Other Books I've Read

Monday, December 05, 2005 , early evening

An Idiot Girl’s Christmas

From the title, you’d think this was a book about me.  Instead, An Idiot Girl’s Christmas is a book about Laurie Notaro, and her “misadventures”.  It’s classic Notaro, i.e., it’s really funny, and all the (true) stories have a holiday theme.  Each of the 13 chapters is a stand-alone essay, although 4 of the chapters were featured in Notaro’s earlier books.  They’re worth reading again, though… Laurie Notaro’s story of her relationship with the two little girls who live down the street (in the house with the old sofa and washing machine on the lawn), is one of the funniest things I’ve read in years, and I was happy to have the chance to read it again.  It’s not a long or overly complicated book, but would be a great gift for the busy person who needs a good chuckle.  Buy a copy today and ensure that both you and Laurie Notaro have a merry Christmas!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 12/05 at 07:31 PM
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Friday, November 18, 2005 , mid-afternoon

Book meme from Vet Mommy Jen

This meme comes courtesy of VetMommy.  As I’ve always got a book nearby, I couldn’t resist.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the sentence in your blog with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually closest.

My nearest book is Secrets of the Widow’s Son by David Shugarts.  It’s on my desk because I’m supposed to be writing a review of it for our Cult of Dan Brown message board, but I haven’t done it yet (because I’m horrible).  The fifth complete sentence on the page reads thusly:

Pike is the only Confederate general to get a full outdoor statue in the nation’s capital, but it was his prominence as a scholar and leader of the Freemasons that earned him a spot for his statue.

It’s a good book, seriously.  Lots of great trivia and historical intrigue!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/18 at 04:42 PM
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005 , late evening

Hyperventilation Syndrome

This is going to be one of my “public service” entries—those things I write with the hopes that they’ll be scooped up by a search engine and will be of help to others down the road.  My entire life, I’ve suffered from periodic “shortness of breath”.  It’s hard to describe except to say that I feel the constant need to yawn, and that I can’t take a really deep breath.  It’s been intermittent since I was a teenager, and I’ve never been able to put my finger on what causes it (except that it often seems to happen when I haven’t had enough sleep).  I also suffer from occasional bouts of tachycardia, where my heart starts to beat so strongly that you can literally see my chest pounding.  Now, probably 25 years since I first started to be bothered by these things, I have a name for what my problem is, “Hyperventilation Syndrome”.  It’s so simple, really—I’m a mouth-breather.  I don’t know how I started out that way, but I know I do it now out of habit because I breathe through my mouth when I’m cleaning the litterboxes (no smell), breathe through my mouth when I’m cleaning bird cages (no dust to set off my allergies), breathe through my mouth when I’m picking up dog poop (again, I want to avoid the smell), etc.  I guess it’s something I’ve done off and on my entire life, but having so many pets to clean up after, combined with the stress of being self-employed and Flippy’s recent health problems have REALLY turned me into a mouth-breather.  My poor breathing technique causes me to over-breathe, and that results in a number of symptoms which are self-perpetuating.  It predominantly causes a sensation of not having enough air, and of needing more oxygen, so you can imagine how that can cause anxiety and make the symptoms worse.  I’m lucky in that I’ve had a second-sense about the anxiety part all along, and always try to relax and take slow breaths so I never end up with a full-fledged panic attacks.  Other people with the problem aren’t as lucky, because the endless sensation of not being able to breathe, combined with anxiety, can make some people feel like they’re headed for certain death.  Many over-breathers end up in the emergency room, and many have to take anti-anxiety medication as part of treatment for their problem.

