The title, the cover and the photos are the best things about Squeeze This! — otherwise, it’s dense and dry and not fun for someone like me. I really can’t believe I slogged all of the way through it, but I did. I don’t recommend you do so, unless you really love the accordion and even then… no, I don’t really recommend it.
I’m so glad KissChronicles posted her review of Dangerously Funny — if she hadn’t, I may never have read it and that would be a shame.
This was one of the best books I’ve read in forever — but there were two problems. First, I kept stopping to look at old clips from The Smothers Brothers or from Bob Newhart or from Harry Belafonte or… the list of videos I watched, well, it was long. Very long. Second, I really want to re-watch all three seasons of The Smothers Brothers but they aren’t available on Netflix. Wah!
It’s funny — I was only 4 when their show went on the air and it ended when I was 6 but I definitely remember watching it and really liking it. (Also interesting, I didn’t like Laugh In nearly as much but I did like Hee Haw quite a bit.)
Since I was so young, I had no idea how… different… this show was and how important. I’m glad I know, now.
I had second thoughts about starting Making an Exit right before Jenn and JMP arrived – it seemed like maybe not the right book to be reading since Jenn and Teddy had just escorted a friend’s body back to the mainland and attended the funeral. Then again, it seemed like the perfect book to be reading because I had been thinking so much about death and funerals and such.
Turns out, it didn’t matter much since I read less than 25 pages while they were here. Hah.
The book was interesting, lots of different traditions and practices were covered – I really want a cool coffin from Ghana. I mean really…. But there were some things about the book that bugged me, like the author’s constant restating that her atheist father had a change of heart about his “organic matter” (though she doesn’t really know that for sure, she’s making the assumption since he did leave a request to have his ashes spread in the cemetery where his friends were buried.) By the middle of the book, I was saying “Yea yea, change of heart, we know. Sheesh.”)
TW impulse purchased The Books They Gave Me when we went to an Indie bookstore right before Christmas. I was a little skeptical – group submission blogs don’t always work as well as books as they do as blogs, (The Books They Gave Me Tumblr), but it was good. The selections were interesting, though I got a little tired of the break up stories – I shouldn’t have read the book straight through, lol.
I find the story from the person who has never received a book as a gift to be the saddest story ever.
The Books They Gave Me Read More »
An impulse pick from the library, Dog-Friendly Gardening: Creating a Safe Haven for You and Your Dog, I was expecting lots of cool garden plans and photos created especially for dogs. But, it was more like a bunch of garden photos that just happened to have dogs. Probably.
I guess some of the tips were good, but they seemed pretty obvious to me. The list of plants that are harmful to dogs (or appealing to dogs) was nice but not surprising or unusual. Two photos in the back of the book, one of a ball pit for dogs and another of a digging pit, were good but it would have been cool to see real gardens and garden designs that incorporate them rather than just a photo of them.
Ho hum.
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One of my favorite book blogs is… books I done read. I’m giggling just typing that. Totally not your average book blog. (Go look, it’s fine. I can wait.)
Anytime I see a book (that I haven’t read) reviewed there, I feel the urge to read it. Doesn’t matter whether she liked the book or not. I want to read it simply because of the post on this blog. Hell, when she writes about books I have read, I want to read them again. Every. Single. Time.
So, it won’t surprise you that I had to read Cleaning House: One Woman’s 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement after seeing the post about it on books i done read.
That’s one hell of a title, isn’t it?
And, here’s where I just say go over to books i done read and read what she says because that’s pretty much what I have to say, too. I don’t do animated gifts so you’re really better off going over there and laughing your way through her review. Really. Go on. It’s fine. It’s also fun.
The entitlement – it is huge. And, it’s a problem. Even when your kids do know how to mow the lawn or clean the bathroom or get jobs when they’re teenagers…
I kept seeing The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap on the shelf at the library. First on a shelf when you walk in the door. Later on the “recommended” shelf. Then, on the Large Print shelves. It just kept appearing. Since I had an Adriana Trigiani book checked out the last time it jumped in front of me, I took it as a sign and checked it out. Large Print.
TW’s mom read it and didn’t say anything about it.
TW read it and really liked it. Liked it so much that she bought a copy for Erica, Wild Iris Bookstore co-owner.
I read it and also really liked it. TW did freak me out by telling me that “the store burns down in the end”. I thought she was serious and was really upset about it. TW can be a pain in the butt sometimes. Bookstores should not burn down. People’s houses should not burn down, forcing them to have to replace their books, either.
I can’t decide if the book made me want to own a bookstore or convinced me that I don’t really want to own a bookstore, lol.
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Do you ever read a book and then feel like you can’t decide HOW you felt about it? That’s how I feel about American Gypsy.
The cover looked cool and we were low on books so I dropped it into my library bag. The book, it’s maybe not as cool as the cover. Or maybe it is? See… I can’t decide.
It’s a memoir and it has photos, which is always a plus when you’re reading a memoir (if you ask me.) Oksana is interesting, as is her entire family. But that’s where it gets mushy for me. She’s a Roma… a Gypsy… and there were all sorts of stereotypes and discriminatory practices against Gypsies in the USSR (when there was still a USSR) but Oksana doesn’t do a lot to clear up the stereotypes. Or she makes it clear that she is uncomfortable BEING a Gypsy and that bothers me.
I guess it would be hard not to be uncomfortable with who you are, when you’ve been raised with so much discrimination …and there I go, back to liking the book again because that helps make sense of Oksana’s feelings about her family.
See, it’s a difficult book. I think I liked Oksana’s dysfunctional family more than she did – but I didn’t have to live with them, did I?
The best thing about non-fiction picture books is that they are fast and easy to read at night, when you don’t really want to start a new book. Heh. These were all nice enough non-fiction books but only one of them was one I’d buy or read again and again. I also have a wee fondness for another one…
All the Water in the World – nice enough, the illustrations were really the best, but there are a lot of better books about the water cycle.
Bring on the Birds – Hmph. It didn’t even include flamingos! The illustrations were nice and bright but it wasn’t even close to the best bird book for little kids.
Can We Save the Tiger? – This was interesting, but the italicized text about various extinct animals was a little hard to read – like the ink was disappearing along with the animals?
I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat – This is the best of the bunch. Elly spotted it and whined because I hadn’t told her I had it. It was interesting and funny. I’d buy this one for a kid.
Planting the Wild Garden – I liked this one pretty well. Good way to talk to young kids about how seeds are carried – by people, wind, animals etc. But again, I think there are better books about this topic.
The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs – Here’s my sentimental favorite, having been to El Valle and to Chiriqui and seen a couple of golden frogs in the wild. It’s a horrible thing to think about them only surviving in captivity.
Thunder Birds: Nature’s Flying Predators — This is a nice book for kids who are really interested in birds. The pull outs were the best part.
Seven Non-Fiction Picture Books (Cybils Read More »
Right before the #readathon, I picked up Granny D’s American Century because I was afraid I might not have enough books to read for the #readathon. (Haha, very funny, hahaha.) It’s a good book to read during election season – Granny D was an awesome woman and I’m feeling all inspired to vote tomorrow. The only problem with this book is that there were not nearly enough darn photos.
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