Halloween Costumes List: Part III

According to the National Retail Foundation these were the top costume chooses for last year for pets.

1. Devil
2. Pumpkin/ Jack o’ Lantern
3. Witch
4. Princess
5. Angel
6. Pirate
7. Hot Dog
8. Bat
9. Black Cat
10. Clown

Halloween Costumes List: Part II

According to the National Retail Foundation these were the top costume chooses for last year for adults.

1. Witch
2. Pirate
3. Vampire
4. Cat
5. Princess
6. Fairy
7. Wench
8. Clown
9. Angel
10. Nurse
11. Devil
12. Monster
13. Ghost
14. “Star Wars” character
15. Zombie

Halloween Costumes List: Part I

According to the National Retail Foundation these were the top costume chooses for last year for children.

1. Princess
2. Spider-Man
3. Pirate
4. Witch
5. Fairy
6. Disney Princess
7. “Star Wars” character
8. Pumpkin/ Jack o’ Lantern
9. Ghost
10. Power Ranger
11. Monster
12. Ninja
13. Vampire
14. Sports figure
15. Batman

Today in Holidays:

Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi; he is the patron saint of animals and ecology. It is also World Animals Day.

Famous Quotes: Saint Francis of Assisi

= It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.
= All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
= If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
= Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace!
Where there is hatred let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console:
To be understood,
As to understand,
To be loved as to love:
For it is in giving
That we receive,
It is in pardoning
That we are pardoned,
And it is dying
That we are born to eternal life.

A Holiday Book in Review – TCIGT Pirates

Book Count: 81

Holiday(s): Halloween

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pirates By: Gail Selinger and W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Non-Fiction: history 345 pages 2006

This book is about pirates. It covers from the first ones to modern ones (sea faring only), but it mostly deals with the golden age of piracy and the time following it. It does have small sections on Chinese and Barbary Coast pirates and I learned that at one time the Knights of Malta where in effect pirates. (Although, today it’s all charity work and funny ceremonially outfits) Anyway it does include info on all the best known pirates; Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Captain Kidd, the Barbarossas, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Lai Sho Sz’en a.k.a. the Dragon Lady, and the actually dreaded pirate Roberts to name a few. It also has tons of information on what life was really like for pirates and the how and whys of becoming one.

Movie Quotes: The Princess Bride

- “When I was your age, television was called, "books."”
- “Probably some local fisherman out for a pleasure cruise, at night, through eel-infested waters.”
- “Inconceivable!”
- “You keep using that word. I do not think it means, what you think it means.”
- “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But, only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian, when death is on the line!"”
- “It's not that bad . . . well, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely.”
- “Have fun storming the castle!”
- “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
“As you wish.”

Super Holiday Specials!!

It’s that time again. It’s the start of October and that means that it is time for the super holiday specials, that special time of the year when we celebrate with non stop holidays until next year. This year we have the return of holiday book reports, Halloween fun, Thanksgivingness, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas and other fun winter holidays!!! YAAAHHHHHH!!!!! HOLIDAYS!!!!!! (Ok, we have it out of our systems now.)

Holidays in October:

1- 15 second half of Hispanic Heritage Month
1 – 31 AIDS Awareness month
Breast Cancer Awareness month
Chili Month
Family History Month
Polish American Heritage Month
1 End of Rosh Hashanah
Eid ul-Fitr
Hari Raya
World Vegetarian Day
2 World Farm Animals Day
3 Diversity Day
Music Lovers Day
4 Feast of St. Francis
Taco Day
World Animal Day
Vodka Day
5 World Teachers’ Day
6 Druga Puja
Children’s Day
7 Chung Yeung Festival
8 Yom Kippur
9 Drussehra
Leif Erikson Day
12 Clergy Appreciation Day
13 Canadian Thanksgiving
Columbus Day
Sukkot
17 Black Poetry Day
18 Karva Chauth
Sweetest Day
19 Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day
21 Simchat Torah
23 Mole Day
24Black cat Day
International Forgiveness Day
United Nations Day
28 Diwali
29 Internet’s Birthday
30 Bhai Dooj
Candy Corn Day
31 Halloween
Samhain
Magic Day

Book Count: September

Number of books read: 11
Pages read: 2794
Average number of days to read a book: 3
Average number of pages read in a day: 93
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 19

A Book in Review - America Eats!

Book count: 81

America Eats! by: Pat Willard
Non-fiction: food, history 290 pages 2008

This book is the story of one writers attempt to find the foods and celebrations that were written about in an unpublished book called " America Eats!" that was being written during the Great Depression as part of the WPA. The WPA was the works progress administration that was one of the groups set up by the government to provide jobs to people during the Great Depression. The America Eats! project was an attempt to create a book on the different regional dishes and celebrations of America without being a cookbook or about foreign foods. As such, it was a very limited look as American food including much off the prejudices of the day. Also as it wasn't finished a large part of the work was never sent in to Washington, and is either in state or local archives, in the writer's possession, or lost. Working with what was in the national archives the author found a number of the events still happening and a number long gone. She included some recipes and stories of her own.

A Book in Review -the Mullet

Book Count: 80


the Mullet: Hairstyle of the Gods by: Mark Larson & Barney Hoskyns
Non-fiction: humor, fashion 128 pages 1999

This is a book on all things mullet and mullet like. It includes the history of the mullet starting with the dawn of civilization. It also brakes down the different styles of mullets. And has a comic of Milletman interspersed in it's chapters. It was a fun read.

A Book in Review -Alligators in the Sewer and 222 other Urban Legends

Book Count: 79

Alligators in the Sewer and 222 other Urban Legends by: Thomas J. Craughwell
Non-fiction: pop culture 280 pages 1999

This book is a collection of urban Legends. Most of them were well known, for a few ones that have been around for centuries it was noted when the story started. For everything else there is no information. One or two are based on stories found to be true from other experts on urban Legends and/or modern myths. A number I do not think belong in this book as they are not really urban legends. For example there is a part on aliens that talks about crop circles. Which are real, the only question is who / how they are made. And the part wasn't about stories about how they were made so much as that they are. Over all it is not a book I would recommend.

