travellingcari's reviews
870 reviews

There are definitely more than two books about the city but my summer reading’s focus was: Pete Earley’s Super Casino and Andres Martinez’ [b:24/7: Living It Up and Doubling Down|285300|24/7 Living It Up and Doubling Down|Andres Martinez|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320396176s/285300.jpg|276797]. Both books are slightly dated in that they focused on the city’s late 90s/early 2000s boom, but with the ever changing face of Vegas they remain remarkably current.

Super Casino was the book I read first and is the one that I’d recommend to people as curious about Vegas’ history as the city’s present. Pete Earley was given complete access to the Luxor’s staff as they were renovating it in the late 1990s. However, the bigger story behind the Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus and the as-yet built as this book’s publishing, Mandalay Bay, is that of Circus Circus and the changing funding of Las Vegas.

Super Casino explores Las Vegas from the days of the “Midwestern Investors” aka the Mob and the Rat Pack to corporate sponsors, Steve Wynn and Celine Dion. A key part in both books that just made me said was Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage-one act I wish I’d had the chance to see before Roy’s injury and their subsequent permanent closure.

Forget the gangsters: Moe Sedway, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Tony “the Ant” Spilotro. Forget the Rat Pack: Frank, Dino, Sammy, Peter, and Joey. Forget the glamorous Sands hotel and casino where leggy showgirls suntanned alongside a swimming pool with a “floating” craps table built right in its center. Anyone who still thinks of Las Vegas as a holiday haven for pug-nosed mafiosos with bulges under their jackets and suitcases stuffed with cash, or as the scandalous desert playground of Hollywood’s rich and raucous, is living in the past. The legendary Dunes hotel and casino, built in the 1950s with loans from the Teamster Union’s Central States Pension Fund arranged by mobsters, was imploded in 1993 before two hundred thousand onlookers chanting “Blow it up!” Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire who once owned most of the big casinos in town, is now only a historical footnote. Liberace’s trademark candelabra sits in a museum. Elvis has been gone so long that tourists often think his legions of impersonators look more like “the King” than he did. The “old” Las Vegas is dead. A “new” Las Vegas has risen.

Some thoughts. Longer thoughts on my blog: http://travellingcari.com/2013/05/26/chubster-where-reading-and-weight-loss-intersect/

Anyway, Chubster, a “hipster” weight loss guide from a self-called hipster in Phoenix. I’ve really lived here too long if I think his hipster habits are completely normal and anything super hipster-ish, except talking at length at how the Chubster non diet is better than every other diet out there. Oh, and everything is ironic. No one ever just does something, they do it….ironically. That said, it was a fun, light, two-day read.

I really liked his start with calorie counting. As I mentioned, I decided to break from Weight Watchers this time and it’s always interesting to see others facing the same internal debate. I truly don’t understand the national fear of calorie counting, especially with the umpteen smart phone apps that will now do the math. I lost weight more quickly when I was doing WW, but I also had a lot more weight to lose then I do now. Of course I was going to lose more quickly. I also shared his issues with Points Plus. I don’t like it when weight loss methods change with the latest fads. If you stick with science* you understand what causes weight loss and how to “fix” it if you go off track.

You don’t have to worry about a company changing a formula or deciding that the old program (under which I actually lost 50 lbs) suddenly “wasn’t right” and needed blowing up to attract new members. Weight loss as a business is infuriating and, I believe, contributes to the nation’s inability to keep weight off. It’s OK to teach people about the current hot trend, but if they don’t understand the basics… the science, they’ll regain and spend more money on a company’s product.

The fact of the matter is, there’s nothing wrong with being fat. Or, at least there’s nothing wrong with you because you’re fat… It’s not a character flaw … But “happily fat” is not a sustainable…There was little chance I could plan to be indefinitely overweight and keep that little pink heart on my Facebook relationship status intact.

This was the part that resonated the most with me. It wasn’t a slurpee that got me — or someone pointing out the calories in a slurpee, but rather thinking I’d gained 5 lbs in four days. It wasn’t so much an ultimatum as a realization that I didn’t like that me. I look back at my Whys? and realize how different that person was, yet I still see some of her in the current me. I see some of Shauna in me. That won’t change. It’s how to get past that part of me. Oddly? when I refocused in January it was some of the same position — I felt horrible in my skin. I was done talking about finishing the weight loss and was ready to just do it.

