I thought I could read twenty-seven books in the next month?!

As I've mentioned (ahem) we're moving soon- in less than a month if all goes as planned. I've packed up most of our books, but of course left a few out to read while we (I) pack. In fact, I keep 27 books. I usually read less than a book a week, so I'm not really sure what I was thinking.

Here's the list of the 15 I kept from the library. Clearly these are the priority, since I can't take them with me. Two of them are half read (as noted) but what do I read after that?

• Steamed: A Steampunk Romance (Paranormal Romance (Signet)) by Katie MacAlister
• Too Good To Be True (Hqn) by Kristin Higgins
• Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
• The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America's Pastime by Jason Turbow
• When Did I Get Like This?: The Screamer, the Worrier, the Dinosaur-Chicken-Nugget-Buyer, and Other Mothers I Swore I'd Never Be by Amy Wilson (Half done!)
• Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World by Mark Frauenfelder
• Generation Debt: How Our Future Was Sold Out for Student Loans, Bad Jobs, NoBenefits, and Tax Cuts for Rich Geezers--And How to Fight Back by Anya Kamenetz
• Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
• Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg (P.S.) by Michael Perry (now past due, oops)
• The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide: Field-Tested Strategies for Staying Smart, Sane, and Connected While Caring for Your Kids by Melissa Stanton
• Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding by Ina May Gaskin (probably won't read this one)
• What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipes by Deborah Madison
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber
• Two Parties, One Tux, and a Very Short Film about The Grapes of Wrath by Steven Goldman (half done!)

Yikes!

And for a complete list, these are the ones I kept off these two lists:

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel  by Jonathan Safran Foer (added after Trish made me)
• Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison
• Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own by Doreen Orion
• Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?: A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos by Laura Bennett
• Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
• Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
• In the Woods by Tana French
• The Queen of Palmyra: A Novel (P.S.) by Minrose Gwin
• Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, Book 1) by Ann Brashares (bought at the library sale after the list was made.)

A wee bit ambitious during a move, wouldn't you think?

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Random Friday, Halloween, Hunger Games, Brussel Sprouts?

The new Nanny! Perspective is off in that, the cat is actually smaller than the baby. Bijou is my first baby, 15 years old now.

Ready for Halloween? The Pirate is planning to be a vampire and the Bug will be Astroboy. The baby will be a ballerina if I get my act in gear. I'm already sick of Halloween itself as it seems to have made the Bug scared of monsters. He will no longer sleep in his own bed and has been sleeping on the couch all week. (Mean mommy won't let him sleep in her bed.)

Speaking of Astroboy, I've now seen the movie about twice a day for a week and a half. The Bug is obsessed.


Anyone have a good recipe for winter squashes? Butternut, spaghetti, acorn? I prefer one that does not require a blender.

Two great blog posts out there this week on what it's like to live with a baby. Beth's at so the fish said was the first one I saw, and then this one from supafine.  If you are pregnant with your first child, or considering it, or on the fence, go read those. I couldn't have said it better than either of them.

I finished The Hunger Games: Book 1 last night. I have both Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) and Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) from the library but they are both due back TODAY with no renewals. I'm wondering if I should try to get through one today or just wait until after the move and read them then.

Yesterday my lovely sister-in-law took the babies and I out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants. I had braised brussel sprouts with my meal. The Bug kept stealing them off my plate. I did not expect that.

Mike is threatening to take the boys with him to Pierre tomorrow (6 hours in the car, round trip) leaving me with just the baby. I have a baby shower to go to (I thought I'd take her a couple diaper to go bags with the rest of her gift), but otherwise, the WHOLE DAY with only one child to keep alive. I might have to go browse the bookstore or maybe spend some time at the coffee shop. It sounds like heaven. But I suspect Mike might be grumpy when they get home. EDIT: Scratch that. Mike is going to Pierre today to interview people. He won't be home until tomorrow afternoon.  I get to have all three kids all to myself instead. MUCH BETTER.

