Sunday Coffee – Yes and No

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Thistle

Society teaches women to say yes. To everything. That is a very, very hard lesson to overcome.

I remember once, back in middle school, when we went through the drive through at some fast food place and they gave my mom the wrong order. She couldn’t force herself to go back to have them correct it. Confrontation was difficult for her. She didn’t make store returns, even when there were duplicate gifts. She didn’t answer the door when sales people came. She actually listens to telemarketers when they call, because she feels bad hanging up on them.

I tried to learn from all that, and I’ve done relatively okay. I can close the door on sales people and hang up on unsolicited calls. I can make returns when necessary. I definitely make sure I have the right food. At other times, though, I end up agreeing to things I don’t want to agree to when I’m put on the spot. A couple weeks ago, for instance, a local store called me about setting up some volunteer times. I’d gone to volunteer once at the request of a family member, and had to fill out a form while I was there. I didn’t really intend to go back – I have enough to do at home – but on this call, I allowed myself to agree to four shifts of volunteering that I didn’t really want to do. It took four days of anxiety and fretting to call back and tell them I needed to cancel and withdraw from volunteer duties.

It shouldn’t be that hard. I don’t know what it is about saying NO that is so difficult. It causes so much anxiety that it’s often easier to just accept the anxiety of whatever you’re saying YES to. Only when the YES anxiety outweighs the NO anxiety does it become worth it to decline (or cancel). And the whole thing is just ridiculous. I shouldn’t feel bad saying, “No thanks, I just filled out the volunteer form because a family member needed help that day.” But I do. And then I feel anxious about going. And then I feel bad about canceling. There’s no winning here. And this whole cycle is just stupid.

I’ve read about that one book about saying yes to everything for a year. I think I need the opposite. I need to just say no to everything for a good, long time and see what emerges from all that.

PS – I was mixed up on dates and wrote about Mother’s Day last week. So once again, happy Mother’s Day to y’all out there!

Posted in Wellness | Tagged | 7 Comments

Wellness Wednesday #52: Every Body Yoga

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Thistle

buttonEvery Body Yoga by Jessamyn Stanley is a book that tackles body image, the fundamentals of yoga, the history of yoga, and much more. I’m not writing a full review of this book because I didn’t read the entire thing. There’s a giant block of the book devoted to how to do specific yoga poses. Given that I’ve been doing yoga for two years now, I’m already familiar with these poses* and thus skipped that section. I read the rest, however, and feel like this is a really good book that more people need to read. Compromise: Write a not-review on my Wellness Wednesday series!

The book is segmented into five sections. There’s a general section on current yoga practice and the way the author isn’t exactly the standard model of what America thinks when they think about yoga. There’s a history of yoga combined with a comparison of the ancient practice versus the modern practice. This section also includes a guide to the different kinds of yoga currently out there, as well as a discussion on the full breadth of the practice (which includes far more than the fitness/poses aspects). Then there’s the actual poses laid out in text and photo. These are the ones I skipped, though I can say they are well done and I wish I’d had this book back when I started! Then there’s a memoir-like section tied in with various yoga sequences, and a conclusion section.

I think there’s a lot to be gained from the book. Some parts were more interesting to me than others. I’m not really much of a memoir person, for instance, but I loved learning more about the adaptation of yoga over time and the parts of the practice not usually tackled by modern-day classes. In fact, I want to get my hands on a copy of this book (I currently have the library’s copy) just for the in-depth discussion of the eight-limbed  path.** I like that Stanley included references to other resources, and that she included photography of yoga poses not just of herself, but of other people who may not normally fit the thin-blond-white-suburban-mom image normally in popular yoga portrayals. Additionally, she’s the first person who’s gotten me interested in trying out a personal fear of mine, the Bikram yoga class***.

On a more personal note, I find Stanley to be extremely inspirational. As a plus-sized person myself, it’s amazing to see what yoga can help a body to do no matter your size. I’ve definitely had increases in my flexibility over the last few years (see pics!), and I hope to increase that even more in years to come. I have a lot to learn, but people like Stanley give me a lot of hope.