Four doughnuts with coffee or one bagel with cream cheese and a skinny chai: your choice. Obviously I’m not saying that four doughnuts is a good breakfast for someone trying to lose weight; I’m just saying that a bagel and cream cheese isn’t any better.

The forbidden food thing he said he wasn’t going to do? I agree with him in the silliness around Weight Watchers’ “free” foods, but he’s doing the same thing here. Forget his silly gingerbread ban, but he’s saying avoid bagels because they’re high in calories — but go ahead and eat the frozen food that’s just as bad? It’s not that he (or WW) are right/wrong, but I think that in trying to prove himself “better” he also acknowledged the inexact science/”black magic” behind even calorie counting. He returns to his anti bagel quest later when picking the good/bad choices at a number of restaurants: No: The multigrain bagel is on the “DD Smart” menu, but it has 390 calories plain. Is a dry multigrain bagel really what you want for almost 400 calories? I doubt it. That’s the same as their eclair, and it isn’t anywhere near as delicious. Actually, I disagree, bagel > eclair any day, but also a bagel with peanut butter will actually keep you full longer than a sugar bomb of an eclair. Does a bagel compare to a more balanced breakfast? Maybe not, but to compare it to an eclair while arguing about the merits of Super Size Me? Come On.

One of the great things about the Chubster plan is that it lets you choose between Hi-Fi and Lo-Fi options, from the iPhone to an old-fashioned Moleskine notebook. Chances are, you cringed a little when reading either “iPhone” or “Moleskine.” That’s normal. Most of you will find one of those things indispensable (or at least desirable) and the other useless, annoying, and overpriced to the point of being

This is exactly why I don’t understand why people have such an aversion to calorie counting. You don’t need any tools, but if you are the type of person who prefers tools, there are a metric ton of apps for the various devices with which to do it. That’s part of why I don’t understand one of the primary criticisms of the Up. While an instant readout can be nice, syncing to phone isn’t really an issue and if you’re not the type of person who carries a phone regularly, these smart phone enabled devices probably aren’t the best fit.
One of the best thing about this book was his insight into the calorie counts for some foods. Some I knew, but for some I had the same challenge as he did in a) making healthy choices, b) finding the NI for non chain foods. For example, I still cannot find the calorie count for my occasional indulgence – a glass of Stella, so I was grateful for his type by type analysis.

the inability to eat 10 oz / 1500 calories of blue cheese dressing in one sitting vs. absent-mindedly consuming about the same as a dip is frightening, and eye opening. After a (tracked!) indulgence tonight it was horrifying to see how many calories are in so-called “appetizers”. No wonder the country has an obesity issue.
On the Americanization of food: Rollatini isn’t actually a type of pasta. It’s not even an Italian word, but in the American version of Italian food it means something breaded and baked. This is also the case with sushi — which in Japan lacks things like cream cheese and fried chicken – takes otherwise healthy or semi-healthy food and turns it into complete rubbish. Which is why you have to read what you’re eating, or as close of an approximation as possible. And speaking of reading, and tracking.
People bash McDonald’s, but they’re the motherfucking Gandhi of chain restaurants compared to the Cheesecake Factory. Now, taking the Cheesecake Factory back to the woodshed is the bread and butter of the Eat This, Not That series … so I won’t rehash all that, but it’s absolutely true that they sell salads with close to 2, 000 calories in them and you should avoid eating there on the Chubster. People assume salads are safe and McDonald’s, evil. While I don’t blame Spurlock as much as Cizmor does, I do think the media has gone after fast food in a way they haven’t gone after family style restaurants — but maybe they should. 2,000 calories for a salad?!?! That’s ridiculous and irresponsible.
Maybe Pollan’s credo ””Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” and avoiding anything his grandmother would not have recognized as food” would be an effective weight-loss plan, but I haven’t heard of anyone succeeding that … Instead, Chubster is all about taking advantage of every modern convenience afforded us. In my unapologetically innovationist view, technology got us into this mess by making it possible to consume so many cheap calories while being so sedentary, and it’ll somehow get us out of it. … I have very little interest in killing any animal myself or getting up early on Saturday morning to schlep down to a parking lot and pick out vegetables I can purchase for a similar price at a nearby grocery store, even if they do have the best arugula ever. Sorry, but that’s just not my scene. Maybe people like Pollan are right that the stuff we eat today isn’t even “food” and that it’ll eventually poison us; however, life expectancy seems to be on an upward trajectory even if the light sour cream we now eat doesn’t fit an organic dairy farmer’s definition. Maybe I’ll be proven a fool, but I’m putting my faith in common sense and scientific

