books books books: an eclectic mix

(Some of this was written a week ago)

I have book envy. Babelbabe just reads way more than anyone I know, and has time to read articles about people reading on the subway.

So, books I've read/looked at/ordered through ILL these past two weeks:

Read in one sitting: Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (for the Mother Daughter book club last Saturday) (and afterwards I went to Baskin Robbins for Winter White Chocolate, yum!)

re-reading and re-reading and re-reading: Something Borrowed (about a girl who steals her best friend's fiance)

to children: a Charlotte Zolotow book whose title I've forgotten about morning and night; Beach Day, by Karen Roosa.

requested (some have come through already) through Interlibrary Loan:

The Curse (which is about the taboo of menstruation--(as in "No one will know you have your period" and how periods are never mentioned in books or movies. I read it back in 1998 or so and had to email a librarian today to find out the title--yes, even librarians have reference questions) (and, small world, the librarian who answered my question, from a library I used to go to in Virginia, used to work in Pittsburgh on the North Side.)

Built to Last and Good to Great on audio. (Good to Great, is, indeed, great! I luff Jim Collins. It's hysterical when I share with people that I get inspired by listening to business books on audio. I got a few odd smiles at the Women's Gathering. But hey, listening to how Walgreen became great is, well, great.)

Finished listening to on audio: Hoot, by Carl Hiassan. Very good. Chad Lowe is the "reader." I recommend him, and look forward to reading other Hiassan. This was my first.

Bought last week at Goodwill:

Lynne Cheney's alphabet book on America
Serenissima by Erica Jong (it's about Venice and it was 2.99--it's worth a try.)

Started reading last night b/c the author is coming to Pittsburgh: (and paid full price for the hardcover at Borders)

Real Sex by Lauren Winner. (The subtitle is "The Naked Truth about Chastity") (So, it's not, as the title might suggest, a manual. It's more, why God made sex for marriage alone.) (But it's not one of THOSE books, as in Elizabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity, which, when I read it ten years ago felt like a "perfect book for perfect people." Lauren is real, as in, "Mistakes have been made (by me!) and then I found out the real stuff, here's my story." I consumed Girl meets God, which is her story about her journey from Judaism to Christianity. She's a little easier to take than Annie Lamott (although I adore Annie). (But I know some people that shall remain nameless do not like her very much.)

What I really need, though, is some time to watch the videos and DVDs (as Sarah Louise prepares for the Olympics, Chariots of Fire sits on the backseat of my car....) (as do Mad Hot Ballroom, Leon the Professional, Serpico, and Marvin's Room.)

But tomorrow we're going (me, Lily and Holly), to see The End of the Spear. Um, better check box office times on that...