_______
*Except the dolphin pose. I’ve never seen that one or been asked to do anything like it in my home practice. I definitely need to try it out.

**Haven’t heard of it? Neither had I before reading this book, and I’ve been doing yoga for two years now. I highly recommend either looking it up or taking a peak at this book. Stanley explains far better than I ever could.

***This involves doing over an hour of yoga in a boiling hot and super-humid room, which generally sounds like a nightmare.

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Top Ten Things I’d Like to See More Often in Books

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Thistle

I’ve been thinking about this topic, and I worry that this will be more of a “what I’d like to see less in order to see more of” kind of topic. Hopefully that’s okay. Because there are things that show up too often in books, and things that really ought to show up more. Here are my choices:

1. Friendships that don’t turn into romances. I don’t care if these are same gender, opposite gender, group friendships, longtime friendships, or new friendships. Just more non-family relationships that don’t have to tend toward romance!

2. This-world fantasy set outside of the US and Europe (especially Britain). Can we have some fantasy set in, I don’t know, Indonesia? Zambia? Argentina? Please?

3. Non-binary characters. I’d love to see some agender, gender-fluid, intersex, and other non-binary narrators/characters, especially in books that aren’t about that person’s non-binary-ness. Ditto for characters/narrators with non-binary sexual and romantic orientations. There should be more asexual, pansexual, bisexual, etc people in books.

4. Grey characters. I’m so tired of the tropes (which show up most often in YA) of 100% good or evil people. I recently quit reading a book after a character’s father was introduced as the cruelest person to ever exist. How about a father who is stern and believes in corporal punishment, yet also loves his kids and is simply doing what he thinks is the right way to raise them?

5. Situational antagonists. This is kinda vague, but basically imagine a book where the antagonist is not evil, where no one in the book is really a bad guy, but the situation falls out because the situation sucks, because events happen that cause bad things. Maybe everyone is trying to be good, trying to do right, but their actions come into conflict and cause bad things. I guess what I want to see is more ambiguous sources of conflict.

6. Pets. I don’t mean as the focal point of the books, but as part of the textured background of a story. Many, many people have pets, but far few characters do. It would be fun to have that touch of realism introduced in more books.

7. Cruise settings. Because really, I just love cruises as book settings, and there aren’t nearly enough of these.

8. Women confident in their sexuality. The narrator from City of Dark Magic is a perfect example.

9. Diversity. Race, religion, language, culture, heritage, gender, sexuality, body, ability, etc etc etc. Just more diversity. Especially in fantasy.

10. Happy, supportive families in YA books. I’m kinda bored of the absent-parent and dysfunctional family tropes in YA. I’d love to see more of the other kind, especially big ol’ extended families all living close together, or big families made up of biological members and adopted members. Blue’s family in the Raven Cycle books are a perfect example of this.

What are some of your book wishlist items?

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

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Sunday Coffee – Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Thistle

Morning to you all! I had a rough night – family emergency that’s now over and well but which resulted in very little sleep – so I’m once again keeping my Sunday post short. Hopefully there’s a nap or three in my future. That’s how I now plan to spend my Mother’s Day. Heh.

But in spite of that, let me just give a shout out to the other mothers out there. I hope you have a lovely day today. 🙂

ETA: So my brain is screwy. Jason’s been telling me about Mother’s Day plans for this weekend all week, but then it turns out it’s next weekend. So this is a week early. Happy early celebration to you all. Ha.

Posted in Personal | Tagged | 5 Comments

Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Thistle

Someone has been killed at a themed, costumed, school trivia night. There should be multiple witnesses, yet all claim to have not seen. Speculation abounds. Perhaps it was the alcohol in the punch that night, much more potent than it should have been. Perhaps tempers were running high due to the bullying in the kindergarten class. Perhaps it was the head lice that got everyone all riled up, or the French nanny, or the full moon. Certainly someone did it, and no one is talking.

