I posted over on my craft blog about the crafty calendars I got for Christmas. Man, I just love those little page-a-days, don’t you? But I also love a good hard bound book, and I’ve gotten my hands on one I think will interest some of you. It’s been sitting on my desk for three weeks or so, while I waited on my internet and computer and and and AND! I realized today is the last day of the year, so I better tell you about it, so you can go pick up your own copy. Oops!

The American Patriot’s Almanac is written by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb. I ordered it because I like Bennett’s earlier works, The Book of Virtue and The Children’s Book of Virtues. I also read his book on Education, the title of which I forget and was impressed with it. In short, if Bennett is the writer, I want to be a reader.

The book has an historical entry for each day of the year. It’s a book to read one morsel at a time, provided you can make yourself slow down to do so. At the end of each month is a longer segment that explores a topic in more detail. And the introduction? Well, there are lessons in there for all of us.

I will be seriously starting this book tomorrow, as opposed to flitting around in it here and there. I’m giving Country, my (also) history buff daughter, less than 1 week to discover it on my desk and try to steal it.

Or, 734 pages of reading pleasure.

I have to admit that I was somewhat daunted by the sheer size of this book. After all, I’ve only ever read one adult author who could hold my interest for 3/4 of a thousand pages. And sometimes my mind wandered on her, yk? But since I had committed myself to reading this series, I went ahead and did so. And you know, it’s a good read. I mean, aside from finding myself caught up in the fictitious lives of teenagers, it’s good writing. One word of warning, ignore the cover art. Harry Potter is 14, I think, in this book and not 8 as the picture would leave one to believe.

I’m impressed by the continuity between the books, too. The characters stay true to themselves, even as they mature. And laying aside the premise of magic, the books are entirely believable: motivations, reactions, all reasonable.

I finished the book on Friday, waiting on my husband’s latest cat scan. On Monday, I had to return a huge stack of books, which I did. And then, I checked out number 5. Let me shoot them together.

The pic makes them look about even, but my eye tells me 5 is just a bit thinner. Let me check: 870 pages! Whodda thunk memory cards were more accurate than the human eye? I’ll be starting it after I finish a couple other books I have out.

One of the great benefits of not having internet at home has been an incredible amount of reclaimed free time. If you ever wonder how much time you truly spend doing something, do without it for awhile. Your eyes may be opened in amazing ways, just like mine have been. The crazy thing is that I am still able to get the necessary stuff done by focusing when I do have internet access. Such as this very minute. When I want to tell you about One Fifth Avenue.

You know how usually (and interestingly enough, I just remembered there is a short conversation about this in the book) you can say a novel was about something when you finish reading it? Well, with this book, I am unable to say that. And this is a good thing! I don’t mean it in a bad way at all! Candace Bushnell has written a book about life, populated with characters that are so well written and human that they seem almost real. The plot is realistic, the motivations ring true, and there is an exact amount of randomness in it that adroitly portrays life as it really happens to most of us. This author knows people, what makes them tick, and it is her ability to deliver a story that adequately portrays the emotions that beset us all that makes her story shine.

This is not a thin book, but it is not difficult to read, either, and I suspect that once you get started, you could read it over the course of a week, even if you only get to read in the evenings. Of course, I am not guaranteeing that you won’t stay up way past your bedtime turning pages, but I’m willing to tell you that it’s a risk worth taking.

:booking:What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The “gift aura?”

You know, I have never received a book for a birthday gift as an adult. How odd is that? Of course, if I absolutely must have a book now, I just buy it.

However, my cousin (Shirley) used to buy books for me for my birthday, one biography of Helen Keller and a complete Shakespeare and a collected Sherlock Holmes. Those were great gifts because she took pains to select books she knew I would love.

Now, on a note that has nothing to do with anything, what is up with this weather? Last week we needed UGG Boots and today, we’re breaking out the Coppertone. I even went out in the backyard in my pajamas this morning! I am not ready for summer again already!

:booking:What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.

So . . . what book (or books) is your Citizen Kane?

Umm, this sounds like such a sanctimonious answer, but none. Life is too short and my reading time to precious to invest it in books I don’t like.

:booking: What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?

And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

Hmm, as far as I know, I haven’t read any weird books. I’ve read good books and bad books, long books and short books, tall books and short books and many, many, Dr. Suess books , but I tend to take books at face value and so I don’t consider them “weird”. It may be that I just like a lot of different kinds of books: Robert Ludlum, Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Sharon Kay Penman, Diana Gabaldon, Robert Heinlein–all good, mostly different, and not weird at all.

:booking:

Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school–does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

One thing I missed while I was spinning my wheels yesterday was the Booking Through Thursday meme. I hate that. I don’t always answer the questions, but I do at least like to look! Fall generrally means more reading time for me, since the kids are in practice, and that measn I am held captive at the ball park for a couple hours three times per week. But this fall, I am doing more walking and talking during practice, and less reading than I did last year. And as most of you know, I am still reading magazines during practice, too. What all that means is that I am not reading as many books as I would like. Still. Though I did read on on the way home from Vegas that had me snorting with laughter.

My Horizontal Life is rip-roaringly funny in a way that only a book about sex can be. Unless you are one of those people who doesn’t get that there are very few things funnier than sex. And true, sex can can be joyful and intense and even serious, but it is also very, very funny. Seriously, take away the candle light and the lingerie, and it’s just…funny. Now I am interested to read her other book, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea. It ought not to take more than 6 hours or so to read, if I can find 6 quiet ones to string together again, LOL! In real life time, it will probably take months to get through it, though.

BTW, have you noticed how the colors on uk books are so much different than the ones here? Much more subdued, as if they didn’t really on the brightness to attract readers, and instead relied on the words. Interesting concept, that.

:booking:Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live? Or where you certainly would NOT want to live?

What about authors? If you were a character, who would you trust to write your life?

Hmm. Yes, Heinlein’s Lazarus Long series had a very interesting world, at least as far as my remembrance. I’ve been meaning to re-read it again for quite some time. Of course, that might just be a secret desire to meet Lazurus, rather than a real affinity with his world.

And I would most definitely not like to live in the world Heinlein created for Stranger in a Strange Land. So, I guess we have now learned that Heinlein creates believable worlds, at least to me. Though I didn’t care over much for the world in The HandMaid’s Tale either.

Umm, I took world to mean ideology as well as physical location.

Who would I trust to write my life? Audrey Niffenegger, no question.