I’ve read some of Pollan’s stuff and while I like the idea of eating cleaner, I also agree with Cizmar, there’s limited practicality to it today – or need. We’re not meant to subsist entirely on processed foods, but I think there’s a reason we’ve also evolved from hunter/gatherers.

That’s not to say I always agree with him, in some cases I think his premises, especially on what constitutes a “grown up” drink are ridiculously off base. Tequila shots are “the grownup way”? No, shots belong in the frat house along with the other wisdom he’s trying to throw up. Are sour apple martinis not ironic enough for him?

“You can still enjoy everything that plumped you up, you just need to do it in moderation and mix in more activities. Hey, as it turns out, even an evening Slurpee isn’t off the table. Remember the Slurpee that changed my life? The one I had on the way from that awful Dave Matthews concert lo those many moons ago? The one that prompted the stern lecture from my girlfriend that, in turn, launched my weight-loss project? Turns out, that Slurpee was the last one I had for nearly two years. Not that I stopped wanting them. I’m a sucker for pretty much any frozen confection and have always had a soft spot for the sweet, slushy treat favored by Bart Simpson. Since losing 100 pounds, I had allowed myself occasional indulgences of most types on limited occasions (see above), but never a Slurpee. Then, one day, things came full. … On my stop home I was lured into a 7-Eleven for a giant diet fountain soda. Instead, I found something I hadn’t seen before: a Diet Slurpee. Now, the Crystal Light Slurpee isn’t calorie-free. There are actually 80 calories in a 16-ounce serving. But after hiking 7 long, steep miles, I was certainly willing to allow myself such a splurge. … This is what I’ve come to realize: There are two ways up the mountain. You can drive up with 600 calories of sugary ice in your hand, or you can walk up and drink the artificially sweetened version. One route is wide, paved, and busy; the other, narrow, a little rocky, and far less crowded. One will give you little tastes of life as we were meant to live it from time to time; the other will immerse you in it fully. We all choose a path, consciously or not.

But he redeemed himself… and ended the book on the strongest note. I haven’t yet gotten to the point where I can have the “diet Slurpee” (or, for me, diet Sour Patch Kids), but I understand the feeling the wanting to prove your dominance over food. I can do that now with chocolate chip cookies (but not dough). I can do that with Subway. One day I’ll do it with Sour Patch Kids… one day.

* speaking of which, Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat are on Mt. TBR. It’s not that I think he’s completely wrong, but there is something to be said for the basic math of calories in, calories out vs. trend hopping.

It’s been a while since I read a walking book. I’m going to take a gander that the Saunter inspired it. I can safely say that the walk Nate Damm covered in his Life On Foot: A Walk Across America book is one I’ll never undertake. But I loved reading every word of it. I could also identify more with Nate than I could with Ffyona Campbell when I read about her walks. Nor did I want to smack him as I did Josie Dew while reading about her life on wheels.

Damm’s walk started in Delaware in late February 2011, and he was inspired by the walks of John Francis. The American Discovery Trail was the first of many named roads that he walked. Some like the Lincoln Highway I’ve driven, others such as The Loneliest Road had me heading to Google.