The good news is that the problem has an easy fix—I just need to train myself to breathe properly.  It involves some conscious-thinking, some posture correction, etc., and it also means I need to cut down on things like caffeine, as I notice it makes the problem worse.  I’m sure I have a mild case, so don’t hesitate to see a doctor if you think you might have this problem and that it might be “bigger than you”.  In the interim, I’ve read a great book on the subject:  Self-Help for Hyperventilation Syndrome by Dinah Bradley.  I’m even going to send a copy to my mother, as I know she’s got the same problem.  There are a lot of medical issues which can involve shortness of breath, so of course, see a doctor before you self-diagnose.  But if you’ve had tests and examinations and no one can figure out why you have panic attacks and have trouble breathing, you might want to check out this book.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/16 at 10:10 PM
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Monday, October 03, 2005 , early evening

The Secret Life of Dust

I’ve had the book, The Secret Life of Dust, listed in my “Now Reading” section for the past six months or more.  I don’t know if anyone noticed it there, but if you did, you probably figured I hadn’t started it yet, or had forgotten about it.  The truth is, I have been reading it, and it’s just taken me six months to finish it.  Don’t take this as a slam against the book, because the book is incredible.  Instead, consider it a slam against my brain, which just could not digest all the information in the book in large doses.

The Secret Life of Dust will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about every kind of dust.  The dust on your window sills, the dust in raindrops, the dust which makes smog, the dust which kills coal miners, the dust in the solar system, etc.  All the teeny-tiny specks of matter, some practically invisible, which float around in the atmosphere are considered “dust”, and the stuff they do is pretty incredible.  For example, I didn’t know you needed dust to make rain—the water vapor in the sky needs a solid to cling to, and as more droplets cling to a dust speck, it finally becomes heavy enough to rain down.  No dust means no rain.  Did you know that the dust on your bookshelf may contain particles of dinosaurs, blown up from huge sandstorms in central Asia?  Did you know that you should be worried about smog from Beijing, because you could be breathing it in when you’re outside working in your yard?  Did you know there are people in Turkey who still live in caves, and that most of them die of lung cancer because of naturally-occuring silica?  There’s just so much information in this book, I think the best thing I could do was to read it slowly and carefully and really take it all in.  Not that I’m smart enough to understand most of it, but hey, I’ve got a new appreciation for rain.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 10/03 at 07:52 PM
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Sunday, September 25, 2005 , evening

Island of the Sequined Love Nun

You can tell by the title that I just finished reading another book by Christopher Moore, Island of the Sequined Love Nun.  The book was as outrageous as the title, although in all honestly I can’t think of any specific “sequined love nuns” who were part of the plot.  The book introduces the character of Tucker Case, a pilot whose career is all downhill after a visit to the “mile high club” causes him to crash a Lear jet.  Case ends up on an isolated island in the south Pacific, flying a plane for “missionaries” who don’t really have the best interests of their native flock at heart.  Or at kidney.  This was perhaps my favourite of all of Moore’s books I’ve read so far, and he did a nice job of researching life in the south Pacific and the history of how the area was affected by the presence of the American military in WWII.  He also introduced me to the concept of “cargo cults”,which I’d never heard of before.  So, a touch of the supernatural, a bit of history, a bit of blood and gore, some dead people, the fictional equivalent of Mary Kay, and Roberto, the talking fruit bat—just typical Christopher Moore.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/25 at 09:09 PM
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Monday, August 29, 2005 , late evening

Down Came the Rain

Down Came the Rain is the rather infamous book by Brooke Shields about post-partum depression—it’s the book that got Tom Cruise’s shorts in a knot, and revealed him to be an even bigger creep than I’d ever taken time to imagine.  Brooke can thank Tom for increasing her sales, because I know both Flippy and I ran to Amazon to order this book just to reinforce that we think Tom Cruise is a jerk.  I normally wouldn’t have purchased a book about post-partum depression, but it was my chance to thumb my nose at Tom so I couldn’t resist.  This is the first “protest” book purchase I’ve ever made.

The book was a real downer.  I didn’t expect a book about depression to be too “uplifting”, but I actually found this book a bit disturbing.  Brooke Shields is a smart woman and well-educated, but her book was completely devoid of humour (except for the comic-relief provided by her husband) and the personal comments seemed to mostly be therapy-speak.  I don’t even have kids, but reading this made me depressed, and I started to dread reading it (but I hate leaving a book unfinished).  Shields’ descriptions of her anxiety were almost “triggering” for me, that’s how awful it was.  Like those dreams where you’re trying to run but your feet are stuck in quicksand, this book just dragged me down and enveloped me in a big grey cloud of moodiness.  There’s also something very odd about the timing in the book.  I’d think that the events in a particular chapter had reflected, say, a two month period, but then I’d be told that only two weeks had passed.  It was disorienting, and it happened again and again, so I don’t think it was just my imagination. 

