Week 9_PRABE #7

I have to confess that I was out of town this week at my grandmother's house and forgot my backpack by the door at home. So, I did not have the books that I had planned to read in my down time with me. My grandmother's house is out in the middle of nowhere and the only books around are Jackie Collins novels. Forgive me for not being desperate enough to crack one of those; I just couldn't do it. There were a plethora of magazines, though, so I dug in to a few of those. Some were home decorating magazines and I admit that I only looked at the pictures. There were some People magazines and I did read some of those articles. One was about the Toddlers to Tiaras kids. There was one mom that dressed her 3-year-old daughter in a costume modeled after Julia Roberts's prostitute costume from Pretty Woman. Classy and so appropriate, right? I also found out what designer I would wear if I became a celebrity and had to do so: Marchesa. They are just gorgeous. I didn't just read trashy crap magazines, though. My grandparents have years and years of National Geographic magazines in their home. I worked my way through a few of those. The one I really enjoyed was from 1986 and was about the Santa Fe Trail. My grandparents live on the trail and have wagon wheel ruts on their land to this day from the days of the great migration. Many of the things that the article covered were straight out of the Oregon Trail computer game that I played as a kid. Others detailed poignant personal struggles and travels and motivations of the travelers. There were amazing photographs and I thought about these people on my drive home as I looked at the landscape around me and wondered how it looked back then to the myriad of people that made that trip over a hundred years before me.

11/23/11 - 40 min
11/24/11 - 30 min
11/25/11 - 45 min

Week 8_PRABE#6

I did not have a book to read this week, but I did see an article about a book that I'd like to read. It's called Pulphead by John Jeremiah Sullivan. He writes a lot of articles for GQ and the initial article is here: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/books/201111/john-jeremiah-sullivan-pulphead-interview-daniel-riley?printable=true. It talks about his writing style and why his seemingly pop-based articles end up touching a cord with readers and being about more than their superficial topics. That article had links to four of his long articles that are included in the book. I read each of them on my lunch breaks at work this week. The first was about a Christian music festival and his own reactions to what he thought would be just a stock coverage piece. Another was about Axl Rose, who declined to be interviewed, so the author had to find another angle for the story. One was about The Real World cast members after the fact and he was adorable in his unapologetic fanboy adoration for them. The last one was about Bunny Wailer and his attempt at interviewing him and understanding his life. All of these articles were engaging and fascinating to read and helped me pass my lunch hours this week.


11/14/11 - 30 min
11/14/11 - 30 min
11/15/11 - 30 min
11/16/11 - 30 min

Week 7_PRABE#5

We spent twenty hours in the car this weekend traveling to and from a funeral, so I had a lot of time to read. Unfortunately, my children were absolutely rotten during this trip and none of them napped, so I spend less time reading than I had hoped and more time playing referee between them. *sigh* Anyway, I grabbed my husband's iPad to see what books he had downloaded on it. One was Punk Rock Dad: No Rules, Just Real Life by Jim Lindberg. We listen to a lot of punk music and his band is one that I have seen multiple times in concert. We met him this past May at a festival in Vegas, so I thought I would give the book a read. At first there were a lot of anecdotes and stories and I found the book enjoyable. It discussed meeting his wife, life on the road and becoming a parent. But then, it morphed in to a parenting/relationship book trying to give advice. I had to finally stop reading because he did not give any information or tips beyond common sense and the typical advice given in parenting/relationship books. It felt like he didn't have enough to say, so he started giving advice and it felt wrong and dull. I had heard others that started reading but then lost interest and now I know why. He's a punker and needs to write about his punk experiences from a family perspective instead of doling out platitudes and silly words of "wisdom".

11/10/11 - 55 min
11/11/11 - 60 min
11/13/11 - 30 min