Meet the community on Pirriwee Peninsula. It has all the suburban quirks you’d expect. There are the stay at home moms vs the working moms. The poor and the rich. The PTA parents complete with groupies. The gifted kids and the normal kids. And past all that, there are the secrets. Domestic abuse. Sexual assault. Bullies and affairs and lots of pointing fingers. (Trigger warnings for anyone who can’t read about those sorts of things!)

The story is told in flashback, going back about six months from the night of the Incident. Primary narrative focus is on three women: Madeline, a drama-loving woman sharing custody with her ex-husband, who also lives on the Peninsula with his new family; Celeste, gorgeous and rich at the same time that she’s spacey and jumpy; and Jane, single young mom new to this area with a lot of skeletons in her closet. Madeline and Celeste are already friends, and they draw Jane into their circle on the day of kindergarten orientation. Unfortunately, a bullying incident occurs during orientation, and a line is drawn in the sand, parents taking sides in a frisson that only grows more powerful over time.

This is the sort of story that tackles a lot of really important issues, placing them in and around the ridiculous squabbling of schoolyard parents. There’s humor in it, and also a lot of discomfort. Moriarty makes a very definite point of taking subjects like domestic abuse and sexual assault and exploring the grey areas that tend to blur the psychology of the whole situation. I can’t say more without going into spoiler territory, but I wanted to include a quote from a therapist character:

Domestic violence victims often don’t look at all like you’d expect them to look. And their stories don’t always sound as black-and-white as you’d expect them to sound.

The book also explores the psychology of women in today’s society, and what society expects from them. Another quote that really struck me:

That’s my point. What if I was a bit overweight and not especially pretty? Why is that so terrible? So disgusting? Why is that the end of the world? It’s because a woman’s entire self-worth rests on her looks. That’s why. It’s because we live in a beauty-obsessed society where the most important thing a woman can do is make herself attractive to men.

There’s more than that, but again, it would go into spoiler territory.

I really loved this book. I worried in the beginning that it would be too suburban-squabble for me, and there certainly are a lot of stereotypes played up here, but those just ended up being a vehicle for deeper issues. And I admit, I love the way it ended. It was probably too neat or whatever, but I just loved it. I definitely need to read more from this author.

Posted in 2017, Adult, Prose | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Wellness Wednesday #51: Well THAT didn’t work…

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Thistle

buttonBack in March, I happened upon an app in the app store that purported to be a food photo journal. This app was Weight Tracker Pro, and as I said in my review two weeks ago, the actual app ended up being useless. The reason this app caught my eye in the first place, however, was a statement about how just taking pictures of your food can help you become more aware of what you eat, and facilitate weight loss. Even after I realized the particular app was useless, I found other ways to track my food-photos. Some good came of this April nutrition challenge, mostly in the form of discovering the Rise Up app (also reviewed at the link above). Mainly, though, the experiment was a wash.

Here’s the thing. After years and years and years of weight/body/food struggle, I have a really good idea of what I’m eating. Taking photos didn’t help me to be any more aware, and it certainly didn’t help with weight loss. I got more out of the app that helped me to pin emotions to eating than I did with the photos. I was so hoping that a combination of photos and Rise Up would help me to lose – and to be fair, the two along with an increase in exercise did at least keep me level with no gain, which is something. But not enough.

Which means, once again, that I’m back to tracking. I long ago gave up using Sparkpeople for calorie-counting because their counter is very inaccurate and their program is clunky. I’m sick of My Fitness Pal because it feels very judgy, plus it gives you ridiculous low calorie goals to meet. About ten days ago, I started using Lose It. The tracker seems as accurate as MFP but without the judgy-ness. Also, while it has a calorie line instead of a range (I prefer the latter), the excess/under calorie amounts are put toward a weekly average, so that it’s the weekly total that matters more than individual days. Lastly, the daily calorie total is much higher (eg much more reasonable and sustainable over time) than MFP and changes automatically when you weigh in.

I began using Lose It in late April, and my nutrition goal for May is to track my calories at least 75% of the month (23 days). Hopefully the new (and better) way of tracking will keep me motivated to do this long enough for it to actually become a habit (and show results!).