A Book in Review – The Catholic Verses

Book Count: 78

The Catholic Verses : 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants By: Dave Armstrong
Non-fiction: Religion, Bible study, apologetics 225 pages 2004

First, I like that this book was written with a realistic goal in mind, that goal being to hopefully create understanding for Protestants on where in the Bible various things deemed Catholic come from. (A number of the things talked about some Protestant groups would agree with already like the role of baptism and a few only reasontly have Protestants and Catholics started disagreeing on like contraception.) It also reminds Catholic reader of the problems with any attempt to talk with other Christians on these things. And does so in a fair way, by pointing out while some people will not agree with you on anything just because its what Catholics think and there for is automatically wrong, many are just used to understanding things a certain way, making it hard for them to see what your ideas are. (I found this especially nice having to deal many times with the second issue and a few with the first. My favorite one being some one who argued that Bible quoting wasn’t even to be used in showing what you believe as anyone could randomly throw out quotes, not that I was misinterpreting the Bible, just in her “Just Jesus and me, faith alone” mindset even the Bible was suspect if it didn’t agree with her.) It also set about to use 95 passages as a sort of response to Martin Luther’s 95 thesis, so many of that number are supporting text that most people agree on the meaning that use the same word, style, or mirror the text in question to show that a consistent translating or understanding would mean X. (X being the Catholic idea on what this means.) It also quotes the leaders of the Reformation a lot, which is where it gets a bit confusion, as sometimes the quotes are used to show modern Protestant thought on a subject and sometime to show that even the leaders of the Reformation agreed with Catholic thought on a passage. The book is divided into 16 chapters, each covering an area of disagreement. Those areas are: the church, divisions and denominationalism, Bible and tradition, the Papacy, justification and salvation, judgment and good works, baptism, the Eucharist, penance, the communion of saints, relics and sacramentals, purgatory and prayers for the dead, Mary, clerical celibacy, divorce and contraception. And because as soon as I saw the book, I had to ask “So, what are these verses, besides the book of James and a good part of the 6th chapter of the Gospel of John?” Here are some of them if you are curios too. (Note: I’m writing this while feeding the baby, so it’s possible I’ll typo a number or two. If you turn to a passage and it doesn’t seem to relate to anything, that’s most likely a typo.)
Acts 16:4, Galatians 1:1-6, John 17:20-23, Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, Acts 8:27-31, 2 Peter 1:20, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Matthew 16:18-19, James 2:24, Luke 18:18-25, Philippians 2:12-13, Hebrews 5:9, Matthew 7:16-27, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Acts 16:3, John 3:5, Luke 22:19-20, John 6:47-66, Matthew 26:27-28, 1 Corinthians 10:16, Romans 8:17, Hebrews 12:1, Revelation 6:9-10, 2Kings 13:20-21, Acts 19:11-12, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Timothy1:16-18, Luke 1:28, Matthew 19:12, Matthew 19:9, Genesis 38:9-10.

A Book in Review – The House That Cleans Itself

Book Count: 77

The House That Cleans Itself: Creative Solutions for a Clean and Orderly House. . . in Less Time than You Can Imagine! By: Mindy Starns Clark
Non-fiction: household tips, spirituality 234 pages 2007

This is a book for people that need Divine Intervention in order to clean there house. (Really, it has more Bible quotes and talking about God then a number of books of religious fiction.) Also, even after setting everything up it in no way is a self cleaning house. It requires more cleaning then many people with clean houses do, but teaches you to do it faster and more effective. It also points out how to make your house look cleaner then it is. For example arranging a room so that when you first walk in you see the cleaner things first so that by the time you see the messier parts in your mind you are already thinking, “This is a clean room.”

A Book in Review – The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions

Book Count: 76

The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions By: Kenji Kawakmi translated by: Dan Papia
Non-Fiction: humor 303 pages

This book is all about Chindogu, which is a word invented by the author to explain inventions that are real, work, seam like a good idea at the time, but are for all practical purposes useless. These are things like a solar powered flashlight and a giant Swiss Army Knife like tool for gardening. This book looks at 200 such things including a picture or two of the item working and information on it. Most of the items were comically useless. One or two had a note that they may not be Chindogu as they have heard of people actually selling the item which makes it no longer a Chindogu. One thing, the telescoping spoon, actually seamed like a useful thing. There is also an International Chindogu Society made up of people that make these things for fun.

A Note to Self: Fletch, Too

Book Count: 75

Fletch, Too, By: Gregory McDonald
Fiction: Mystery 249 pages 1986

First, although the title may make you thing it, it is not the second book of the series it is well into the series. And from what I remember of the movies, this takes place before them. In this book investigator reporter Fletch gets married and goes on his honeymoon. First, the wedding was a one of a kind memorial event; in which, the groom shows up late wearing jean, most everyone but him kisses the bride and he ends up leaving with his mother. Oh, and he gets a letter from his father that he thought died when he was a baby asking to meet him in Kenya. And from there things start to get odd.

¾ of the way there!!

Although we at Weird News B.N.I. are not the best with math, as we just finished our 75th book of the year it appears that we only have 25 more books to read and 3 ½ months to read them in!!!! YAHHHHH!!!!! After reading that many books we have waaaayyyy too many facts and information in our heads and so the last 25 books shall all be about fashion and pirates! Just kidding, although we may enjoy some lighter reads now that we know everything we ever wanted to know on global economics and Victorian politics. Anyway, we just thought we’d post an update on how things are going.

A Book in Review -you're too Smart for This

Book count: 74

You're too Smart for This: Beating the 100 Big Lies about Your first Job By: Michael Ball
Non-fiction Business, advice 330pgs. 2006

This book was designed for people getting out of school & starting their first "real" job in an office. It both made me glad to not be the people in the book & miss the fun of hating your job. It has information on all aspects of being a cube dweller, It is also full of fun, useful quotes from every one from Mark Albion to Zig Ziglar . And other tidbits of information on business.

A Book in Review – Setting Limits with your Strong-Willed Child

Book Count: 73

Setting Limits with your Strong-Willed Child: Eliminating Conflict by Establishing CLEAR, Firm, and Respectful Boundaries By: Robert J. MacKenzie, Ed.D.
Non-fiction: parenting, psychology 264 pages 2001

This book was helpful. Although, like most parenting books the author seams to think that their idea will work much better then it realistically would in the real world it does point out that there will be issues with starting this and it may take 3-4 months until your children act like the examples he gave of how well it works. Plus, it requires less work then most any other method you are using that isn’t working, so at the very least it’s easier. The main idea of the book is that most people learn ineffective methods of disciplining kids from their childhood and repeat them. Either they are permissive and have kids that don’t do what they want or they are punitive and have kids that hate and/or fear them or they do both. This book is about getting kids to do what you want in a way that is respectful to them. This is done mainly by clearly stating what to want them to do, what will happen if they don’t do it once and then following threw when they don’t behave with punishments that make sense and are not too weak or harsh. An example would be telling a child to pick up their toys on the living room floor before dinner starts at 6 or they will be taken away until Saturday and at 6 putting all toys on the floor in a box. (Like I said earlier at least it is not a lot of work to do this method.) It also getting into teaching kids problem solving and child psychology.

A Note to Self: The Black Cauldron

Book Count: 72

The Black Cauldron By: Lloyd Alexander
Fiction: fantasy/ youth, 229 pages

Reading this book as an adult makes one see even clearer why this book is a Newbery award winning book. Without even reading the other books in the series one is quickly drawn into the storyline and the rules of its world. It would be a great book for a kid to read that loved the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, but is not quite up to the reading level to read that series.

