Best. Blog Post. Ever

If I had a nickle for every time I've been asked "Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey?", I'd have about $2.  It doesn't seem like much, until you remember that we're talking nickles.  It's gotten annoying.

There are many reasons I'm really not all that interested in reading this book, and I'll admit, I often shy away from super popular books.  Why?  Because I figure if they're THAT popular, they're probably good, so I don't need to read them (I'll admit, I only read book one of Harry Potter).

However, in the case of 50 Shades, I just don't think I'd like it.

Don't get me wrong, I love smut novels - they're fun to read - but this seems like it's a higher level of smut, and I'm really not currently in the mood for more-than-smut.

I could continue listing the reasons I'm not going to read the book, or I could just direct you to this amazing blog, where the blogger lines out some awesome reasons for not reading the book.

The Everywhereist - 50 Reasons Why I Won't be Reading 50 Shades of Grey

I mean, why reinvent the wheel?  And, she's much funnier than I am.

7 Books that Changed the Way I See the World

After reading this post on Bobbi Newman's blog, and then reading the original post on The Happiness Project, I decided to create my own list.  Only it turned out not to be as easy as I thought it would be.  Answering the question "What is your favorite book" is difficult because I love lots of books.  But answering the question "which books have changed the way you view the world" is different.  It doesn't mean I had to like them - they had to change how I saw the world around me.  So here my list in no particular order.


1. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay:  I know, you're probably thinking get over this book already lady!!! But it really did change the way I viewed myself, the world, and reading.  PeeKay doesn't set out to change the world around him, but he does.  I learned that all of our actions have an impact on the world around us - an impact that often we can't control.  I also learned that the only way to accomplish anything is to be yourself.  And, as I stated in this other post, I fell in love with reading through this book.  This was the first book I ever read multiple times, and it is one of the few books that I will continue to read throughout my life.


2. Lamb by Christopher Moore:  Though I read this book long after my view of the church and God had gone through some major changes, I loved this book.  To me, this is what Jesus' life would have been like - kinda.  I don't think Jesus did it all by himself - I think He had friends who supported, helped Him, and challenged Him when He wrote the beatitudes (my FAV part of the book).  And by friends, I don't mean the Disciples.  I mean He had a BFF like Biff.  The truth is, no one knows what happened during the 30 years of Jesus' life when nothing is written about Him, but I like Moore's take on it - that He struggled, whined, got annoyed with the Disciples and eventually came to His senses and did what needed to be done.  Though this book is completely irreverent, I loved it, and it helped me see Christ in a more human light. 


3. The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Shlain: another book that challenged what I believe.  This book was given to me by one of my mother's childhood friends.  I grew up seeing her not often, but always enjoying being around her even though I thought she was a kooky feminist.  Before I read this book, I'd never considered the differences between how men approach the world, problems and issues versus how women do, and I'd never considered that there could be factors in society that would shape the way we view women.  When I started reading the book, I wanted to disagree with it, hate it and dismiss Shlain's claims as "kooky" and, well wrong.  But man he makes a compelling argument and it makes sense.  I've never viewed feminism or reading in the same light.


4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera:  this was one of the first books I picked up of my own accord and absolutely positively hated.  Ugh, it was awful.  It depressed the crap out of me, and I felt like the characters in the book were truly miserable and just wanted everyone to be miserable with them.  I don't want anyone to be miserable, but most of all I don't want to be miserable.  I knew after reading this book that life is entirely too short to ignore or not deal with depression - a piece of wisdom that has served me well in life.


5. A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron: have you ever read a book that makes your soul smile?  What an amazing book.  I am a dog lover, and I've read just about every book written from the point of view of a dog (including The Art of Racing in the Rain and A Dog's Life), but none of them even come close to this book.  We all know the human reasons for having a dog, but this book made me see the world from my dog's perspective - why are dogs such great companions?  And why can't they put the damn ball down?!?  I look at dogs differently now and, honestly, I love them more after reading that book.