As far as fitness goes, my April challenge was to complete the YWA 30 Days of Yoga challenge from January 2015. I’m almost there, and should finish up this week. Close enough. This month, my only goal is to complete 1500 fitness minutes (I’ve been averaging 1000-1100). Doesn’t matter what kind of fitness, just that I get it done.

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Sunday Coffee – Readathon Wrap-up

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Thistle

It’s Sunday morning. Readathon just ended. I’m beat. I stayed up until almost midnight because my audiobook really drew me in. Then after I finally got in bed, the hotel shoved a paper under the door in a very loud way that sounded like something had fallen off a shelf in the bathroom. Freaked me out and I had to get myself back into sleepy mode. (This is what comes of listening to horror into the late hours of the night, though to be fair, my thoughts were less about ghosts jumping from mirrors and more about rodents in the bathroom.) Anyway, a combination of a very late night and not being able to sleep in makes for a very exhausted Manda. Hopefully I’ll get a nap this afternoon.

Despite all that, I really enjoyed this Readathon. I’ll leave the details to yesterday’s post, which I kept updating throughout the day, and my Instagram feed, which thankfully I can leave in peace for a bit. (It always makes me feel weird to post multiple times a day!) The short version is that I enjoyed the book I read (Big Little Lies) and the half-an-audio (The Dead House) even if the latter kept me up late and possibly made me paranoid. And bonus – since I was at a hotel this weekend for the ‘thon, my husband and kids did one of the big jobs in our basement remodel (moving the water heater, including reworking all the plumbing/gas pipes). We all prefer they do these things when I’m not home to stress about them. Heh.

Alright peeps. I’m keeping this short. Y’all have a lovely rest of your weekend!

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Readathon: April 2017

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Thistle

It’s time! Readathon for April 2017 has begun. Just like last April, I’m taking a mini-vacation for this ‘thon. I’ve dragged my pile of books to a local hotel and will spend the day luxuriating. There will be walks and trips to the coffee shop across the street (assuming it doesn’t rain, which is an unfortunate possibility…). There will be audiobooks and mini-challenges and hopefully some good reading. I’ve been in a bit of a slump this month, and so have been reading slowly. However, I took that slump time and put it to good use, gathering about 20 books on my to-investigate list and previewing them all to make my Readathon pile:

Indeed, only four books made the cut. But that’s okay, because that means I didn’t have to haul 20 books out to the hotel and waste my time previewing them today! Instead I have four books I know I want to read! There’s a good mix here, plus I have some audiobooks on standby waiting for me when my eyes wear out. So let’s get going! Let me welcome all my fellow ‘thoners to the blog, and wave hellos to regular readers and the amazing people choosing to be cheerleaders! All updates will be kept on this post so that no feed readers shall explode. Thank you in advance to the lovely folks running this show. Y’all are awesome!

Updates

7:00 am – It was an excellent night of sleep so I’m totally ready to go. I have my first cup of coffee in hand, and I’m starting with Big Little Lies. Have fun everyone, and we’re off!

9:00 am – Book – check. Breakfast – check. (And thank goodness for bringing my own food from home because hotel breakfast? No thank you!) Coffee – check. Exercise – check. Off to a good start here. Loving Big Little Lies so far. The reading isn’t going fast, but I’m having a fun time checking in with friends and playing on Instagram and generally spreading my attention around this Readathon.

11:00 am – The only problem with hotels is never knowing when housekeeping will come by. I spent about an hour reading in the lobby only to have someone knock on my door fifteen minutes after I finally came back. Sigh. I told them I’d be out after noon. That’ll be time to head to the coffee shop and library! Big Little Lies is still in progress and I’m loving every page. Hopefully by the time I next update – likely midafternoon, since I’ll be out for awhile – I’ll have finished this one and be starting my next.

2:00 pm – Coffee shop break was nice and relaxing. Almost to the end of Big Little Lies. I don’t think I’ll get a whole lot read this Readathon, but I’m certainly enjoying my time!

