Yellow Wallpaper

The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark Although I'd read nothing but good reviews of this book, I was reluctant to read it. I think the cover is lame and I didn't find the description of the plot interesting at all. But then I decided to read it and I completely changed my mind. We talked about the book The Wednesday Wars this month in my book club, and it's interesting to compare the two because they have very similar themes. However, this book is much more nostalgic. It's written from the point of view of an adult looking back and trying to make sense of his life at a later time. I think I appreaciated it in a way I couldn't have fifteen years ago because I am an adult who is also realizing that my parents are aging, that I am aging, and that life in junior high somehow managed to mean everything and nothing for my future. Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson I really loved Jacobson's two books that I read last year and so I was looking foward to this...

I'm afraid I've gotten in the habit of putting off posting until I have something nice and coherent planned out in my head and time to write it down. Guess what? That never happens. Plus I've developed a bad habit of sitting down to the computer, zoning out, and surfing through random pages until my brain oozes out my ears. Oops. So, what have I been doing the last two weeks? Working, for one. Going to work all day seems to make time speed up. The fact that it's summer has made me be more lax about bedtime for the kids, and while that means I get more time with them it also means that they aren't usually in bed and asleep until nine. I'm not sure if I like this or not. I have been putting the toddler to bed and then reading the first book of Harry Potter out loud to the older kids. Little Dude checked it out from the library the other week, but I realized that it would probably be best as a read-aloud for the family. S-Boogie read the entire series recently, b...

Last Thursday night my internet connection went down and I couldn't get it to come back up. I think it had something to do with a power outage earlier in the day. When I got around to calling Comcast on Friday morning, they were able to reset it fairly quickly. I sat down at my computer to catch up on things I had missed the day before and discovered a post called " Club Unicorn " that was being shared all over Facebook. I wasn't really shocked to read the content of the post, but I have been surprised by how many people have shared it and commented on it. I'm now feeling grateful that Facebook didn't exist six years ago when Mr. Fob and I were interviewed in the newspaper and on television . That was the right decision at the time, but I'm glad we turned down bigger offers and that things weren't shared more than they were. We first met Josh and Lolly a little over six years ago. In the fall of 2005, Mr. Fob published an essay he had written in Dia...

When I got home from my mission eleven years ago, everything I owned fit in a few suitcases and boxes. I had some books, clothes, pots and pans, a CD player, and other small things. I didn't own a car, a computer, or any furniture. When Mr. Fob and I got married shortly after that we moved into a one-bedroom apartment. We bought a loveseat at D.I., inherited a bed from family, and rented a kitchen table and chairs from the university. Now I live in a five-bedroom house and I own a car, a large amount of furniture, and even two refrigerators. There's a bedroom for each person in the family and one for guests. It's a bit ridiculous. I mostly enjoy my level of comfort and feel humbly blessed to have so much abundance, but sometimes I feel guilt at the high standard of living I enjoy compared to the rest of the world. Either way, I now have a lot of stuff. In addition to the stuff, I have a much more abundant life than I used to. I have three kids, three-hundred friends on Fa...

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult This was a great book for a vacation; it was actually better than some of Picoult's other books, but pretty much the same in plotting and style. I really didn't like the main character, but I don't think he was supposed to be likeable. Love You More by Lisa Gardner I bought this book at a drugstore in Oregon while I was on vacation because I needed another book to read. It was the best of the possible options there, and for a paperback mystery it wasn't too bad at all. The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain I've heard Chamberlain called "The Southern Jodi Picoult" and I think this is a good description. Her books are very similar in their plot twists, psychological details, and soap-opera plots based on buried secrets. This was a good, mindless escape book that kept me interested until the end. How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm by Mei-Ling Hopgood This book managed to be both informational and enterta...