Best Mother's Day... Ever!

I've been a mom for 16 years now, which means a rollercoaster of Mother's Day experiences. One forgotten, one horribly over the top to make up for the forgotten, a few obviously almost forgotten, and many spent taking care of someone else's mother.

This year goes down as my idea of the perfect Mother's Day.

I was shooed out of the house late morning with my bicycle, after presentation of kid-made cards & art projects. Came home to a basket of folded laundry, two freshly scrubbed dogs, and dinner being pulled off the grill.

It was a beautiful sunny day. A bit windy on the way out, but that just made for a good workout for the first half of the ride, and a super speedy return trip.

Just me, audiobook version of "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe", and miles of lovely trail.

Summer Reading

I am zipping through the books this summer. Not audio books, but good old-fashioned printed books. It has a lot to do with being home with kids. I thought there wouldn't be time for reading, but there is quite a bit.

Some is during the daily 30-60 minutes of enforced "quiet time." Figure if the kids aren't allowed to play games or watch television during that time, it won't hurt for me to follow the same general rule. Most of the reading is poolside though. I do get in and swim, but have no desire to spend three solid hours in the water.

So far this June & July:

Robinson Crusoe - Don't know how I made it through grades 1-12 (never went to kindergarten) without reading this, but I finally got around to it. I liked it more than I thought I would. I knew the story - who doesn't? - and knew I'd like the tale, but thought the style might be dry. I was wrong. The writing is more formal than the books I read to the children each evening, but it's not at all stuffy. The details of survival and character study were quite engaging. It was interesting how much it felt like reading a book after seeing the movie based on it.

Finished up Nation of Sheep by Judge Andrew Napolitano late last week. I'd have finished it several weeks ago, but misplaced it while packing for vacation. (It turned up on the kid's bookcases, between Emmy & the Incredible Shrinking Rat and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, two good books, though for a different audience.) It very clearly spells out the violations of the rights guaranteed to American citizens in the name of National Security. You hear all about them in any conversation with a Bush bashing liberal, though never so clearly explained. What's funny - and not in a ha-ha way - is that you could swap out "terrorist" or "homeland security" with various economic crises of the last year, and see how the same arguments to pass the Patriot Act and appoint new homeland security heads and hire thousands of employees are being used to pass economic stimulus bills, appoint financial czars and take over private businesses in the current administration. Maybe I should pick up Higg's Crisis and Leviathan sooner, rather than later?

Thud and Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett. Until reading the book written with Neil Gaiman, I'd not read any Pratchett. After reading Good Omens, The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, I started on the Discworld series by Pratchett. Really glad I did. Think the kids will enjoy these someday. Especially B2, who seems to have a similar sense of humor and is developing book habits like mine.

Ultra Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes. I highly recommend this book, even if you're not a runner. It's truly inspiring. It doesn't make me want to run through Death Valley in the middle of the day, but that's not the point of the book. It does firmly remind me that I can do anything I set my mind to, and push beyond limits I don't even know yet, if I only try. (This is a book the kidlets will read at some point.)

Seeing as how I'd misplaced the Napolitano book while packing, I grabbed Terry Goodkind's first book from the Sword of Truth series before taking off for Colorado. After finishing the re-read of Wizard's First Rule, I had to start on Stone of Tears, which lead to the current re-read of book three in the series, Blood of the Fold. Only seven or eight more to go... can't stop part way through the story. (What if it ends differently?)

Other current books are Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg and A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz. The subject of the first is fairly obvious, so I'll just say it's been interesting so far. I've always been curious about Burr, but the story of the duel with Hamilton in Founding Fathers, and some of the events leading up to it, set me to looking for more of the story. The Horwitz book - full title A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America - is really good, both in information shared and his wonderful writing style. If he were teaching history classes, I can't imagine anyone finding the subject dull. Right now, I'm reading of Horwitz's research trip to the Dominican Republic, in the chapter on the curse (or jinx) of Columbus.

What I'm Reading - Good Omens

I'm reading Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. I've been a fan of Gaiman since the early-ish days of The Sandman, and Terry Pratchett - well, I've not read any of his books, but I plan to remedy that in the near future.

I'm enjoying this book. A lot. It's funny. Sometimes biting and satirical, sometimes zany, but definitely full of humor. The four horsemen are... unexpectedly modern. I found myself alternating between chuckling and horrified realization when reading about Famine's antics, in particular.

How at home Famine must be in this day and age. Starvation is still a problem for the poor in the third world countries, but it's also the goal of so many well-off women and young girls. (And even a segment of the young male population, apparently.) People stuff themselves full of easy and cheap calories, loading themselves up with excess fat while becoming deficient in the basic nutrients required for a healthy life. Our obsessions with food, at both ends of the scale, make his job so much easier.

I don't want to give key story points away, so I'll stay out of detailing what he and the other horsemen are up to in the days leading up to Armageddon. Instead, I'll quote the description from the publisher:

There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan.

Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon -- each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle -- are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . . .

Gaiman & Pratchett did a lovely thumbing of the nose at our current culture. I think it's a great book to put on the shelf with Jonathan Swift and Douglas Adams, for my kids to pick up as they grow beyond the 2nd-3rd grade satire of Captain Underpants.

Predictably Irrational

I listen to books on the iPod. While I work, while I run or ride. Lately, I've been on an economics kick. Behavioral economics, to be precise. I love the science, dismal or no, behind the way people make decisions about how to spend their time, money and energy.

I just finished Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions*, by Dan Ariely. I loved it! Will be listening to it again, probably soon. Adds a whole new dimension to people watching. Gave me a bit of insight in to the whys of some of my decisions in life so far. Not just the big things, either. Little things like "Sure, I'll have a piece of cheesecake. My diet starts tomorrow."

Funny how all the rational choices people should be making, in a perfect world, go out the window once you get down to the imperfect individual.

From Ariely's website:



Next up on my audiobook list: The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World, by Tim Harford.

*The audiobook version of Predictably Irrational is read by Simon Jones, who is one of my favoritest narrators. Yes, I just said favoritest. Favorite just was not adequate.