A Book in Review – Looking for Anne of Green Gables

Book Count: 71

Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic By: Irene Gammel
Non-Fiction: Biography 262 pages 2008

This book is a biography of L. M. Montgomery told threw the lens of finding the true history of how “Anne of Green Gables” came about. It is well researched with numerous notes at the end of the book. In it we learn about events in the authors life that affected the book, including the most important fact the she personality knew a girl orphan that was placed with a family that were expecting a boy. It also goes into other things that she read that affected the work. (Apparently, Ann was the it name for orphans at that time.) And it includes information about how that work affected other things such as; how orphans were treated and Canadian pride. Also, it includes the required speculation for all dead authors that they were secretly gay. (Excluding, openly gay authors who must be implied that they were crazy or addicted to something.) Anyway, Victorian women did a lot of things that make them look like they were lesbians today including: sleeping in the same bed, spooning, writing love poetry to each other, holding hands, and pledging themselves to each other. Anyway, back on topic, this book as you may have already guessed goes into her relationships with people and how that ended up in the book too. Over all it would be an interesting read for any adult lovers of the book who doesn’t mind hearing negatives about the writer.

Happy Labor Day!!!

And remember only one month untill the Super Holiday Specials!!!

Book Count: August

Number of books read: 9
Pages read: 2225
Average number of days to read a book: 3
Average number of pages read in a day: 72
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 30

A Note to Self: The Seven Dials Mystery

Book Count: 70

The Seven Dials Mystery By: Agatha Christie
Fiction: Mystery, 184 pages

This book is one in which none of Christie famous detectives solve the mystery. The main detective in the book is Bundle a young, rich lady whose father owns the estate where the murder mystery starts. It was full of twists in the story and left you with plenty of clues along the way.

A Note to Self: What your Kindergartner Needs to Know

Book Count: 69

What your Kindergartner Needs to Know: Preparing Your Child for a Lifetime of Learning Edited by: E.D. Hirsch, Jr. and John Holdren
Non-Fiction: education, parenting 278 pages 1996

We read this book to get ideas of what things our oldest could be working on this year to be ready for kindergarten. And we found either she already knows it (or is learning it) or it is something that we would never think to teach at this age. For example: under things she already knows/ is learning is counting, ABC’s, writing their name, how plants grow, basic music and art concepts, and types of weather. Things that I would never think about teaching includes, subtraction, geography (although she can find some places on a map already, it wasn’t from trying to teach geography so much as pointing out where we were going on a trip or where people she knows lives), biographies of famous people, and history. (And I know, I out of all people should be into teaching her history, but in school we didn’t really start that until the 5th grade beyond learning about the First Thanksgiving every year.) The book also had a number of places to get more information or things to use in teaching on a subject, making it an overall useful book.

A Note to Self: The Anubis Slayings

Book Count: 68

The Anubis Slayings By: P.C.Doherty
Fiction: Mystery, historic 308 pages 2000

Yes, we will keep reading historic mysteries until you come up with something better! Actually, the last two books we read were non fiction and the next one will also most likely be as well, we just would like to hear some POSITIVE feedback from you now and then. OK, ranting over. . . This book takes place during the rein of Pharaoh Hatusu, one of Egypt’s few women Pharaohs. And it is a story of murder, theft, and political intrigue. It was a page turner of a book; however, it is one where you don’t need to try to find out what happened, the author doesn’t give you all the pieces that you need ahead of time. But, they do make it clear that they are doing that at points in the book, so you feel less cheated about it.

A Book in Review: How to Brew

Book count: 67

How to Brew: Everything you need to know to brew beer right the first time By: John J. Palmer
Non-fiction: how to, cooking 317 pgs 2006

This book tells you everything that you need to know in order to make beer at home and then some. It covers using pre-made liquid or powder malt extracts to using only grains with everything in between. It deals with different styles of both ales & lagers. It includes all the formulas & math you would need to make your own beer as well as recipes for the major types of beers. There is also information on how to make different tools you may want to make better beer.

A Book in Review: The Cheap Book

Book Count: 66

The Cheap Book: the official guide to embracing your inner cheapskate by: Robin Herbst & Julie Miller
Non-fiction 210 pgs 2008

This is a book on different ways one can save money by acting cheap, reusing things. & making do with what you have. It is also about living green. It has info on how to save money and resources along with interesting facts on saving energy, trees and other things. There are also funny stories on failed attempt on being cheap.

Slow month

August must be a slow month for blogging. Not only have we at weird News B. N.I. been having a hard time getting around to blogging, but all of the blogs we read are not writing as often. It makes sense that our friends that are getting married this month are a bit busy with other things, but blogs that are normally posting every day are doing so only once or twice a week. And our pastor hasn't posted since the middle of last month. So august must be a big month for funerals as that is usually the reason why he doesn't blog when there are things going on that he world usually write on. (Like China not letting Bibles into the country.) Anyway we were just wondering if we were the only ones who are seeing a lack of blogs this month. (Also, we are claiming preschooler who WILL NOT sleep as our excuse. Which you would thing would help with the reading of books, but at a certain level of tiredness letters no longer make sense.)

P.S. We are working on writing post using a tablet as we can then write in bed, but it does cause more typos as it can’t read our handwriting well, so we apologies for any typos that we miss.

A Book in Review – Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society

Book Count: 65

Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society By: Adeline Yen Mah
Fiction: Historic, youth 229 pages 2005

This is the story of a girl living in China during WWII. She lives with her dad and his girlfriend who hates her. As her name is the same as the girl in China’s version of Cinderella and she basically has an evil step-mother, her English name is Chinese Cinderella or CC for short. One day after she is kicked out of her home for upsetting her father’s girlfriend she joins up with a group called the Dragon Society of Wandering Knights. With them she finds a place that she is happy and an adoptive family. She learns Kung Fu and becomes part of the Chinese resistance against the Japanese. She also helps out downed American pilots that were part of the Doolittle Raiders. (An actual group in WWII.) This book also ends with historical information and also has the Chinese zodiac, glossary of Chinese words and phrases and a bibliography.

A Note to Self: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie

Book Count: 64

Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell By: Kristiana Gregory
Fiction: historic, youth 161 pages 1997

OK, this is another kids book that wasn’t a rereading of an old favorite like I was planning to do. By the time this book came out I was busy trying to get threw “War and Peace” and Shakespeare, but I had wanted to read this series for a while and after watching “Last Comic Standing” I just couldn’t resist the book on the Oregon Trail. Although, they didn’t cure typhoid with bacon in this book, they did have a lot of experiences that were more historically correct: both fun and sad. In fact I would say it has a good mix of things for a book that kids would read. It was not unrealistically upbeat. They dealt with many of the harsh realities of that time. But it was not so over the top that it was just depressing. Also, I somewhat like the way the book is set up as if it was non-fiction with the actual author information in the back as you almost have to stop and remind yourself that it is fiction as you read along. As the title states it is the story of a girl on the Oregon Trail. It takes place in 1847 when the trail was not brand new, by not so old as to have many bridges, forts and other niceties. She is 13 and the oldest living child in her family. (Her sisters died the year before due to swamp fever.) She along with her parent, little brothers and an aunt and uncle travel the trail. Along the way she makes friends, meets Indians, deals with dangers and sees people die and be born. After the story is historical information and pictures.