Like Mike McIntyre’s Kindness of Strangers, I love the people that Nate met — from Serinda on his first days of the trail to Maureen in southern Ohio where Nate learned of the “Hobo Spirits”

I’m a big historic site traveler and in addition to the books it put on my list, there are also a number of sites I want to see:

Mason-Dixon Line, sure I’ve crossed into and out of Maryland but never got a photo if it’s marked.
Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia
French Lick, not because I’m a Bird or Celtics fan but legends of people and towns like the “Hick from French Lick” are just too fun to pass up.

It was William Least Heat-Moon’s River Horse that whet the road trip appetite last year. While I hope Amtrak quells it some, I feel the need of a “see America” road trip sometime soon. In the mean time, I enjoyed the America that Damm and Wilson saw.

After Rake left they named it after him. Neely was gone by then, of course, long gone with no plans to return. Why he was returning now wasn’t completely clear, but deep in his soul he’d always known this day would come, the day somewhere out there in the future when he was called back. He’d always known that Rake would eventually die, and of course there would be a funeral with hundreds of former players packed around the casket, all wearing their Spartan green, all mourning the loss of a legend they loved and hate.

Over the course of the last few years I’ve come to the realization that I mostly don’t review fiction titles. They rarely stick with me in the way non-fiction titles do. However, this one is one of the few exceptions.

One of John Grisham’s non “Southern law” titles, Bleachers (like Calico Joe) is set in the world of sports. Unlike all or mostly all of his titles, it wasn’t clear whether this was set in the south. If not for his multiple Packers’ references, I’d have assumed it was.

Neely Crenshaw, all American everything. A promising football career cut short by an injury in college. Eddie Rake, local hero football coach. Hero to everyone but Neely Crenshaw, yet it’s the news of Rake’s impending death that brings Crenshaw back to Messina for the first time in 15 years.

Paul. Nat. Rabbit. The Screamer. Silo. Hubcap. Jesse.<

Small town heroes. Small town issues.

In light of the news of the last few years, it’s impossible not to see Joe Paterno in Eddie Rake. Due to the Sandusky scandal taking place during the time that Paterno’s health failed vs.the time that has passed since Rake caused Scotty Reardon’s death, time hadn’t healed as many wounds. That mostly happened this year with the NCAA restoring “Joe Pa”‘s wins. State College wasn’t small town Messina, but it was the kind of school Rake might want to send his boys too.

Rake’s Boys. They came home for him,they listened to a broadcast of the ’87 Championship Game while waiting for the news. Rabbit maintains Rake Field and lights serve as a vigil. They’ll always be Rake’s Boys and it will always be Rake Field. I think the same will ultimately be true of Joe Paterno in Penn State.

A quick, one day read that served as a nice change up between reads. Some authors can’t diversify from their primary topic (thinking Patterson and romance), but Grisham handles sports well.

It wasn’t my original “B” book, but it work and it’s title #7 in the 2015 Alphabet Challenge. 7 books in January is not bad at all.

Hidden museum treasures. I am such a nerd. Nerd. NERD. NERD.

and I love it and wouldn’t change it for the world.

What I learned right away is that when you are the only guest in a small museum that doesn’t get many out-of-town visitors, the volunteer on duty is apt to follow you around. Sometimes it’s due to a mistrust of outsiders. More often it’s simply because it’s nice to have a curious visitor—or any visitor—come through the front door. Partly to be polite, and partly because I’m just a nosy person, I’d often ask my museum “minder” to tell me about his or her favorite things on exhibit. That way I would usually learn about a local treasure I might have otherwise overlooked…

This really isn’t limited to small museums. I’ve come across this in a number of NYC museums both small and large. I’ve found some really cool treasures like the Staten Island Museum’s “Diver Man”, the Tiffany Lamps at the NY Historical Society and the Queens Museum’s World’s Fair collection (including its smaller, pre-renovation one). But I love it whenever and wherever it happens.

The main reason most museums rarely or never display some very significant and intriguing objects is actually sort of boring: From the smallest community museum to the largest branch of the Smithsonian Institution, at most museums there’s just barely enough room to display more than 5 or 10 percent of their holdings at any one time. And space isn’t the only issue: A lot of great things stay tucked away because they are just too old, too fragile, or too likely to be ruined by exposure to humidity and to light. And museums are in the business of keeping things safe and intact for a long time.

