Monday, August 28, 2006

Live! Today at Shalee's Diner: Susan The Lurker

I feel so Regis and Kelli - ish.

I've a guest blogger today and I couldn't be more excited!

For those of you who attended the KC Lunch of Bloggers, you were fortunate enough to meet this lurker of a gal. Susan, who has a blog, but would rather spend her time visiting everyone else, completed the book meme with which I tagged her. (I happen to know that she is a book lover as well, so I was hoping she would take the bait.)

So without any hesitation, let me introduce to you Susan the Lurker! (Applause)

I returned home from vacation last week and was catching up on my blog reading. Imagine my surprise in discovering I'd been tagged! And a worthy meme it was too. Well, I considered doing an actual blog on my actual blog site. I thought and thought.....and thought and found I could not make up my mind how to answer. Then I'd commit to an answer in a draft only to chicken out change my mind the next day. I cannot adequately describe the amount of thought that I expended on this effort. Further complicating things is the fact that my thought window is never more than about five minutes long, maybe ten on a good day, before I am interrupted by someone wanting me to play in his room or be taken to soccer practice or my personal favorite, sign this ream of papers for school. Anyway, that, my friend, is why I choose not to blog at this time. I like the idea of it but the execution leaves something to be desired.I do email, though. So I thought I'd answer your tag that way on the off chance that I've read something that you haven't or that you might be interested in reading. So here goes. And, thought it's sure to happen, I will fight the desire to revisit this email with additions that undoubtedly will pop up in the coming days causing me to slap my head in disgust and say I can't believe I left that book off the list. Anyway, without further ado, here is my answer as it stands, on this day, at this hour.

1. One book that changed your life:Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five by Penelope Leach. Penelope Leach, along with T Berry Brazelton, was one of the "baby gurus" at the time of Jeremy's birth Sixteen+ years ago. This book was my lifeline. Almost everything I did as a parent I learned from Ms. Leach. By the time Matthew came along three+ years ago I was more or less comfortable in my baby parenting skills. I was curious about how Leach's book would hold up against the current wisdom, however, so I took an occasional peek inside. Not to worry, I mean, just look at the results:

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2. One book that you've read more than once: Every couple of years or so I re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I get the itch to read it again every Fall. I'll be reading it again any minute now.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: How Everything Works: Making Physics Out of the Ordinary by Louis A. Bloomfield. OK, it's true that I haven't read this book from cover to cover. This is a book that you keep coming back to time after time and can sustain you over an extended period of time. With this book I am given the illusion of having actual knowledge. Some of it may be useful on a desert Island.

4. One book that made you laugh:Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger. This book was somewhat sentimental but hilarious none the less. It's set in World War two era and is what I would call "baseball centric" although it is not about baseball per se, and, it relies on literary device I would describe as scrap booking. Kleenex may be required at the end. I should probably mention that as a movie, with language intact it would probably get an R rating.The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde was really amusing in that "Oh, I get it, ha ha" sort of way.

5. One book that made you cry:I wasn't in tears for the duration, but, there are sections in each of these books that had me crying the ugly cry: Plainsong by Kent Haruf, Angelas Ashes by Frank McCourt, Room of Marvels by James Bryan Smith

6. One book that you wish had been written: Hypnosis and it's Practical Applications in Parenting Your Teen

7. One book you wish had never been written: Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I don't know. Maybe the terrorist training manuals.

8. One Two books you are currently reading: Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris. Thoughtful in the same way that Blue Like Jazz is but more, ummmm mature? Feminine? I don't know but it's a good read and not at all Christian lit-like. I'm also reading Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson.

9.One book you've been meaning to read: One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, both by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I started One Hundred years of Solitude in high school but couldn't get through it. I've been meaning to get back to it ever since.

Thank you Susan for those wonderful book suggestions. I will also readily second Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series and offer his Nursery Crime series as another great read!

Now coming up next: Owners who look just like their pets, Helga the world champion clogger and a singer looking to make a comeback - Debbie Gibson... Viva la 80's!

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Then

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Now

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