What's on your agenda for the weekend?


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Wordless Wednesday, still not tired

(Remember last week?)

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Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Have you read every thing Sarah Dessen has written? Looking for something else with a completely swoon-worthy hero? A coming-of-age story? A happily-ever-after? An excellent set of road trip play lists? Go ahead and get a copy of Amy & Roger's Epic Detour. This one will hit every feel good button you've got.

Amy's mother moved from their home in California to Connecticut  a month ago. Now that school is out she needs Amy to bring her car to her in their new home. The only problem is that since the death of her father three months ago, Amy does not drive. Enter Roger. Roger's father lives in Philadelphia and it's time for him to go visit.  They agree that Roger will drive them across country in four days, leaving Amy safe with her mom. Amy's mom plots a direct, if boring, route for them. Predictably, they choose to take another path.

This is such a well done depiction of a road trip. Matson  clearly does her research, as they eat in regional restaurants and see all the right cultural landmarks. Each chapter has it's own play list of songs that when read carefully offered hints to the coming pages. The book includes a few pages of a travel scrapbook that a
Amy fills in as they go, as well as pictures they could have taken and copies of their receipts from various restaurants and stops. It is exactly what I would have done at her age.

Amy is still in high school but she is dealing with a lot of life changes. Her father, to whom she was very close, has recently died. Her twin brother is in rehab in North Carolina. Her mother has moved away and Amy feels very lonely and isolated. She is still struggling with both her father's death and his absence. This trip gives her the opportunity to mourn her father and to figure out who she is.

Roger has his own reasons for wanting to take the trip. His girlfriend broke up with him without explanation and he wants to take a little detour to find out why. Roger is both good looking and charmingly geeky and it's hard to imagine why anyone would break up with him, but so be it.  He's also very understanding and not at all pushy about her reasons for not driving and always knows exactly when to push and when to hold back. If Amy hadn't fallen in love with him I would have.

The secondary characters are mostly fun as well, but the book is mainly just about Roger and Amy, since they are the only two in the car.

Verdict? Excellent YA fiction. Some serious notes, but overall a sweet little love story backed up with the fun of a road trip.


Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
Morgan Matson
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
2010
352 pages
Source: Library

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copy write Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Picking a Baby Name, both for real and online

Picking your baby's name is one of the hardest part of pregnancy, or was for me anyway*. You want to find the perfect baby name, one that one get her teased, that won't be #1 on the baby name charts, that won't relegate her to a lifetime of Bella H, that won't immediately link her to the year she was born (Hi, Lisa!). If you're like me you pored over the baby name books, double checking the meanings and then checking the Social Security Administration charts to see where it ranked this decade or last decade. You choose the perfect spelling (please just use the "normal" one, will ya?) I used this website a lot, it was by far my favorite online resource.

We really struggled with naming both the boys. The Pirate was our first and we were unprepared for the pressure of choosing the right baby name for him. We had a name in mind for much of the pregnancy, but even as I was in labor we were reading baby name books. We narrowed it down to two and a few hours after his birth decided on one. The Bug was 4 weeks early and while we knew he would have his grandfather's name. we didn't have a clue what name we'd actually call him. We finally named him mere hours before his release- and it turned out that we named him a very popular name for his year (in the top 20, top 10 the year after his birth!)  We did not have internet access at the hospital.  I still love it, and it fits him perfectly.

Girl names were more fun for me. My family had a tendency to give girls the L sound in their names so I kept looking for a good L name. Fairly early on I realized we could name her a name with the nickname "Ellie" that would fit the bill. I fell in love with both Eleanor Frances and Ellis Katherine.  I was 99% sure she was one of those. The weekend before her birth Mike asked, "How do you feel about...?" and I liked it, but not more than the other two. The baby was born on Tuesday and what do you know, we named her the new suggestion. For the record, it even starts with an L! I'm a bit worried that it dates to the 80s and 90s, but it is still in the top 50 last year. It is, however, more of a classic name (think Mary or Caroline) than a trendy one (MaKayla or Bella.)

