Mandy at The Well-Read Wife decided to start a book club.  She loves Michael Ian Black and he co-wrote a book with Meghan McCain, America, You Sexy Bitch.  These two political opposites decided to travel across the country together in an RV to see what they could find out about the state of our country.  Mandy generously offered the first 47 bloggers who responded a free book for her first book club.  I was happy that I made the cut.

Politics can turn people off and divide people.  I certainly don’t want to make this a political blog, but will give you my political background so that you know where I’m coming from.  I grew up in a Democrat house and called the party my own through my college years.  After college I considered myself an Independent, mainly because I didn’t want any party to think they had my vote just because I labeled myself one way or another.  This past spring I wanted to vote in Ohio’s primary and the only one that meant anything was the Republican ticket so I had to declare myself a Republican to vote in it. I am most certainly a RINO – Republican in Name Only.  So, there you have it, my own 20-some voting years as a little bit of everything.  I obviously consider myself a moderate.  And actually, being a moderate in Ohio during a presidential year gives me a feeling of inflated importance when I listen to any of the news channels.  Or listen to the robocalls.  Or turn on the tv and see any commercial/ad.

I am only a few chapters into this book but wanted to participate in Mandy’s discussion.  I like smart women who speak their minds so I had a general sense of liking Meghan McCain.  I really don’t know much about Michael Ian Black, but I did like him in the tv show Ed a few years ago.  I actually liked Meghan more before I started reading this book.  I found her to be more ideological than I thought she might be.  Michael, although calling himself a Democrat, didn’t seem to be trying to rally readers to his party.  These are my first impressions and they are subject to change.

I’m choosing one of Mandy’s discussion questions to answer-

2. Michael’s Crocs? Hot or not?  (Michael wore Crocs and linen pants on his trip through Arizona)  I am choosing to answer this one because it is the easiest one of the five.  I love Gage’s Crocs and feel that Crocs are best on kids.  By best, I mean they should only be worn by children.  This may instigate more ill feelings than my thoughts on their gun control or “freedom isn’t free” discussion, but I’m willing to risk it.

I’ll be back with more thoughts as I read, but wanted to acknowledge Mandy and thank her for the chance to be a part of her first book club 🙂  If you have read or are reading the book you can be a part of the book club too!

I have a confession to make.  I love books.  I love to sit down with a book in hand, excitement over the story inside.  Before I start with page one I might skim the flap or back cover and I almost always read about the author first.  I’ll look at the cover, maybe check the publication date.  It’s a very tactile thing.  It’s a comfortable, happy feeling, holding a book in my hands.

I’ve never been one to need the next tech gadget so ereaders weren’t much of a temptation, but in the past few years so many bloggers have fallen in love (or at least serious like) with their readers and I started to pay attention.  I have a house filled to the brim with shelves of overflowing books and have deluded myself into believing that someday, one day far in the future, I will read them all.  Ereaders will not aid me in fulfilling that goal.

After my review of The Duke of Cleveland by Les Roberts I received a very nice email from Les and an offer to read his very first book from his publicist, Jane.  The only catch is that it was an ebook.  Well, I decided to have my mom download it on her Kindle and then we could both read it.

I’m not going to rush out and buy one tomorrow, but I did enjoy the experience.  It was nice to choose my font and background lighting and I loved the size of it.  I didn’t really use any of the features and since I was borrowing it from mom I really didn’t take the time to learn what they were. 

I won’t say that I’m a convert, but I am that much closer to buying one.  It will be a Nook though.  I’d be glad to hear any thoughts, good and bad, about the Nook.

My mom and I both read and we’re working on a joint review.  Stay tuned…

On Tuesday 32 people guessed in my What book is that? quiz and that makes 32 people eligible for a prize when this round ends in August.  I hope everyone comes back and plays every week since each week is a different kind of quiz.  I’ve posted the answers and will be scoring you all sometime this weekend.  After that you’ll show up on the Leaderboard.

What?  You’re just here to see if you won?  Okay, okay.  Here’s how the winner was chosen…

  And the winner is …

Alyce from At Home With Books! 

A $15 B&N giftcard is on the way!! Congratulations!! 

Thanks for playing everyone, hope to see you on Tuesday.

When I saw Carol’s post about Ohiana Book Festival I thought it looked like a lot of fun and then I saw it was the day before Mother’s Day and thought it would be a great Mother/Daughter day.  I know my mom will miss spending the day with Gage, but I’m looking forward to a day full of girl time and books.  There will be around 100 authors and 25 different panel discussions.

Carol (Carol’s Notebook) and I are planning  to meet up at some point and I hope that happens!

Monday is World Book Night and I’ll be passing out 20 copies of The Glass Castle to light/non-readers.  I have a few ideas about where I’d like to pass out books, but am hoping you’ll give me a few more.  When I first signed up I had a neighborhood in mind and was thinking of places to pass them out (coffee shops, hair salons), but now I’m considering other options.

So, how are you planning on passing out your books, if you’re a giver?

If you’re not a giver I’d love to hear your suggestions too! 

I love lists.  When I started this blog over 4 years ago, I thought it would be fun to come up with a Top 100 list so I did.

My Top 100 movie list is more accurate than my book list because I rewatch favorite movies all the time.  The initial list took some time, but I feel pretty good about it.  Every month or so I try to review a favorite movie and before I do I watch it again and adjust how high on the list it should be.  In the 3 or so years I’ve been doing this, two movies after another viewing, didn’t make the cut.  This week I asked Jason if he wanted to watch #21 with me and he said yes, so over two nights we watched it.  And spent most of the time making fun of it.  I couldn’t believe it.  It just did not age well.  Alien was filmed in 1979 and it shows.  My memories did not match the movie at all.  I was so disappointed and will have to take it off my list.

So, has this happened to you?  Do you remember loving a book or a movie or a song and then when you read/watch. hear it again it’s terrible?

A Kansas win and I see Beauty & the Beast in 3D in my future.  If Kentucky wins I’m sure it’ll be 5 action flicks coming my way.

Let’s go Jayhawks 🙂

(I’m only half kidding about Beauty in the Beast)