Let's Put a Pin in This....

In management/administration, a favorite buzz phrase is "let's put a pin in that."  It means to pause an idea or train of thought to come back to later.  I have tried so hard to maintain my presence on this little blog, and it's just not working.  It started as a fun hobby and way to connect with other readers and has become a bit of a stress.  :(  Between the infant, the family, the full time job, the grad school... there are whole days when I don't read for pleasure.  (Isn't that sad?)  So I don't always have material to populate this blog.  I'll remain active on Goodreads, so you can find me there.  But I'm putting a pin in this blog for now.  Thank you, faithful readers!         -Marie

Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between by Lauren Graham | Book Review

This book is wonderful!  And it was released at a perfect time for me.  I had just come off maternity leave, during which I watched the original Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, so I was positively steeped in Lauren Graham.  Confession: I bought this book for my sister for Christmas... and read it first.  (I can't be the only person who's done this, right?)

I loved this book!  I quite literally laughed out loud while reading it.  In it, Graham covers everything from her childhood to the original Gilmore Girls to Parenthood to the new Gilmore Girls, and everything in between.  It sounds like a lot, and like it'd be a dense book, but it isn't!  It's presented like a series of vignettes, so you get snapshots.  You don't get buried in information.  I learned so much about her and her career.  I felt like I was spouting Lauren Graham fun facts for the next couple weeks after reading it!  Y'all, Lauren Graham is an actress/celebrity who has actual writing talent.

*Side note: I didn't really believe in "reading slumps" until this book.  I was slogging through another book, though, and just wasn't making much progress at all with it.  I picked up this one and read it in 36 hours.  The other book was a reading slump book!  I didn't recognize it, because I didn't believe in it.  Now I do!

*I purchased and then nearly immediately gifted my copy of Talking as Fast as I Can.

Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary | Audiobook Review

On Sunday night I wrote a 24-page paper for one class... tonight I wrote a short report for my other class... and that is why I chose to listen to this series on audiobook!  I needed lighter reading for during the semester!  However, there are layers to this book!  This one is probably the deepest of the series.  In it, Ramona overcomes many fears.  She's six years old, so she's starting full-day school for the first time.  With that change, her mother also feels freed to return to work, so Ramona has a different pattern to her day.  She no longer comes straight home to her mother; now she must go to a neighbor's home after school.  With that new job, the family is able to afford an addition onto their home and that means that Ramona gets her own room for the first time in her life!  Now she's sleeping in the dark all alone.  

As the title tells, Ramona discovers an inner strength and also learns to lean on her loved ones and overcomes her fears.  On Goodreads, there's a bit of the description that says that "Beverly Cleary has a real knack for the subtle emotional complexities of young children.  Never condescending, she sees children as real people with real feelings."  This sentiment certainly comes across in the books!  Even as an adult reading a book with a six-year-old protagonist, I still found ways to connect to her and share in her experiences.  The emotional descriptions took me right back to my own childhood.  And while yes, Ramona does overcome situations in this book that most children would relate to and also find scary, the book itself is never spooky or scary.  I recommend this book to anyone from age 6 to age 106!

As I mentioned, I listened to the audiobook of Ramona the Brave.  It has the same narrator as the first books in the series, who continues to do a good job of it.

*I checked out my copy of Ramona the Brave from my local library.