While I don't post my kids names on my blog, it's no secret what they are. If you google me even a tiny bit you'll find them. I don't go to extremes to keep them private and fairly openly refer to them by name in email. I considered actually calling the girl by her name on the blog, but to keep things uniform, I'll be choosing a blog name for her. I haven't done so yet, because nothing really strikes me. She'll be 8 weeks old tomorrow and it's about time I decided on something before she becomes "baby girl" by default. The Pirate wants me to call her The Princess (he really loves his sister, can you tell?) but it seems like such an easy answer. I considered calling her The Pea, from The Princess and the Pea. I'm still undecided, so I'm taking suggestions. What should we call our baby girl? It doesn't have to follow the pattern of "The ____" but it needs to be cute. If I get more than one suggestion, I'm make up a poll of my favorites.  I'll start. I suggest we call her The Princess.

*Yes, there are some people, usually girls, who choose names in 8th grade and never waver. This boggles my mind.

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The TBR shelves, non-fiction

(Packed!)



I recently posted the fiction TBR shelves, here's the non-fiction that I'm hanging onto.  I show a definite preference for parenting books, books about religious journeys, and stuff about money.


What non-fiction do you lean towards?

1. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
2. The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong
3. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam  by Karen Armstrong
4. Through the Narrow Gate, Revised: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery by Karen Armstrong
5. Didn't I Feed You Yesterday?: A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos  by Laura Bennett
6. Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life  by Gail Blanke
7. It's a Boy: Women Writers on Raising Sons  edited by Andrea Buchanan
8. Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It by Andrea J Buchanan
9. Shakespeare (The Illustrated and Updated Edition) by Bill Bryson
10. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
11. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
12. Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (Vintage) by Bill Buford
13. Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl  by Susan Campbell
14. Pornology: Noun--1: A Good Girl's Guide to Porn; 2: The misadventures of the world's first anthroPORNologist; 3: A Hilarious Exploration of Men, Relationships, and Sex by Ayn Carrillo-Galley
15. Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More and Argue Less As Your Family Grows 
16. FBI Girl: How I Learned to Crack My Father's Code by Maria Conlon-MvIvor
17. What You Should Know About Politics...But Don't: A Nonpartisan Guide to the Issues  by Jessamyn Conrad
18. Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead  by Tamara Draut
19. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
20. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison
21. Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence  by Gerard Jones
22. The Story of My Life: The Restored Classic, Complete and Unabridged, Centennial Edition  by Helen Keller
23. Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel  by Jean Kilbourne
24. Too Much of a Good Thing: Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age by Daniel Kindlon
25. Yearnings: EMBRACING THE SACRED MESSINESS OF LIFE  by Irwin Kula
26. Dharma Punx by Noah Levine
27. Gift From the Sea (A Vintage Book) by Anne Morrow Lindberg
28. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
29. See Jane Write: A Girl's Guide to Writing Chick Lit by Sarah Mlynowski
30. Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family by Catherine Newman
31. Practically Perfect in Every Way: My Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help--and Back  by Jennifer Niesslein
32. The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke by Angela Nissel
33. The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
34. Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own by Doreen Orion
35. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robinson
36. Baby B by Michael Ryan
37. You're Not The Boss Of Me: Adventures Of A Modern Mom  by Erika Schickel
38. Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S.  by Beppe Severgnini
39. Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish by Tom Shachtman
40. The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change by Shari MacDonald Strong
41. Dixieland Delight: A Football Season on the Road in the Southeastern Conference by Clay Travis
42. Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom by Kristin van Ogtrop
43. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
44. Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World by Sarah Vowell
45. The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order by Joan Wickersham
46. The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal by Victoria Zackheim

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copy write Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.