6. Die Entdeckung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm: this was the first book I read in German that was not translated from English.  When I lived abroad, I felt that it was important to immerse myself in the language - including in my reading.  But reading original German texts was difficult because every culture has its own accepted writing style (anyone who has read The Girl with the Dragon Tatto knows that in Sweden, starting a book of with 80-100 seemingly pointless boring pages makes for a best seller), so I found myself reading tons of Nora Roberts books because the layout was already second nature.  When I read Die Entdeckung der Currywurst (the discovery of the curried sausage), it was like the language - and to some degree - the culture clicked in my head.  I wasn't stumbling over passages anymore, and I began to see how the culture is reflected in the writing style, but that's another post for another day.


7. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Polan: I love food.  I love eating it, sharing it with loved ones and preparing it.  This book changed the way I view what I put in my body and how it affects the world around me.  I won't even attempt to claim that I am now a locavore who despises all things fast food (thank you to my dear sister who cured my doldrums today with a Wendy's lunch of awesomeness...sorry Mr. Polan), but I will say that I am more food conscious now and I make more of an effort to buy local and stay home and prepare fresh meals when I can.  The saddest part about reading this book is my changed view of corn - it's no longer an exotic vegetable that I only get in the summer when my favorite Olathe sweet corn is in season.  It's everywhere, all the time in everything.

Which books have you read that have changed your world view?

Prepare yourselves...

Just a quick little note to let you all know that I am finally back from Europe and I have about 8 books to review.  So if you've subscribed to this blog (all 4 of you!) then be prepared your inboxes for a whole lot of information coming from Suzanne - hopefully most of it is welcomed!


Here are the books/topics I plan to cover in the next few days:


If I Stay by Gayle Foreman
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
What makes an audiobook worth listening to?
The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston
XVI by Julia Karr
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
What kind of reader are you?
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
True Vision by Joyce Lamb
Why I've never read Harry Potter, and how I live with myself.

Yes, some of the books I've recently read are older, but, as Linda Holmes pointed out in her article, it's impossible that we read everything ever written, so I'm OK with keeping books on my to-read list for longer periods of time and getting to them when I have a minute.  And since taking books to Europe is a heavy endeavor, I decided to take paperbacks I'd had for some time, read them while there and then gift them to my German friends.

Swim the Fly by Don Calame

Swim the Fly

Don Calame

Here are the two short reviews I heard about this book.  First: this book is a must read for all teenage boys.  They love it! Second: I seriously almost wet myself laughing.  Since I find that most realistic fiction isn’t geared toward young male readers, and since I quite enjoy laughing myself silly (all urination aside), when I saw Swim the Fly on the shelf at Central High School, I immediately grabbed it and asked to check it out (much to the chagrin of Shar, their library secretary.  Guess it was on her reading list too).

Swim the Fly has actually nothing to do with flies.  I was a little confused by the title until I realized that “the fly” is a swimming term…I know, I’m not very smart. Matt Gratton is, well, a wimp, but he is a dedicated member of his local swim team, and when he sees an opportunity to impress the über-hot Kelly, he volunteers to swim the 100m butterfly (should that be capitalized?  See, I know nothing of swimming).  The beginning of Matt’s problems is the fact that he really can’t swim the fly.  At all.  The good thing about this book is it really isn’t about swimming “the fly”, it’s about the summer adventures (and embarrassments) of a teenage boy who has two really great friends, uncontrollable hormones, and not the slightest clue about girls.

I loved this book.  It was hilarious.  Some of the situations Matt finds himself in are painfully funny – for example, drinking an extra dose of protein shake that turns out to be fiber laxative (totally not a spoiler, you kinda see it coming).  My tummy actually hurt thinking about it.  The best part is every crazy situation Matt gets himself into, I can totally imagine one or more of my former “super smart” students getting into.  It’s almost like the time I went to see SuperBad with some of my co-workers and we spent the entire movie laughing, not because it was funny (though it was) but because we kept naming students we could see trying to pull those kinds of pranks.

However, I will say that I’m not completely sold that this book is a “guy read”.  I actually think it’s more of a chick read about how guys think.  But I’m not sure – I don’t know any guys who have read it.  It won’t ever be in the collection at GMMS because it’s not middle school appropriate, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to find a guy to read it.  I thought about asking my dad, who loves to read, but I’m pretty sure it’s not his cup of tea.  He’d think it was funny, but anyone who loves Motherless Brooklyn  by Jonathan Lethem is kind of on a different level.