A Note to Self: The Murder of Roger Ackoyd

Book Count: 63

The Murder of Roger Ackoyd By; Agatha Christie
Fiction: Mystery 255 pages

Note: DO NOT read this if you don’t want to know who the killer is.

Now I know where Colombo learned the solve crimes. Although the answer to the case it right in front of you the whole time, it is written so that you don’t seriously think of it even being a possibility until the end of the book. Also, in the edition I read the editor was nice enough to translate much of what Hercule Poirot says in French, which was nice.

A Book in Review – Buried Alive

Book Count: 62

Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear By: Jan Bondeson
Non-Fiction: history, medicine 282 pages 2001

As the title states this book is about the history of people being buried alive. It chronicles times when this fear was they highest, why it was so and what people did about it. There is also information on common buried alive myths and themes and books that use them. Including much on the works of Poe and even how Romeo and Juliet is a retelling of a popular story told long before Shakespeare. It also deals with how people could tell if one was dead at different times and how that affected this fear. Also I learned that taphophobia is the irrational fear of being buried alive.

Book Count: July

Number of books read: 11
Pages read: 3122
Average number of days to read a book: 3
Average number of pages read in a day: 101
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 39

A Note to Self: Photographing Your Baby

Book Count: 61

Photographing Your Baby: Tips for Taking Great Pictures By: Derek Doeffinger et al.
Non-fiction: photography, art 139 pages 1984

This is a book of tips on taking photos of babies. As it is so old some of the advice is less then useful as most people don’t use film anymore, but a lot of it was on the design of pics. and making sure things like lighting is right. It also has advise on getting babies to cooperate, my favorite advise being “Practice with cats; they are independent, not always cooperative, and very photogenic.” as they are almost as hard to photograph as kids.

A Book in Review – A Tale of Two Sons

Book Count: 60

A Tale of Two Sons By: John MacArthur
Non-Fiction: Religion, bible study 210 pages 2008

This book is an explanation of the message of the Bible parable most often referred to as “the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” (Which can be found in Luke 15:11-32.) It goes into detail for each part of the story: what it would have meant in the time and place it was told, along with analyzing the meanings of the words used in the Greek that the first copies of it we have was written in.

A Book in Review – Scattered Poems

Book Count: 59

Scattered Poems By; Jack Kerouac
Non-Fiction: Poetry 74 pages

This book reads exactly like how you would expect it to read, like it was written by some one who was stoned. Some of it is all deep and intellectual and some is just odd.

A Book in Review – My Cousin the Saint

Book Count: 58

My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles By: Justin Catanoso
Non-Fiction: religion, biography, memoir 332 pages 2008

First, the author’s cousin is not a saint. His grandfather’s cousin is, making him his third cousin; however, when he said he was a saint he meant an official canonized saint. And as it was his grandfather who moved to America’s cousin he knew nothing about his saintly cousin until after he died and was in the process of becoming officially declared a saint. Because of this the book has a lot of good information on how one gets to be officially a saint. (Other religious information is not so good. See next sentence.) It is also the story of a man with no real faith or knowledge of where his family came from dealing with finding out that he has a saint for a relative along with a large number of very loving and friendly living Italians. It includes lots of information on the life and miracles (official and non) of St. Padre Gaetano Catanoso. It is also the story of the authors wrestling with the idea of faith as he goes threw highs and lows in his life. (Note for people looking for a touching conversion story: this book is not it. By the end of the book he isn’t necessary even Christian, he is still looking for his answers to his question on faith.)

A Book in Review – The True Crime Files of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Book Count: 57

The True Crime Files of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle By: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Non-Fiction: crime 288 pages 2001

This is the story of the two real life crimes that the creator of Sherlock Holmes investigated. In both cases he was working to free a man he felt was innocent of the crime after having already been found guilty in court. The majority of the book was about the case of George Ernest Thompson Edalji, a lawyer that was charged with attacking animals and writing letters about his attacking of animals and threats of more crimes to follow. Although a lawyer, he didn’t bother to do as much defense in the case as possible as the defense thought it wouldn’t be necessary as he couldn’t have reasonable commented the crime. Because, first he had an alibi for the attack and at least one of the letters, he had no motive, he was not a violent person, and lastly he had vision so bad that he would be considered legally blind today without corrective glasses which he didn’t own at the time. (His vision was between -8 and -10 with astiginatism in one eye. Legally blind is now defined as having 20/200 vision [with any possible corrections i.e. glasses, eye surgery etc.] in most 1st world countries. This is about -2 to -2.5.) The second case is of Oscar Slater who was convicted of the murder of someone that he had no reason the know and or want to kill largely on eye witnesses that clamed to see him there. However, the means of getting the identification would not be allowed today, as they knew he was the defendant before being asked to identify him as some one that they only saw for a few seconds. Also in both cases he deals with the police involved’s prejudice of men seen as foreigners.

A Book in Review – A Tramp Abroad

Book Count: 56

A Tramp Abroad by: Mark Twain
Non-fiction: classic, travel 357 pages

I am glad that I never had to read this book for school! For starters this book just seams so long. It had tons of stories from others inserted in it, as if he was getting paid by the word and couldn’t think up enough on his own. It is part travel log, part humor book but most of the humor isn’t that good. Also at the end its like he got tired of writing because after spending pages on each city he saw it was and then we went here, here and here with nothing on whole countries that he visited.

A Book in Review – Getting Over Jack Wagner

Book Count: 55

Getting Over Jack Wagner By: Elise Juska
Fiction: romance, 332 pages 2003

This book is the story of a woman who only dates rock stars. Actually, they aren’t really stars and some are into other types of music but they all are musicians. It all started with her obsession over Jack Wagner in her youth and continued on until she is in her mid-twenties still looking for her perfect guy long after friend and family members have grown up and found love. It was a fun read with lots of 80’s pop culture references.

A Book in Review – The Chapel of Bones

Book Count: 54

The Chapel of Bones By: Michael Jecks
Fiction: Mystery, historic 421 pages 2004

This story takes place in the 1300’s in England and is based off, in part, of an actual murder that took place 40 years before this story. Like all medieval mystery books (or at least any that I’ve read) the story is a million pages long, but it keeps you into the story and guessing what will happen until the end. Also in this one you learn the formula for medieval swearing. Which appears to be 1. name referring to Jesus, i.e. Jesus, Christ, God. 2. body part with the general offensiveness of the body part or words used for it. i.e. ass is more offensive then butt, relating to the force of your feelings. As this is a book in which people have lots of strong feelings on things there are a number of things said that most people would never even dream of saying in public today for fear of angry mobs. At least, not together.

