Saturday, March 27, 2010

Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman by Lisa Scottoline




















It occurred to me that as much as I read, it might be a good idea to share thoughts about the books I read with my blogging buddies.

I just finished this book yesterday, but was recommending to my friends and colleagues after 38 pages. Not that it took me 38 pages to decide I liked the book, but I was 38 pages into the book before I saw anyone other than my hubby, daughter and dogs to whom I could recommend the book.

I mentioned this to Coffey last night, and mentioned that the author describes it as "chick wit". His immediate response was, "Oh, great, a male bashing book". I assured him that is not the case.

To those of you that read mysteries, you may be familiar with Ms. Scottoline's name as a wonderful mystery writer. What I learned when I read this book, is that she also writes a "chick wit" column for the Philadelphia Inquirer and those columns are the basis for this book.

Her anecdotal humor takes us through different stages and relationships in her life, focusing mostly on her mom, her daughter, her brother, and her many pets. She speaks frankly about being a woman "of a certain age" (namely in her early 50s) and though she mentions her two ex husbands (Thing 1 and Thing 2), she doesn't focus on tearing them down as part of her humor. She addresses things such as panty lines, bralessness, hot flashes with humor, while throwing in some pretty astute thoughts about live and love along the way.

Each snippet is about 3-5 pages long, and they can all stand-alone, so this is a good book to be able to pick up and put down when you just have a few minutes here and there.

I'd highly recommend this book and would give it 4.8 out of 5 stars.

P.S. There is no grading rubric for my book reviews. It's purely subjective on my part. Feel free to agree or disagree as you will.

Figuring it all out--Cry for help!

So, now that I've created this blog, my husband has asked me at least 43 times if I've blogged yet. I tend to be a LOT OCD and a little (sometimes a lot) unable to concentrate on one thing at a time. I told my friend John last night that I can multi-task, just not at the same time. As a result, when I start thinking of things about which I could or would want to write, I think harder about the fact that my profile is lacking, and I want more information on my page as I see others have.

Then I visit my friends' blogs, and I feel even more inadequate. I see this wonderful 9 question blog on my friend Ace's page. I think, dang, I'd like to answer those questions and share with the world, but at the same time, I am plagued by indecision. Is that one of those "chain email" type posts where I'm supposed to copy and paste and change the answers? Or would that be taboo in the blogging world?

What I'm left with is a crossroads with signs pointing in all directions, and I'm not sure which to follow. Where oh where is the instruction manual for these things?

As a side note (another of those thoughts racing through my mind). I am very well aware that there are rules one must follow for grammar and punctuation. I'm a teacher. I spend my life trying to make sure 6th through 8th graders do and say the right thing in the right way. With that said, I'm not getting a grade on this...and I am not stopping to think about run-on sentences and the like...I'm just trying to get my thoughts out there for now....and, by the way....I tend to overuse ellipses....so beware!

Friday, March 26, 2010

My First Blog, aka WTF am I doing?

OK, so I've been thinking of blogging for a while and have some great inspirations for doing so. That also means I have some big shoes to fill. With that said, my motto in life is generally, "If you don't like what you see, look the other way!"

I'm so OCD, that getting this all just "right" has almost worn me out. I'm not sure I have the energy or inspiration to be creative tonight. But, here I am. And here this is. And hopefully, soon, here you all will be with me.

xoxoxxoxo