Regardless, I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a light, fun summer read.  And if you happen to be a teenage boy (wow, this sentence TOTALLY started out creepy) let me know what you think!

Recommended Reads - an update

It was pointed out to me twice today that 1) I haven't updated my blog in awhile (one more semester of grad school and I'm DONE!!!) and 2) I recommend books all the time, but could I please just come up with a list?!?  So here's what I have for you for right now.  I do plan to blog about all of these books (if I haven't already), but for my faithful fans (apparently now there are like seven of you...yeay!) here are the books I've been talking about for months now and some that I haven't mentioned yet.

Normally I would hyperlink all these titles, but it's late, so you'll have to google them yourselves!

Hush by Eishes Chayil - written by a Chassidic Jewish woman about the suicide of her childhood best friend.  Openly wept.  Not snotty hyperventillating wept, but I wept.  Beautifully told story that somehow is able to respect the Chassidic community while exposing a weakness.  Loved loved loved it.  Go get it. NOW.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - already reviewed this one in March.  Can't get over how awesome this book is.  And yes, I will take the 30 seconds necessary to link to my own post.  Why, because I'm a little selfish.

Unwind by Neil Shusterman - amazing sci-fi story of a society where unwinding, or retroactive abortion, is the "solution" to the abortion debate.  Definitely an action packed book, but it also really makes you think about the right to life and what "life" is.  Wonderfully done, could NOT put it down (but really, when can I put books down?)

Graceling by Kristin Cashore - fantasy novel about a world where people are "graced" - have special abilities to do various things.  Katsa's grace is killing, something that until now, her uncle has used to his advantage.  But when the king from another kingdom is kidnapped, Katsa must learn to trust Prince Po, who - it turns out - has a very interesting grace of his own.  Started out listening to the audiobook and HATED it, but my bff Sarah convinced me to finish the book, and she was right - it's fantastically written.  Looking forward to a long weekend where I can dive into the companion novel Fire.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock - speaking of audiobooks, this one is fantastic.  The Wisconsin accent makes the reading of this book fantastic.  The entire trilogy is worth reading, though Dairy Queen is my favorite.  And yes, I took the time to link my own review.  It's how I roll.

When I was Joe by Keren David - teenage kid living in London witnesses a murder and he and his mother must enter the witness protection plan.  Tyler (I think that's his original name) now has a chance to reinvent himself - something all teenagers wish they could do.  Love the suspense in the story of the murder.  The sequel, Almost True is sitting on my bedside table right now.

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine - story of a little girl with Asberger's (I think) whose brother died in a school shooting.  It's supposed to be a novel for young people (middle school-ish), but it's definitely an adult book.  I think middle school kids will get something out of it, but I think some of the nuiances will be missed by young readers.  Tissues are a necessity for this one.

White Cat by Holly Black - Cassel is the only member of his family that isn't a "worker".  "Workers" all have the ability to do something - erase memory, impose luck, inflict pain, even kill - with a simple touch of skin on skin. Cassel also happens to have killed his childhood best friend in cold blood when they were much younger, only he has no idea why and can hardly remember the event.  When he gets kicked out of boarding school, he slowly starts to figure out what happened so long ago. Truth be told I'm a little torn about this book.  I really enjoyed it, but I figured it out pretty early.  I will say that Black's writing is AWESOME, and that the writing kept me reading.  But the sequel Red Glove isn't high on my reading list simply because I'm afraid I'll figure it out just as quick.

There are more, but I'm sleepy.  That and I'd like to read a little before I go to bed.  I'm currently reading The Radley's by Matt Haig.  This book is pretty darn good so far, and it won an Alex Award (books written for adults that cross over into YA stardom).  The Radley's are a normal family, except that they're vampires.  Oh, and the parents have never told their kids that they're blood sucking night fliers.  Yep, it's pretty good.

Ok, sweet dreams, and happy reading!