Non-Fiction

The Naked Woman

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

TW stole this book out from under me and read it first. I thought I might kill her before she finished it. She spent a lot of time staring at me and asking me weird questions like “Can I feel your ear?” and “Can I look at your belly button?” I thought RJ (the 10 year old) was also going to kill her for similar reasons.

Now that I’ve read The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body I see why she was staring and asking ridiculous questions. The book should not be read by people like TW because it’s just too much for them to handle. I, on the otherhand, found it interesting but found no need to wander around and compare various female bodies with mine or with other female bodies.

Very interesting book. Quick read. I’m not sure I want to read any of his other “studies” though. I really hope he doesn’t have a Cow Watching book… TW could be really embarrassing with that one.

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I am not a foodie….

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I am not a foodie. I’ve said it before and I’m going to have to keep saying it in case some people get the wrong idea because of all of the foodie type books I find myself reading, and of course my workday spent talking about food and encouraging people to talk about food. I’m fascinated by foodies and food talk is what pays my bills. I am still not a foodie. But, I do like a good foodie type book.

Tummy Trilogy – that’s a good foodie book. I liked the first two books of the trilogy better than the third. Maybe I was all foodied out by the third book? By the third book I was tired of hearing about the guy with the naugahyde palate. I was also tired of hearing about Alice and her three meals a day mantra. A wee bit tired of hearing about Sarah and her bagel… “just in case”. Yea, I think it was just foodie overload for me.

Good book – just a wee bit too much of a good thing, for this non-foodie, at least.

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Bullshit

4 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

When I was a kid, I didn’t hear much profanity at home. I had to learn my profanity at school like a good 70’s child. I was always fascinated when I’d come across adults who used “those words” and felt I had been born to the wrong family – I needed cool parents who cursed a blue streak, not my geeky, boring parents. Oh sure, my mom let a ‘damn’ slip every now and then, (and as TW says, she’s grown up to be a woman who can, and does, say FUCK – much to the horror of me and my siblings), and she always seemed shocked at her behavior when that happened. There was one tiny exception to this profanity-free household.

Bullshit.

My father said this. He said it a lot and I believe he learned it from his father since my family often tells about how I said “bullshit pappaw” to my grandfather when I was two – and that I learned the word from him…. In fact he said it so often and not really in the way I was used to hearing profanity used. He said it laughingly, mostly at himself, or if he was teasing someone about something. He still says it at least once everytime I talk to him on the phone.

Bullshit.

I don’t know how or why this tiny little book, On Bullshit, appeared on my library list. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing TW would pick up on a whim. I don’t remember reserving it but I guess I must have. It is here and I read half yesterday because I was too exhausted to read a “real book” and finished it today while recovering from an annoying phone call – a bullshit phone call, actually.

What IS bullshit? You probably know it when you hear it – but maybe not. Some people are good at spewing bullshit and making you believe it’s the honest to goodness truth. On Bullshit was a little dry, a little boring, but also just a wee bit interesting.

On Bullshit … my father’s Christmas gift this year. I hope he likes it.

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Oops – To Hell With All That

3 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Feminism, Non-Fiction /

I only made it halfway through “To Hell With All That” and accidentally returned it to the library on Sunday. Oops. It wasn’t a bad book, interesting in many ways but a little slow. Some of the funny anecdotes weren’t all that funny. I’m sorry I returned it before I finished it. Maybe someday I’ll check it out again and finish, though probably not. There are too many books to read and not enough time.

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Pitching My Tent

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Religion /

Pitching My Tent by Anita Diamont was what you would expect from the author of The Red Tent. Easy to read, lots of religious topics but the easy religion you’d expect a woman of the Jewish Reform faith. At least that I would expect – none Jew that I am.

This one won’t change your life but it was a nice read for a late Saturday night/early Sunday morning,. These stories were pulled from her newspaper and magazine columns. They feel like they were meant to be read over a cup of coffee (or tea) and chatted about with your partner or your friend.

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The Egg & I

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Badger was talking about Betty McDonald last month and both TW and I said “We need to read those!”… I’m not sure why I said such a thing since I am not even a Mrs Piggle Wiggle fan but I have that weird crush on Badger so that probably explains it. Anyway, our library only had The Egg & I, which I immediately reserved.

It arrived a couple of weeks ago and TW read it and laughed all of the way through it. I, however, did not laugh my way through it. I fumbled my way through it. Chuckled every now and then. And kept putting it down and looking longingly at the other stacks of books waiting to be read. It was slow. It wasn’t all that funny. I was annoyed with just about every character. And yet, now that I’m finished with it, I’m finding more to be amused about.

I do know that I will never live on a chicken farm. With a man. Ever.

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Girls are Mean

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Non-Fiction /

I read Odd Girl Out and Odd Girl Speaks Out yesterday and as expected, girls are mean. But they’ve pretty much always been mean. Not all girls and not all of the time, of course. But they are, and they are mean in ways that boys are not. I enjoyed both books, though Odd Girl Speaks Out not so much. Suprisingly untouching stories – or maybe they weren’t very touching because I had just finished Odd Girl Out? Whatever the reason, I was disappointed.

I’ll be back, on one blog or another, to talk about mean girls, Odd Girl Out, us/them and she’s all that – after Michelle finishes reading both books and has time to process her thoughts. I don’t want to post and influence her.

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Trigger, Trigger, Trigger

3 Comments / Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

The only thing I can say about Girls of a Tender Age is that is one trigger after another.  Wait, I can say one other thing and it isn’t good.  Why would anyone read this book? Why did I read it?  Bad guy abuses and/or rapes very young girls and kills one in the process.  There was no mystery involved, we knew right off the bat that this guy was bad and he did the deed (or several deeds).  There was no redeeming social commentary.  It was just a recap of this horrible story, plain and simple.  Nothing we haven’t seen for ourselves or read in a newspaper.  It was almost boring, it was so normal and that is probably what bugs me most.  Don’t read it.  There’s just no reason to do so.

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Don Aslett

4 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I didn’t know who Don Aslett was til I somehow wound up with one of his books last month. Clutter’s Last Stand somehow ended up on my library reserve list – I probably saw it mentioned on a blog or in a magazine article or something. Whatever the reason, it came home with me and TW talked about this guy like he was famous or something. Apparently he is if you’re into cleaning tips and stuff. I am not that kind of person sooooo I obviously have never heard of him.

I skimmed that first book and returned it pretty quickly. It was booorrinnngggg. But, I reserved another. Weekend Makeover – ack, that one was a wee bit boring but it is also dangerous. It makes me want to get up and throw things away. A lot of things. In fact if anyone who lives in my house notices something that belongs to them is missing – it might be because I got throw it away fever because of this book and ummm. threw. it. away.

I would really, really, REALLY like to stay home one weekend soon and get rid of about half of the stuff in this house. Looking at the calendar, we might have a stay home weekend sometime around the end of September. Maybe.

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