A Book in Review – Because Your Vampire Said So

Book Count: 53

Because Your Vampire Said So, By: Michele Bardsley
Fiction: paranormal, romance 302 pages 2008

This is part of a series of books (that can be read alone) on the town of Broken Heart. (To read reviews of the 1st two books in the series click here.) In this town everyone is not normal. Most people are vampires, some are werewolves and a few are kids who have vampire parents. This book is the story of Patsy, a single mom and hairdresser who was reasontly turned into a vampire. She’s dealing with how that is changing her life as well as a troubled teenage son. Also there is a demon after her and a prophesy that might be about her that is causing a division among the ancients (the 1st seven vampires, who are the most powerful.) She also is attracted to a werewolf; however, there are only 2 problems with that, one vampires and werewolves are not allowed to date and once a vampire has sex with someone they are bonded together for one hundred years and she is a divorcée who is afraid of commitment after her 1st marriage.

Famous Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Born: 1892
Died: 1973
Famous for: books, inventing fantasy and the 1st trilogy with more that 3 books

Quotes:
- If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
- The Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects the generally small reach of their imagination.
- All that is gold does not glitter; not all those that wander are lost.
- Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
- Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works...

A Note to Self: The Outlaws of Sherwood

Book Count: 52

The Outlaws of Sherwood By: Robin McKinley
Non-fiction (according to the library) novel: folktales 282 pages 1988

This is a retelling of the Robin Hood story. It included the main points in the most popular versions of the tale, but adds many story elements that make it a very interesting read.

Happy 4th of July!

A Book in Review – A Splendid Exchange

Book Count: 51

A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by: William J. Bernstein
Non-fiction: History, economics 385 pages 2008

This book is about the entire history of trade in the world, starting with the first towns and ending with thoughts on the current issues in trade. It does this by dealing with major issues and places of importance at a time and then showing how that affected the world. It also deals with different theories of trade and how nations should deal with it including statistics that should how were different theories work. It was informative, but very slow reading.

Book Count: June

Number of books read: 6
Pages read: 1624
Average number of days to read a book: 5
Average number of pages read in a day: 54
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 50

Famous Author: George Orwell

Born: 1903
Died: 1950
Famous for: Books, Essays, Communist pigs

Quotes:
- In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
- To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
- Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
- Big Brother is watching you.

Famous Author: Carl Jung

Born: 1875
Died: 1961
Famous for: theories of psychology, books on psychology, not being as big of a perv. as Freud

Quotes:
- Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.
- It all depends on how we look at things, and not on how they are themselves.
- Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble.
- The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
- As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
- I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God.
- All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.

Famous Author: Robert Frost

Born: 1874
Died: 1963
Famous for: poems

Quotes:
- Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
- A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.
- Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- I never dared to be radical when young
For fear it would make me conservative when old.
- By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.
- The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.

New Stuff!

As this year we are working on read 100 books, why not share information on famous authors too? And so we are starting a new grouping entitled “Famous Author”. Isn’t that imanagitive? It will be a short bit of information on a famous author and some quotes from their works and/or lives that showcase their personality and/or creative genus.

Famous Author: Dave Barry

Born: 1947
Died: in the future
Famous for: Books, newspaper columns, life being turned into a ‘90’s TV show, playing himself on TV.

Quotes:
- You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
- Life is anything that dies when you stomp on it.
- If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
- Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.
- Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.

Busy Week

Ok, so I noticed when I finally got to the computer today that I haven’t posted in a week. (Which might explain the fact that I’ve been averaging 0 hits a day to the page.) But, because I’ve been busy with non reading books things I have no new books to write about. So I thought I would take a break from writing on books for a while. (You know, until I have something to write on.) And do some classic type WNBNI things. Enjoy.

Gratuitous “Office Space” Quotes

As you may know, we at WNBNI consider “Office Space” to be the great work sucks movie and as such quote it over and over again for no real good reason. As we have gone months without quoting it, these are obviously overdue.

* “The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.”

* “No, not again. I... why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam? I swear to God, one of these days, I just kick this piece of shit out the window.”

* “The ratio of people to cake is too big.”

* “I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?”

* “I can’t believe what a bunch of nerds we are. We’re looking up money laundering in a dictionary.”

And of course. . .
* “And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...”

50 Books Down, 50 To Go!

For those of you keeping track of my attempt to read 100 books this year, you my have noticed that my last blog was book 50. As it is June, the 6th month of the year, that means I’m still on track to reach my goal! Yahhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Also, as I 1st said to myself that I was now “half-way there” and was watching VH1 reasontly, I have Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” stuck in my head. Not that I mind, it is an amazing song, from an album so great even I bought it. (Giving up money that otherwise could be spent on books.) But, I thought I would share with you, so you too could have the song in your head.

A Note to Self: Murder Can Spook Your Cat

Book Count: 50

Murder Can Spook Your Cat, By: Selma Eicher
Fiction, mystery 263 pages 1998

This is the story of a children’s author who dies mysteriously. The only one who saw her die was her cat. Her ex-husband, who was still friends with her, thinks that one of her step-daughters killed her for their inheritance. So he hires a friend who is a P.I. to investigate as they wait for the results of the autopsy.

A Book in Review – Pardonable Lies

Book Count: 49

Pardonable Lies By: Jacqueline Winspear
Fiction: Mystery, historic 340 pages 2005

This is book three in the Maisie Dobbs series. We did a short review of the first book here. In this book Maisie is still dealing with the demons in her past as she is asked the find out about the death of two soldiers who were apparently killed during the Great War. Also she is trying to save the life of a girl that is accused of murder.

A Book in Review – I’m Proud of You

Book Count: 48

I’m Proud of You: Life Lessons from My Friend Fred Rogers By: Tim Madigan
Non-fiction: memoir, biography 190 pages 2007

First, in case Jen is reading this, I still can’t stand Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. (Lady Eileen Fairchild is an evil witch living in a magic merry-go-round and nothing you can say will make me change my mind on that.) But, that being said, everything that I have ever heard about Fred Rogers the person said that he was a great guy and this book only adds to that. It deals with the authors interactions with Mr. Rogers and how it changed his life and that of his family. It includes actual letters, parts of interviews and the author’s thoughts in a narrative of the author’s life from when he first talked to Mr. Rogers until after his death. It has much information on the spirituality of this Presbyterian minister who saw his ministry in helping children. This includes favorite spiritual readings, why he went into TV, and his thoughts on prayer and heaven.

A Book in Review – Don’t Try This at Home

Book Count: 47

Don’t Try This at Home: Your Favorite Action Movie Sequences, Deconstructed, Demystified & Debunked By: Adam Weiner
Non-Fiction: science, physics, film 260 pages 2007

First, the back of the book promises that this book is “For film buffs and physics fans alike!” However, it is much more for physics fans. It would be a great book to read if you were studying for your SAT’s or a placement test in algebra or science at high school or college, but it isn’t really great for people who just like action films. It did have some useful scientific information in it, but as it had the formulas and equations for everything it talked about it was slow reading and rather boring. I did like the very end of the book and which it went over the rules of physics in cartoon worlds, as it was funny, and didn’t have and math problems to do in it.