I didn’t “hate” this book, but I don’t want it around anymore, and we’re giving it away to a friend who wants to read it.  If you have post-partum depression, I’ve no doubt you’ll gain something from reading Down Came the Rain, (even if it’s just a more thorough knowledge of the condition, or the knowledge that you’re not alone), but if you just want to read this because you’re a Brooke Shields’ fan, I’d take a pass.  If you want to take a poke at Tom Cruise though, by all means, don’t let me stop you.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 08/29 at 10:04 PM
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We Thought You Would be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive

With an bonus performance of, “Autobiography of a Fat Bride”.

Normally I try to write separate entries for all the books I review, but I’m making an exception this time and I’m clumping together two books by Laurie Notaro, We Thought You Would Be Prettier:True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive and Autobiography of a Fat Bride.  I’ve written about Notaro’s other books before, and as always, these were excellent.  Funny, cynical, sarcastic, and self-deprecating, Notaro makes everyday life seem hysterical. I’ve been quite spoiled because there were already four titles by Laurie Notaro available by the time I found them, so I’ve been able to gobble them up, one after another, like a really great box of chocolates.  Or potato chips.  Or chocolate-covered potato chips.  I’m now going to have to learn some patience though, because Notaro’s fifth book, An Idiot Girl’s Christmas : True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List won’t be released until November.  I’ve already pre-ordered it, and I’m counting the days smile

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 08/29 at 09:49 PM
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Friday, August 19, 2005 , late afternoon

Smoothies! The Original Smoothie Books (vol. 1 and 2)

These books are winning the “biggest disappointment” contest for 2005—I found very little of redeeming value in Smoothies! The Original Smoothie Books.  I ordered the two-volume set because Flippy and I have recently become smitten with our local Smoothie King, and are spending far too much money there, so I thought these books would help me make tasty smoothies at home (in my poor, beleaguered blender).  The books promise “professionally developed” recipes from such large chains as Smoothie King, Jamba Juice, Juice Zone, etc., so I mistakenly assumed I’d actually be getting a recipe or two of smoothie blends you can buy at these establishments.  Alas, all you get in the book is literally what is promised, “professionally-developed” recipes—recipes which don’t seem to have been good enough to make it into the regular rotation at smoothie outlets.  There’s an “apple smoothie” recipe from Smoothie King—blah.  Could they really not have parted with one signature recipe, like “Light and Fluffy”?  “Light and Fluffy” certainly isn’t the brain surgery of smoothie recipes - I think it’s just strawberries, bananas, and orange juice—but it would have been a nice gesture and would have made me feel like I was being taught the secret to a “real smoothie”.

My other big beef about these books is redundancy.  Volume one features a history of the smoothie industry, a list of potential ingredients, a glossery, a guide to techniques, and a list of online resources, and Volume two features all the identical information!  As this information comprises 75% of the pages of both books, you’re only getting 25% of new material in the second volume.  What a waste of paper!  It’s not even good redundant material, either—the online resources section features links to shareware programs about dieting, for example.  If I wanted to know about shareware, I’d buy a book about shareware.  It seems like a really obvious effort to fill up pages and to make a “second volume”, when they should have just reprinted the first volume and raised the price to account for the extra recipes.

So, I’m still looking for a good smoothie recipe book.  If I find one that I really like, I’ll be sure to write about it.  In the meantime, I’ll keep buying pre-made smoothie mixes that I can doctor with my own fresh fruit.  I also really love Big Train’s Fruit Tea Blast—the Peach Pizazz flavour is delicious!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 08/19 at 05:53 PM
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005 , late evening

