Books in the Pile!

What's in "the Pile" these days:

The Perfect Reader Maggie Pouncey
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (NF)
  Nicholas Carr
Mrs. Somebody Somebody Tracy Winn
Neighborhood Watch  Cammie McGovern
The Map  Brunonia Barry
61 Hours  Lee Child
Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds (NF)  Lyndall Gordon
Last Night in Twisted River  John Irving
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest  Stieg Larsson
The New Food Processor Bible (NF) Norene Gilletz
The Practical Naturalist (NF)  Audubon/Dorling Kindersley, publishers

(NF = non-fiction)


Now, keep in mind, this one stack of books will probaby take me several months to get through - considering I don't or can't really spend time reading until my kids are in bed.  Whenever I do manage to read during daylight hours - even for a few minutes - both the strangeness of it plus the attendant guilt that I'm not doing something "more important" get to me and I put the book down.  That, or I'm just interrupted so much that it's difficult to hold a thought.

I have started reading The Perfect Reader and The Shallows:What the Internet is Doing to our Brains.  Both are very good thus far, and Shallows has been both enlightening and intriguing as to the nature of the human brain and how it is affected/can be changed by the stuff we all do everyday. 

So, how do I go about finding good stuff to read?  Well, here is another photo:

This is a picture of the notebook I have been keeping, for the past few years.  I'm actually not sure how far this goes back!  I started this when I was still working at the library, because I would find so many books that looked good, but obviously just taking a book home doesn't necessarily mean it comes with the time to read it.  So I started keeping lists.  I also started reading two things:  "BookMarks" magazine, which my library carries and which is exclusively book reviews.  Very good magazine; I'd subscribe to it but at the moment, I'd rather save the money and use the local library.  I also read "Book Page" which is also available at the local library and is also solely reviews of books.  As I look through each publication and read the reviews I just write down the title and author of what looks interesting.

Then I go my library's website and just request a whole chunk of things at a time.  Just walking into the library and wandering around generally doesn't work, because what I have in mind to get probably isn't just on the shelf (like that Stieg Larsson book, that is never just on the shelf, it's too popular) - so then I just grab whatever.  And then the "whatever" I grabbed turns out to be poorly written and not worth my time.

So, now, I've got this whole stack of good stuff to read.  What are YOU reading these days?

Thanks for reading THIS!
Later,
Jen

5-Question Friday!

Heeeeeere's the q's and a's!  And, by the way, this is generated by the mom over at http://www.fivecrookedhalos.blogspot.com/.  Just wanted to make sure she got the credit here!

1. Have you worn the same outfit more than one day in a row?
Yes, yes, yes.  To the point where my older daughter has started calling me on it!!  At which point I usually respond, "well, honey, I've spent all my money buying you and your sister clothes/toys/an education, so this is all I have left in my closet!".  Lovely when one's children start pointing out one's lack of fashion; it's like having "What Not toWear" living here in my house.  See, I don't even need to go on that show!

2. If you had to choose any LARGE city to live in, which would it be?
Wellll.....probably either Seattle, Portland (OR), or Vancouver BC - only because I have siblings who live either in or near those cities.  I don't get to see them very much, consequently, so a year in any one of those cities would be fantastic!  Plus, I find those large cities somehow easier to manage than New York City (which will probably be the city-of-choice for a lot of people answering this question!).

3. Fly or drive with the kids on vacation?
Definitely fly if at all possible.  Are you kidding me?? Even driving to the corner with my children in the car is sometimes an exercise in insanity!!

4. What is your idea of "spring cleaning"?
UPDATED Answers:
Reality = Vacuuming on a day that feels spring-like.  :-)
In-My-Dream-World Answer =  Well, I would send my husband and kids on a 2-week-vacation.  Anywhere, they could even go to Paris and I think I'd be okay with that, if it enabled me to live out this dream!  Then, in that two weeks I would go through the entire house, top-to-bottom, rent a dumpster and park it in the driveway under a convenient window, and pitch, pitch, pitch!!  Then, near the end of the two weeks, I'd hold a monster garage sale. Now, that is spring cleaning. 
With the profits from that, I could probably send myself on a really nice trip.
Sigh.  It'll probably never happen quite that way...but I can dream, right?

5. What is the best book you have ever read?
Oooo, this is a tough one.  I have read probably a couple thousand books by this point in my life; being an English major in college definitely ups that number.  I will say that one book I am going to be re-reading shortly is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.  Great book, great story!  And, a wonderful book I just finished is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson - again great book, great story!  Highly recommend either one of these.

Have a great weekend!
Later,
Jen