A Note to Self: Unsolved Mysteries of American History

Book Count: 46

Unsolved Mysteries of American History By: Paul Aron
Non-fiction 354 pages 1997

This book is on various mysteries in American history. Things like the causes of the Salem witch trials, did Thomas Jefferson have a slave mistress, who killed JFK, Malcolm X and the Lindbergh baby and other things that people question the official answer too. For the shortness of each topic it did provide useful information and many other sources to read; however, a number of topics now have newer information that wasn’t out when this book was written. For example, we now know that the descendants of Sally Hemings are related to the descendants of Jefferson, so if she had to either be his mistress or that of a close relative and most likely was his.

A Book in Review – Why Do Men Have Nipples?

Book Count: 45

Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You’d Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini By: Mark Leyner & Billy Goldberg M.D.
Non-fiction: Science, health, misc. 217 pages 2005

This book answers the questions that you always had, but would never bother to ask someone for the answer. Questions like: “Why do people seem more attractive to you when you are drunk”, “Why are you hungry an hour after eating Chinese food”, and “Does hysterical blindness really exist?” In it you learn most likely useless information such as: if you are stung by a jellyfish, do not pee on it, that will only make it hurt more. It would also make a good gift to give your less mature friends as there are chapters on sex, drugs, poop/pee and TV.

Book Count: May

Number of books read: 10
Pages read: 2613
Average number of days to read a book: 3
Average number of pages read in a day: 84
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 56

A Book in Review – The Book without Words

Book Count: 44

The Book without Words By: Avi
Fiction: youth fiction, fantasy 203 pages 2005
Yes, this is another kid’s book that is not one of the ones that I was rereading. And so far although I said I was planning on hunting down some of my favorite stories from when I was younger I haven’t so far. However, this is an author that I read when younger and so I just wanted to see what else he/she/they (what kind of name is Avi anyway? first, last, initials?) were writing. This story is about an alchemist and his young servant girl and talking raven. He is trying to stop death using a book that looks empty, but that he can read. In the process he dies and the girl and bird must do something to prevent themselves from ending up penniless and homeless. The bird knows that the man knew how to make gold and the secret is in the book and so they need to find a way to read it. There only clue is something that he said about a person with green eyes.

A Book in Review – The Secret Life of Dust

Book Count: 43

The Secret Life of Dust By: Hannah Holmes
Non-Fiction: science, current events 204 pages 2001

This book is all about dust. From how it started the universe to how it could one day kill us all. It was very interesting, but also disturbing. I learned dozens of new ways that just breathing could kill you and the fact that in many cases there is nothing that you can do about it. It also talks a lot about what might be causing global warming, what might be counteracting it and how the science of dust is too young to say with accuracy what to do about it. For example, adding iron to ocean water increases the amount of plankton that eats up co2; however, it also leads to more funguses attacking coral reefs killing off coral and leading to less bio-diversity. Or that the color of dust and its local in the air depends on whieter it absorbs heat into the earth or reflects it back out into space.

A Book in Review – A Short History of Rudeness

Book Count: 42

A Short History of Rudeness: Manners, Morals and Misbehaviors in Modern America BY: Mark Caldwell
Non-Fiction: popular culture, history 243 pages 1999
This book is about people’s feelings that manners are in decline in modern America and what they feel about that. It also is a history of how manners and ideas about them have changed over time and what people have done to effect manners. It includes sections on manners in various parts of life ranging from chat rooms, parenting, formal events to race and gender considerations. It deals with the division between people that think manners relate to morals and those that think it is merely about being polite and/or proper acting.

Happy Give Me Gifts Day!!!!

(to me)

A Book in Review – Fast Food Nation

Book Count: 41

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal By: Eric Schlosser
Non-Fiction: current events 270 pages 2001

This book is on the history of the fast food industry in America and the world and how it effects the lives of people. It talks about both the things that the industry does on purpose to increase their profits, often at the cost of employees and customers and all of the unintended effects of creating the industry. It also goes into attempts to change their practices and issues of food safety, especially in meat.

A Note to Self: The Deeds of the Disturber

Book Count: 40

The Deeds of the Disturber By: Elizabeth Peters
Fiction: Mystery, history, Egyptology 289 page 1988
This is another book in the Amelia Peabody series. We have already reviewed a newer book in the series here. This one takes place in London and is centered around a mummy in the British Museum.

A Book in Review – The Year of Eating Dangerously

Book Count: 39

The Year of Eating Dangerously By: Tom Parker Bowles
Non-Fiction: cooking, culture 372 pages 2007

First, yes this book is written by Camilla’s son. This ruins anything about the normal country life and food he grew up with, as all your thinking is “Your step-father is the prince of England!” and /or “You look better then I thought you would.” Also, although it is an interesting book on the foods of different parts of the world, it isn’t that dangerous. The most dangerous thing mostly likely was the fact that he never learned and got hung-over all the time in strange lands when he needed to get up early. The fugu (blowfish) does contain a neurotoxin that can be deadly and hot sauces can make you very sick if it’s hot enough, you ate too much, or had stomach problems but, most of the foods are not especially dangerous to eat. So, although an interesting book, it is poorly named.

A Book in Review – Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty

Book Count: 38

Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty By: Tim Sandlin
Fiction 308 pages, 2007

This book is NOT a “I saw Elvis at 7-11” book. The idea is not that Jimi Hendrix is some how still alive, but that the youth of the 60’s are in their late 70’s- early 90’s and now in a retirement home/nursing home feeling the same anti-establishment feelings as their youth. And as the aged are treated much the same way. The main character is actually from Oklahoma and not an old hippie, but most of the others in the home were hippies. There are lots of references to rock, San Francesco and other parts of the 60’s culture and the story is a real page turner with humor, tragedy and twist and turns.

A Book in Review – Nerds

Book Count: 37

Nerds: Who They are and Why We Need More of Them, By: David Anderegg, Ph.D.
Non-Fiction: physiology 253 pages, 2007

This book is all about the idea of the nerd/ geek in America. It talks about what a nerd is to different groups and at different times in one’s life, the history of nerdome and how this stereotype is affecting America. Some of this information is not surprising, such as telling kids and teens that people who are good in math and science are losers who will never get laid, decreases the number of people who do good in school in math and science. Some of it was surprising, such as how people we think of as intellectuals like Washington Irving and Ralph Waldo Emerson helped the spread the idea of anti-intellectualism in America. This is a book we recommend to anyone interested in this subject, especially early teen and pre-teens that fear that they my be labeled as a nerd, so that they can use it to show their parents how they are ruining the next 6-8 years of their life by not getting them contacts, cool cloths or any of the other reasons that we wish this book was written 15 years earlier so we at least had independent proof that it was their fault that we were miserable in junior high and much of high school. (Note: if we sound bitter just blame it on the hormones, or learning that it could be someone’s fixable fault that all our friends [who were mostly our friends as they were the only people who would hang out with us] abandoned us at the start of 9th grade.)