All In My Head

Remember when I said I was slow to start reading Harry Potter because I was reading something else?  Paula Kamen’s incredible book, All In My Head was the tome keeping me distracted from the goings-on at Hogwarts.  All In My Head has continued to distract me since I finished reading it, as I want so badly to do it justice here that I’ve been worried about how to review it.  In short, it’s an amazing, valuable, irreplaceable first-person account of dealing with the medical establishment while trying to find a cure for a chronic headache.  Just like me, Paula Kamen came from a normal, happy family, and had a normal, happy life, until one day she was hit by a headache that never went away.  In my case I was hit with fibromyalgia, but as Kamen discovers on her path to “medical enlightenment”, most chronic conditions have something in common, and in fact, they might all be off-shoots of the same imbalance in the brain.  Kamen’s headache throws her life into turmoil, preventing her from working as a writer, and sending her to seek treatment from headache specialists to chiropractors to psychic healers, and everything in-between.  If you’ve ever wanted to know about alternative healing methods, you’ll find this book very revealing on just about every topic except Ayurvedic medicine (which Kamen avoids because of the excessive number of Ayurvedic methods which involve vomiting and/or enemas). 

Sadly, there’s no happy ending—Paula Kamen has spent tens of thousands of dollars and been to world-famous headache treatment centers, but she still has a headache which never goes away.  On the bright side, she’s discovered that a number of elements of all the different therapies she’s tried do provide a degree of relief, so she incorporates things like massage and aromatherapy into her daily routine of prescription medications.  It’s a good lesson for those of us dealing with difficult chronic health issues, that there may not be “one” answer, but perhaps many smaller partial answers which fit together to form a whole.  It’s an even better lesson to be reminded that we’re not alone, and that’s one of the reasons Kamen’s book had such an impact on me.  There are thousands of other “tired girls” out there, and we struggle to live normal lives and we blend in, all the while thinking we’re the only ones who are coping with such overwhelming pain and fatigue.

So, if you’re suffering from chronic headache, you may find that this book offers you some ideas and treatment options you hadn’t considered.  If you’re just suffering from chronic anything, I think you’ll find that the book gives you a bit of hope, and helps you feel less alone.  This book is an incredible gift from Paula Kamen to the rest of the tired girls, and I hope you’ll find comfort from it like I did.  Oh, and I don’t want to neglect to mention that the book is funny.  Even though it could easily be a downer of a book, it’s not, so it’s informative and good for a chuckle.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 08/03 at 10:30 PM
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I’d planned to be finished a lot sooner, but had already started another long book right before “Harry” arrived, and besides, it took me another week and a half to figure out a way past the gargoyle guarding the book:

image

I love the Harry Potter books, and the 6th in the series was good enough to keep me up past my bedtime, reading, and to entice me to leave the computer to go read during the day.  However, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would.  I’d read some reviews which opined that The Half-Blood Prince was the best of the series, but I found it lacking in the “fun” department.  Hagrid was practically missing from the entire story, and mainly appeared when a very specific plot device was needed about three-quarters of the way through.  I don’t think Professor McGonagall had more than half a dozen lines, and the usual “guest professor” who generally shows up each school year to teach “Defense of the Dark Arts” was pompous and rather dull.  There were cursory appearances by Luna Lovelood (her name should really be “Luna Lovejoy”, no?), and Moaning Myrtle and Dobby the house elf, but they never stayed long enough.  I miss the grandeur of plots like the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and I miss being introduced to new weird and wonderful characters.  I’m also getting a bit blase about the “Harry Potter knows something is going on but no one will believe him until it’s too late” storylines, because after always being right on previous occasions, shouldn’t all the residents of Hogwarts be hanging on Harry’s every word?!

Most people already know there’s a death in the book, but I won’t spoil it by revealing who dies.  Some reviewers have said they wept when the death occurred, but I didn’t really feel anything except regret at the loss of an interesting character.  I’ll give J.K. Rowling props for actually killing a major character, though—it’s not like when she killed off Cedric Diggory.  This is a death which will change the course of book 7.

Speaking of book 7, I’m anxiously awaiting its release because book 6 has ended with yet another “danger” cliff-hanger, as well as some unresolved issues between Ron and Hermione, Percy Weasley and his family, etc.  How many years until book 7?  Will I need reading glasses by then?

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 08/03 at 03:16 PM
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