4:00 pm – Well, the slump has hit. I’m not sure if it’s the mid-afternoon blahs, or that I really enjoyed Big Little Lies a lot, but there’s a part of me that simply wants to say okay, I’m done, time to nap. I read a bit of the beginning of two other books, and listened to a bit of audio, but nothing is really catching my attention, so I’ve set all those aside for now. I’ve got one book left to try before digging into my iPad for ebooks or into my backlog of audios. I might take a bit of a break first though before getting to it. And if this is the extent of my Readathon this time? I’m okay with that.

6:00 pm – Found a hit in the week’s Sync YA title, The Dead House. The audio is fascinating. I’m off to have dinner with my family, but hope to finish the audiobook tonight!

9:00 pm – Well, I’m going to fall asleep before this audiobook is over, but I made a good run of things. This will likely be my last update. I’ll keep listening until I’m too tired to go on. Heh. See y’all tomorrow!

7:00 am – Now, waking up at 6:30 after only a few hours of sleep is a bit cruel. Ah well. I’m updating my stats and mini-challenges below. It’s too early for anything but coffee right now. While I only finished a book and half an audio, I’m very happy with the way this ‘thon turned out. I had a blast, especially with the instagram challenge and my lovely hotel! Hope the rest of you had a wonderful time as well. Seeya in October!

Running Stats

  • Books: 1
  • Pages: 508
  • Audio: 6 hrs
  • Exercise: 100 mins
  • Cups of Coffee: 5
  • Mini-Challenges: 4

Mini-Challenges

Pre-Event Survey
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Rice Lake, Wisconsin. Quite a change from my last Readathon…

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Big Little Lies, which is odd because it’s the one I’m least sure I’ll finish. I have a feeling it’s going to be a love it or hate it book. I’m going to start with it though.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Does coffee count?

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
I’m a writer and stay-at-home mom to three teen boys. For the last few years, I’ve lived a ridiculously nomadic life, and I look forward to the day I can return to my home in San Antonio and settle back into my real life again.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
Sadly, I was unable to participate this past time, but I’ve participated in many since my first in April 2009. This time, I plan to take more social breaks to do mini-challenges and cheer my friends.

Instagram Challenge: For this ongoing challenge, please see my instagram feed. No need to cross-post all those pictures here!

Mid-Event Survey
1. What are you reading right now?
The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich (on audio)

2. How many books have you read so far?
Just one! Big Little Lies

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I’m really enjoying Dead House and hope to finish it before I get too sleepy.

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not really, unless you count the discovery that I just wasn’t into the other books I brought to the hotel with me. I’ll read them later, but just not today. Glad I found one to get into though!

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
Apparently, other than surveys and the Instagram challenge, I haven’t been much interested in mini-challenges. That’s new.

Closing Survey
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Excluding the “It’s 6:30 and I want to go back to sleep” hour, probably around 3pm (~hour 8-9) because my brain had a difficult time switching from one book to the next

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a reader engaged for next year?
The Dead House on audio kept me up much later than I usually would have gone!

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?
Nope! I liked the simplified format.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The simplified format, of course. 😀

5 and 6. How many books did you read? What were the names of the books you read?
I finished Big Little Lies and half the audio for The Dead House. I tried and put aside three other books that didn’t end up good RaT fits for me as well.

7 and 8. Which book did you enjoy most? Which did you enjoy least?
Big Little Lies the most. But both were good.

9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I’ll definitely participate again. Aprils are always easier for me since October is usually around my son’s birthday weekend. Regardless, I’ve been doing this for eight years now and I’m sure there will be plenty of ‘thons in the future! Maybe one of these days I’ll switch it up and join a non-reader role!

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Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Thistle

From Goodreads: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving? The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

I’ve been turning this book over in my head for days now, trying to think of how to review it. I couldn’t even think how to sum it up, and am instead resorting to the Goodreads synopsis. I suppose that for the rest of this review, I will have to resort to bullets.