A Book in Review – The Three-Martini Playdate

Book Count: 36

The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Happy Parenting By: Christie Mellor
Non-Fiction: parenting 143 pages 2004
This book was often referenced in a book we reviewed earlier this year, “Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box”. (click here to read) And so when we happened appond it in the library we thought that we would read it. It is in many ways a lighter, shorter, less data filled version of the other book. And so if you think you would like the first book you would like this one too. (Just, don’t have an actual 3 martini playdate, 2 well made martinis is more then enough for anyone to drink in one sitting, and if the playdate isn’t at your house, more then one and you’ll need a ride too. [Unless it is a really long playdate, or you are a tall, large male.])

A Book in Review – You Suck

Book Count: 35

You Suck: A Love Story By: Christopher Moore
Fiction: paranormal 328 pages 2007

If you read our review of another book by this author entitled “The Stupidest Angel” you know that his books are a little odd. (If not click here to read it.) This book is no different. It is about a young couple of vampires that know little to nothing on being a vampire and how they deal with getting blood, day light, their families, and former friends out to kill them. Also it is the story of a Goth girl who wants to be a vampire that becomes a minion (or onion, depending on who you ask) of the vampires. Other fun characters in the book are the Emperor of San Francisco, “the Animals”, a blue prostitute, a huge cat, an 800 year old bronzed vampire and Lucifer II.

Holidays in May

1- May Day
National Day of Prayer
Ascension of Christ
2- Holocaust Remembrance Day
4- International Firefighters’ Day
5- Cinco de Mayo
Children’s Day
6- Nurses’ Day
Teachers’ Day
8- World Red Cross Day
V-E Day
11- Mother’s Day
Pentecost
15- Clergy Day
17- Armed Forces Day
Give Me a Gift Day
18- Trinity Sunday
International AIDS Memorial Day
19- Buddha Purnima
21- Waitstaff Day
25- Africa Day
26- Memorial Day
29- Ascension of Baha’u’llah

Book Count: April

Number of books read: 11
Pages read: 2987
Average number of days to read a book: 3
Average number of pages read in a day: 99
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 66

A Book in Review – Freakonomics

Book Count: 34

Freakonomics By: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Non-Fiction: economics, life, misc. 204 pages 2005

As this book was a New York Times Bestseller you might already have seen or heard all about this book already. If not then the main idea of this book is to use data to find the hidden links between things and to see if common knowledge is really correct on different things. For example it looks at which is more of a threat to your kids: guns or pools and if your name has any effect on your life using collections of data and analyzing it. After reading this book I learned some interesting things and would recommend it to others. It was well written and included the data in a way that was not boring or dry.

Yah!!!

As it is about one third threw the year and we are one third of our way to our goal we are back on track!!!!!

A Book in Review – TCIGT Homeschooling

Book Count: 33

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Homeschooling By: Marsha Ransom
Non-Fiction, parenting, education, legal 297 pages 2001

This book has useful information for homeschooling and teaching kids age 3 to 18. It also includes information on where to get up to date information and help online and threw local, state and national organizations and groups. It addresses the main issues and questions that people have about homeschooling including: legal requirements, socialization, how a homeschool is set up (including information on all the major methods used,) and where to get more information and/or meet others who homeschool. At the end of the book are pages of appendixes with where to go for more information on any topic. I found the book interesting as someone that might like to homeschool for preschool (although, in a mini brag the little one already is starting to understand most of the concepts an average learning based preschool would teach. J ) And would also find it useful if I was looking into homeschooling or doing teaching in addition to other schooling for older children where the subject matter and rules may be more complex. Also, although like most homeschoolers the author has a set of ideas for schooling she presents information on several of methods and reasons to homeschool in a mostly neutral way. (She does note that the “school at home” method doesn’t work as well in many cases and it is clear that she doesn’t like that method; however, she does point out that it is good for some types of learners and gives info on where to get programs and books on that method.)

Baby Reminder:

We just want to remind our friends that we will have a baby soon. First, so if when they get the anoccement and go, “I didn’t even remember that you were having a baby.” We can be like “didn’t you read our blog? We mentioned it multiple times. If you told me about a blog you have, I would read it, even if it was on something I didn’t care about.” And second, to let you know that sometime soon we may not post for a while as we will be in the hospital/ getting use to a new baby in the house and just too busy to do too much. And thirdly, yes we will have a party to see the baby about a month after it’s born like in the past.

Yes, We know

You may have noticed that we have been reading shorter, smaller books for the last few books. This wasn’t done only to increase our number of books. It was only after picking out a number of books that we noticed that a number of them were shorter. And so we decided that we would read them first to help with catching up on our reading. But we are also in the process of reading longer books like we normally do. And we only need to finish 2 of them this month to be back on schedule.

A Book in Review – The Spy’s Guide: Office Espionage

Book Count: 32

The Spy’s Guide: Office Espionage, By: H. Keith Melton, Craig Piligian & Duane Swierczynski
Non-Fiction: science, espionage, humor 165 pages 2003

This book is written as a guide to office espionage using spying methods that were used by actual spies during the cold war. It is written by experts on spying and even has the forward written by an ex-KGB spy. Some of the information in the book could be useful even if you aren’t spying on your co-workers/competition. Some things require an additional note on how it is illegal to do on top of the first warning that some of the things in the book are not legal to do. Some things are perfectly legal.

Evil Post

This is our 666th post. As this post is there forth evil we will skip saying anything important in it.

Happy Passover!!!!!

Here are some useful links of things were has written earlier on the subjects.

To find out what else happened today click here

If you celebrate 4 20 and Passover click here

Happy Birthday Jenny!!!!!

A Book in Review – The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Book Count: 31

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster By: Bobby Henderson
Non-Fiction: politics, humor 166 pages 2006


This book is a little confusing. It starts out as a humorous book against intelligent design being taught as science, as it isn’t scientifically able to be tested. (Given as science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God.) It does this by pointing out that much like we can’t scientifically prove what caused evolution we can’t prove why gravity exists. The book’s answer: an invisible flying spaghetti monster that uses its noodley arms to push us down and who messes with test results to hide the truth of its existence from scientist. So far that all makes sense. (Really it does!) But then it becomes a book on the beliefs and practice of people who believe in the flying spaghetti monster, also known as Pastafarians. This part is funny and fun to read, but has little to do with the first part of the book, except in it’s use of science and math to prove the truths of the religion, such as the “scientific” proof that a lack of pirates is what causes global warming. (The flying spaghetti monster has a thing for pirates which is why it gets colder after “talk like a pirate day” [September] and Halloween [October], a day started by pirates according to Pastafarians, and a day people dress as pirates. The parts on why there are the increases of extreme storms due to global warming was actually “based” on how pirates sailing in the Caribbean effect ocean water temps and weather patterns.) It then ends with reconnecting to the first idea in a short two page letter to the reader.