While the space issue is beginning to be addressed with renovations and expansions to museums around the world, the preservation one to me is most interesting. With all the advances in science and technology, it’s crazy to think there haven’t been more advances in preservation techniques in order to be better able to display some of these true treasures. And to be honest, I never thought about the safety piece. Museum curators sure face a number of unexpected challenges in planning their exhibits. To that end, Ken Arnold at the Wellcome Center in London had some interesting thoughts:

“One of the great myths of the museum world is that we should perpetually strive to put as much of our collections on show for as long as we can,” says Arnold. “My sense instead is that one of the most important roles of the museum is precisely the opposite: namely to keep safe material that is off display and at rest, so that it can then be rediscovered and reinterpreted afresh when it has had a chance, if you like, to recharge its batteries.”

While I do agree with him, I also think there’s a happy middle ground between never showing the item(s) and risking their survival and I truly hope that can be found.

A nice surprise in reading this book was learning about more museums/topics. I know the NYC museum landscape fairly well, and to some extent I know the major east coast museums. But there are so many museums about which I had no clue and can’t wait to see eventually.

Overall, a really good read/guidebook to some of the US & London’s best museums. I am so far off course for this year’s reading goal. Ooph

Oh, and PS: I’d like to acknowledge the global economy, especially the credit and retail sectors, which fell apart between 2006 and 2008 and thereby made profligate Christmas shopping seem all the more interesting and a bit more inane. Here’s to you, capitalism

Those were actually the very last two sentences Hank Stuever wrote in Tinsel, but in a sense, they were this book. According to my Amazon wishlist when I spotted this on a price drop around Christmas, I had it on my wishlist since its publication in 2009. So of course I had to start it immediately after two false starts on books to finish out 2013: Rogues Gallery and Do You Speak Shoe Lover?

I have an odd relationship with Christmas. Christmas in our house looks a lot like Thanksgiving, just with more presents. But I hate shopping. HATE. Yet somehow, I was drawn to this book. To the author’s writing. To the people he met. After finishing the book. it was a pleasant surprise to find the photos of the people he spent Christmas with. I was way off in my mental images, but it was nice to put faces to the names.

Speaking of names, I find it amazing and generous how these folks welcomed him into their homes and their lives. While Stuever wrote at length about the growth of Frisco, it’s still very much Smalltown, USA in that respect. He came to know these people, their families, their friends. He nearly became one of them.

I read this over the course of three weeks, but if I had enough time, I’d probably have read it within a few days as it really grabbed me toward the end. It was an interesting mix of christmas, Christmas, people and shopping. I also think that pretty much describes American christmas in a nutshell these days.

Christmas is the single largest event in American communal life, intersecting with every aspect of religion, culture, commerce, and politics. From mid-November to New Year’s Eve 2006, shoppers spent almost half a trillion dollars on gifts, which is more than we spend on almost anything else as a people, including the annual bill at that time for ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those who opt in, Christmas is supposed to exist as a pure moment of bliss and togetherness. We spend more money than we have at Christmas in part to get closer to the simple joy it advertises.

I actually found this — which was his premise throughout the book to be fascinating. What is christmas these days. Is it spending money to be happy? Is it about the holiday (pagan or christian?) is it about family

I went looking for an America living not only on borrowed time, but also on borrowed grace. In the Nativity pageant I’ve staged here, I cast myself merely as an extra, a Wise Man in a purple velour bathrobe and a cardboard Burger King crown, following yonder star, bearing my mother’s crystal salad-dressing cruets (my frankincense, my myrrh) on a tasseled living room throw pillow.

In addition to looking for “Christmas”, I think the author had more than a little quest to look for “America”. Frisco, TX, land of the McMansions isn’t America any more than Jesus is the Reason for the Season describes the true American Christmas, but the author did well to try and tie both extremes together. Of those people he met: Carroll the shopaholic tither and her family, Tammie and her Hottie Elves and the Trykoskis and their lights, it was the Trykoskis I liked the most because they seemed to show me more about what Christmas is. I didn’t like Carroll and her family — although I felt them to be a good example of Shop ’til You Drop Spoiled America. Sure, Tammie decorated clients’ houses for Christmas – but that didn’t make her Santa any more than a normal interior designer. Jeff T was paid for his work in Frisco Square, but he did his own house – and the city – out of his own interest and passion.