– This book was amazing in every way. One of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

– I was amused to discover that technically there are spoilery things in this book for the Smoke and Bone series, only no one would identify them as spoilery unless they’d already read the full series. This is totally standalone, even though there is a tiny connection that will only be seen by those who already know its there. Lovely!

– Lazlo Strange is an absolutely fascinating character. He’s generous and kind and meek, setting him up to be a total stereotype in multiple ways, but at the same time he’s personable, witty, teasing, irritable, and grudge-holding. He has some of the best self-effacing humor I’ve ever read in a book, and he’s just all around likable without being annoying.

– The friendships and various relationships/interactions in this book are outstanding. The conversations in particular feel real, making the characters feel real, making more of a connection to the book despite it being set in an entirely different world.

– This is billed as YA but that’s deceptive. The characters who narrate are 17 at youngest and at oldest well into middle age. Lazlo is in his early 20s. Taylor keeps the gore to a minimum, and there’s nothing overtly sexual, but otherwise this would work well for both teens and adults. This has a very rich complexity and narrative, with many stories all entwined, and lots of thematic elements.

– I’m not sure if it’s me or the book, but I found the pacing fairly slow, especially in the first half. It wasn’t plodding slow or hard to read, more like I just enjoyed taking it one to two chapters at a time, and setting it aside for awhile. I adore books that do this and I never found it boring, so this isn’t a complaint at all.

– I can’t tell you how many nights I had dreams set in this world.

– I’m planning on revisiting the book via audio after the Readathon. There’s a lot of hints right from the beginning that don’t get deconstructed until the end, and I’d love to read through it a second time with clearer sight.

– Lastly, I’m intrigued about this world – and possibly others – and can’t wait to learn more in the next volume. Strange the Dreamer had the perfect end point: one climax over, a new conflict begun. And yes, I’m sad that I have to wait until next year to get to the second book. If you’re someone who doesn’t like to wait, perhaps put this one off until the entire series is out. If you’re like me, though, you should definitely read this one sooner than later. Again: amazing.

Reread via audio later in 2017: This was just as amazing on audio. Steve West does an amazing job, and it was great to revisit this world in a different format, which almost made it seem like a different perspective.

Posted in 2017, 2020, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Top Ten Instant Turn-offs

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Thistle

To counter last week’s bookish turn-ons! Once again, I talked about some of these last year in a Sunday Coffee post. Plus, anyone who’s been following me for awhile will know these already. But here goes – things that will immediately make me put down a book, or never pick it up in the first place:

  1. Drugs. I have a drug phobia.
  2. Vomiting. Ditto.
  3. Alcoholics and/or culture surrounding major alcohol usage, mostly because this often leads to vomiting (see #2 above).
  4. Vigilante justice. No. Just no.
  5. Glorification of criminal life in any way. I can read books where groups band together to commit criminal acts to undo a repressive government, or when people are forced to be criminals in order to live. But glorification of crime? Nope.
  6. Talking animals. There’s got to be a super-compelling reason for those animals to be talking if I’m going to read that book.
  7. Torture. Nope. Not under any circumstances can I handle torture.
  8. Excessive medical or other gore. I’m too squeamish for that, and I don’t find focus on all the gory details to be particularly useful for any book, frankly.
  9. Books that target/attack any particular group. Describing the villain by her disgusting fat rolls? Nope. Sexualizing Muslim women because of their “repressed” traditions? Nope. Narrator deciding a character is probably gay because of the way he dances? Hell. No. (All three of those are from actual books I’ve come across in my years of blogging.)
  10. Unrealistic swimmers. Yes, this is weird, but as a one-time competitive swimmer, it bugs me when authors don’t do their research. No, a kid cannot jump into a pool for the first time ever and nearly break the world record on his first swim. (Also from a book I’ve read, this one forced-to-read in middle school.)

As a runner-up, I have an auto-turn-off in audio narrators, too. I really, really hate it when narrators use highly stereotyped accents for characters. This is an insta-switch-to-print pet peeve.

PS – Can anyone guess any of the books I’ve referenced above?

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 14 Comments