A Book in Review – How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Book Count: 30

How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion, By: Daniel H. Wilson
Non-Fiction: science, military, pop culture 171 pages 2005

This book is written under the assumption that every sci-fi book, movie, TV show etc. is correct and one day robots will rise up and try to kill us all. It was written by some one that has degrees in robotics and who talked with experts in the field to find out what robots can do now and what we think they will be able to do in the future. This information was then used to show robots weaknesses and how one could survive if a killer robot was after you. Making this a book that is both informative and fun.

New Books:

Does anyone else have the problem that I do, you get a new book and then you want to read it right away, but you have a dozen other books that were new books before that you were planning to read first? What do you do? Do you read the new book right away skipping all the books before in order to enjoy the joy of a new book, or do you add it to the list knowing you would never get to finish a book if you went from new book to new book?

A Note to Self: The Joy of Work

Book Count: 29

The Joy of Work: Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-workers By: Scott Adams
Non-Fiction: humor 264 pages 1998

This book is all about having fun at work with out getting fired. It has a number of great office pranks in it. It was a fun read.

Tax Day!!

Today is the day taxes are due all around America. So make sure they are in the mail/e-filed by tonight. (Unless the government is going to pay you back money, then they don't care when you file.)

A Book in Review – The Truth with Jokes

Book Count: 28

The Truth with Jokes By: Al Franken
Non-Fiction: politics 307 pages 2005

This is a book about the 2004 election and the Bush administration as told by a liberal Democrat. First, I would like to say that I didn’t read this book because I thought I would agree or disagree with everything said. I on occasion like to read books of politics from both sides of the political spectrum just to see what they are thinking and why. And giving the way the current election is going, I thought it might be a timely read. That being said this book has lots of information on politics with lots of notes in the back showing where the information came from, but not a lot of jokes and many of the jokes are a lot cheesier then you would expect from a man who is also a comedian. The “Letter to My Grandchildren” at the end was funny, but only because it was written from a future where because the Democrats were elected into power, all the ills of society were fixed (in about 3 months). And even if they somehow got God to be their candidate for president that’s not going to happen, given free will and all. (Unless it caused the end of the world, but then the letter wouldn’t make any since anyway.)

A Book in Review – Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box

Book Count: 27

Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box, By: Ann Dunnewold, Ph.D.
Non-Fiction: Self-help, Parenting 285 pages 2007

This book is about not being one of those extreme parenting people who are obsessed with their kids and always pushing them in school or sports, setting up every moment of their day, and/or in some other way being overprotective and/or acting as if every action of the parent will determine the child’s whole life. It talks about why people act that way in this country, how ideas on parenting have changed through history and by culture and how unrealistic the idea of the perfect parent are. It then goes into how one can be a “perfectly good mother” using common sense, realistic expectations and thinking about what is truly important to you for your children’s’ future to raise kids. It was a well thought out, well reacurched, helpful and funny book on the subject of child rearing. It points out such things as although characters like June Cleaver are seen as the perfect model of a wife and mother the actress that played her left her own kids each day to be her and June didn’t do much of any actual parenting as she was too busy cleaning and cooking in high heals and pearls. Wally and the Beav were always playing on their own, doing there homework with out help and had to walk everywhere as she never drove them or even put them in any activities.

A Book in Review – Weird U.S.

Book Count: 26

Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets By: Moran & Sceurman
Non-fiction: travel, odd, history, paranormal 344 pages 2005

First, this book has little in common with the TV show Weird U.S. hosted by the authors. It has mostly bits on ghosts, demons and other paranormal things. For places that you could actually go to it doesn’t include enough information to find most places that aren’t already famous or in an area you know. Information might include a city or general area, but it has no listing of detailed directions. Also I wonder how big some of these ledgens are. For example, it talks about a haunted road in the area that I grew up in. I had never even heard of this haunted road. I looked it up and found it on a map and it is a large road given that the town it is in is an intersection in the country, but still I never once heard anything about it being haunted even growing up with friends from that town. The only thing in our area that was known to be haunted was a convent that was haunted on the second floor. Which, of course no one used the second floor of (being only the nun’s bedrooms) and it was moved when the church connected with it expanded, so it wasn’t a big deal anyway as by the time I was a teen most people kind of forgot about it. (Also, it is not in the book or even in “Weird Michigan”, a book of the same vein only just about the state, as ghost of little old ladies that most likely died in their sleep aren’t that interesting. And having been inside the building [as the first floor was used until it was moved, as it had larger rooms that could be used by groups.] it’s not a spooky looking place either.)

Picking up

As you may have guessed giving the number of new book reports, we are out of our book reading slump! And all it took was a small change. A while ago we decided to look at a different branch of the library for some books and had half a dozen in 5 mins. (And then we got sick and didn’t do much of anything for a week.) But, once we felt better we were enjoying every free minute of reading we had. (Which, was less then normal, see not doing anything for a week [Stupid Dishes!!!] but still we are working on catching up on our reading. [Only 4-5 books behind now!])

A Book in Review – I Like You

Book Count: 25

I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence By: Amy Sedaris
Non-fiction: how to, cooking, humor 299 pages 2006

One quarter of the way to 100!!!!
Anyway, about the book. This book was writing by the co creator/star of the show Strangers with Candy, so you would think that it is largely a humor book on throwing parties. But you would be wrong. This book has lots of good looking recipes and party ideas, factoids, and crafts mixed in with the humor. There are foods for all types of events including a large number of Greek recipes and tasty looking deserts and appetizers. It also has an informative section on rabbit care that you don’t get in most books on hospitality. The one downside to this book though, is that it is writing by someone that uses a less then detailed method of cooking, so some of the recipes are a little vague. (How much is “more flour then you think you’ll need”? a cup, a ton?)

A Book in Review – Evil Genius

Book Count: 24

Evil Genius, By: Catherine Jinks
Fiction: young adult, 486 pages 2005 8th grade reading level

First, this book has a shiny cover (soooo shiny!!!) And that is mainly why I read it. The book itself was actually good too. It starts long before the inside cover info makes it seam like it starts and some of the foreshadowing is a bit heavy, but it sucked you into the character’s world and it still had a lot of surprises. It’s about this young boy who was adopted and knows nothing about his real parents. His adopted parents aren’t that caring and added to that he is a genius who is lacking in social skills. He is put under the wing of a therapist to help him, but the therapist has plans for him using his abilities to become an evil genius.

Holidays in April

1 April Fools’ Day
6 Tartan Day
7 World Health Day
8 Buddha Day/ Hana Matsuri
15 Tax Day
19 Passover starts
Lazarus Saturday
20 4:20
22 Earth Day
23 Administrative pros Day
25 Arbor Day
Orthodox Holy Friday
27 Orthodox Easter
30 International Guide Dog Day

Book Count: March

Number of books read: 5
Pages read: 1572
Average number of days to read a book: 6
Average number of pages read in a day: 51
Number of more books to read to reach goal: 77

Happy April Fool's Day!