"The Christmas lifestyle as most Americans know and celebrate it is only about a century and a half old, a straight line from Charles Dickens to Martha Stewart."

I had to chuckle at this — because the Christmas that the author found in Frisco isn’t the Christmas I’ve seen in the Northeast. Multiple themed trees? Prelit trees? Worrying about whether a neighbor’s house and Christmas is “Christ-centered”? Never mind Frisco’s obsession with Snow Powder and the Israelis who sell it.

“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Master, on Visa.”

THANKSGIVING….It conveys a sense of national togetherness, pride, gluttonous helpings of iconic food items, and the moments we take to consider our blessings. Then all hell breaks loose.

Now that? That’s the American Christmas I know. I like how he used his journalistic background to mix in reporting with his story telling. The facts he reported on retail figures, economic growth and contraction, the history of Christmas (more Halloween then Jesus) and suburb development provided a nice back drop to the people without taking away from them. It made for substance to go with the fluff.The same could be said for the religious aspects that he discussed. While an American christmas can be religion fee, I’m not sure the same could be said for a Texas Christmas. All in all, a very good read even if it slowed down at parts. I look forward to reading his other book, Off Ramp, as I like his style and find him very readable. Also, his NPR interview about the book is a fun read.

So I realized something sad when I started to read Jeneration X, Jen Lancaster’s 2012 “chapter” of her non-fiction series: I think I’ve outgrown it. This is equal parts sad and odd because a) I used to love her non fiction titles and b) I’m at least a decade younger than she is. At some point between [b:My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is t he New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto|7090290|My Fair Lazy One Reality Television Addict's Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is t he New Black, or, a Culture-Up Manifesto|Jen Lancaster|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349080673s/7090290.jpg|7346398] and the latest chapter in her “I’m a fancy author and now so is my friend Stacey and I have to remind you every other page”, I got bored.Also sad, it look me four weeks to get through this book, only the sixth one I’ve finished this year. I am so off pace it is sad.

I think the biggest issue with this one was a lack of filter or editor. Seriously, a book shouldn’t read like a blog, and there’s a reason I don’t read her blog.That said, there were some funnies in this book as well as some things I identified with — unfortunately they were somewhat drowned out by her egotism. Midway through the book when talking about eBay she identified herself as “hypercompetitive asshole”. At least she knows her shortcomings. Note to self: read the Amazon reviews before buying. A good number of them nailed exactly what I was thinking.

The 63rd book I finished this year was certainly among the most intriguing. I never had much interest in the show of the same name, and only added the book to my library wish list after watching Pablo Schreiber as Lewis in SVU Season 15. Some 700 people later, my turn came up in the waiting list and I figured Why Not? I’d just finished the really good (review TK) The Pious Ones by Joseph Berger. I’m really glad I read it as it was an amazing, albeit dated, read.

Boston born, Smith College educated, Danbury incarcerated for her conspiracy role in drug charges with her former lover. Piper Kerman is an interesting faulted heroine, which I think makes her more appealing. This is no good girl wrongly jailed – but rather someone forced to serve her time some ten years later due to delays within the legal system.

Given that she served her time in Danbury in a time before blogs were prevalent, I found the details in the stories amazing. I imagine that some came from letters she sent to Larry? An interesting accompaniment to the book is thepipebomb.com, in which Larry provided details of Piper’s incarceration to friends and family. Most interesting there was the FAQ which, among other things, touched on the role of the “War on Drugs” to prison sentences.

Piper was also unlike many of her fellow inmates in that she was well-educated, could count on money and visitors from the outside and was not a mother. She managed to survive, and some would say even thrive there. The subsequent changes at Danbury would make that more challenging to women who were later sentenced there.

