when I've grown a bit or when the kids aren't demanding so much attention. And I feel like a total loser for doing that, and then I go re-read an Austen or Jane Eyre to prove to myself that I'm not a Harlequin-consuming twit who can't handle real literature. sigh. (Besides, if I start perusing my bookshelf on a regular basis I get sidetracked by the discovery that I'm really in just the right mood to read that book for the five-thousandth time. So that's kind of a self-defeating idea)
I had a "first" today. I had to eat a bit of something to put me over my minimum calorie consumption. If that 1200 calories thing is untrue, someone tell me! Anyway, I totaled up my meals (had no snacks) and found that I was only at 1150 or so. So I had a root beer float with diet Barq's and sugar-free vanilla ice cream -- total 100 calories from the ice cream. Yummers. The thing was, I wasn't feeling hungry or munchy and would just as soon have gone without but I don't want to make weight loss difficult or unsafe by eating fewer than what my body supposedly needs in order to avoid burning muscle and making me all weak. Again, if that's some kind of dieter's myth, puh-LEEZE let me in on that...
oh goodness. I just looked at my computer clock and it is far, far later than I thought it would be. Off to bed!
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