Important to Piper prior to her incarceration were the people she knew. That held true throughout her stay at Danbury FCI. The people she met – the Italian twins, Pop, Natalie, Amy, the Eminemettes (one of many small things that dated this memoir including the ’04 Red Sox win and reference to Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn as Murder Avenue) were almost as interesting as her actual stay in the camp. The generosity among the women from Piper’s initial inability to buy items at the commissary due to the check not clearing to her later paying it forward was a key theme. They may do bad things that lead them to their incarceration but there are good people in prison.

The lack of follow up about those people – she missed her reunion with Natalie at the Myrtle Avenue Halfway House due to the time spent in and traveling to Chicago to testify. I want to know what happened to them. I want to know what happened to Piper after the release. Did she get the happily ever after with a job and a home? While ending the book with her release to Larry’s arms was poignant, I didn’t find it to be much of an ending.

A good read – I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think it’s going to make me want to watch the show.

" Now, listen—if you put a baby in front of me, rest assured: that baby is gonna get cuddled, spoiled and adored. But even as I’m loving on that beautiful infant, I know in my heart: This is not my destiny. It never was"

This grabbed me by the title and then further grabbed me by that intro from Elizabeth GIlbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame. In less than one day of reading time, it became my 3rd book of 2015 and “K” in the A to Z challenge. So far I’m not doing well with reading the planned books. Oh well.

I’m 35. I’ve been hearing about having children for 20 years and I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it for at least another ten years. I love being an aunt and a godmother because I can give them back. Oh, and I don’t do diapers. I really like that this short anthology was given context by not only the women’s own stories of their lives but also chapter introductions that set the historical context for the year(s) in which the women were writing.

Born in 1979 I have no context of a life without the birth control pill and my entire life, let alone my reproductive years, is in the post Roe vs. Wade era. While the free love of the 60s wasn’t my life, nor was the AIDS crisis of the early 1980s. It’s almost as if the not quite Gen X, not quite Millennials live in an era of safe sex which, in the context of this book, made the question of whether to have children a different one. It’s a choice (mostly), not a social issue or political statement or fear of a communicable disease.

"God forbid, I should grow up to be an old maid. Yet as an adult, my experiences as aunt to my brother’s three children, a junior high teacher, and a witness to the dubious behavior of most of my friends’ children, made me grateful for my freedom. I found little appealing in the prospect of making an 18-year commitment, as they had, to a life I regarded as tumultuous."

It’s not that my life is tumultuous, but this is what hits closest to my personal decision as to why I don’t want or have children. I can’t make a long term commitment to a relationship, a city or an apartment, I can’t imagine 18 years to another human being. Plenty of woman eager to be a mother? Me? I’ll take being an aunt.

And Kathleen who closed the book? Yeah, she’s me to a tee.

This book made me crave sushi for the entire week that I was reading it. I’m a sushi fiend so this isn’t surprising, but it was a little odd when I was reading at 8 AM. This had been on my wish list for a long time. According to my Library Thing I got a copy in 2009, but I have no recollection of owning it. I know I didn’t read it. So I was happy to find a copy on Amazon for .99 and it also hits “Z” on the ABC Challenge.

As much as I enjoyed the info that I learned about sushi through Zoran, Kate, Marcos, Toshi and the others, I enjoyed the people. Although this was a work of documentary non-fiction, it read like a novel at times and the central figures were key. Toshi, the pioneer of American sushi; Kate the unsettled student; Zoran the teacher who disappeared back to Australia midway through the semester; Takumi the former JPop singer.

Luckily for this sushi fiend, little beyond the author’s explanation of mold’s role in miso and sushi rice made me think twice about the food I devour. I fell in love with sushi at the tale end of my first stint in Japan but never really had a huge interest in its creation. I don’t think I’ve made sushi since a friend’s obon party in August… 2002! This book made me curious about some of the behind the scenes and probably made me a more educated consumer at the sushi bar.

"Disease isn’t the only problem. Humans like to eat yellowtail, but yellowtail also like to eat yellowtail."

Of the author’s comments on fish that’s the one I loved the most. I’m picturing carnivorous yellowtail on the sushi bar. I really enjoyed the background on the rice as its status in the US is so different to its standing in Japan.