storyfires

Perhaps you didn't believe me when I said that reading can make you sexier . Or skinnier , especially if you didn't click on the link in the last post, but it's true. Young girls who read a book about an overweight girl who made positive life-style changes had a reduced Body Mass Index after six months, compared to a control group, whose BMI increased. See how skinny she's getting? See the stack of books she's reading? Literature can be powerful, have I mentioned that before? Even though the book sounded utterly BORING. Which, I guess, suggests reading could also make you fatter if you read an equally boring book that promoted unhealthy lifestyles. Or you could read an interesting book and perhaps magically loose weight anyway. Because the authors of the study didn't use a second control group of girls who read a very exciting book that had nothing whatsoever to do with weight loss and compare their weight at the end of the study. So maybe it really was

Summer Solstice was yesterday and the weather here in the Wasatch mountains is finally not cool or wet. Which reminded me that my favorite thing about summer is books. Which are also my favorite thing about spring. And winter. And fall. But especially summer, because you can read what you feel like (instead of what your teacher tells you) and you can read in the grass, or in the tree-house, or up the mountain, or on the beach, or at the pool... And I've read some great books this year, so I have some recommendations for all y'all's summer reading lists. In fact, I think it's time for a freebie . I've been enjoying steam punk lately. Maybe you've read Leviathan , by Scott Westerfeld? And the sequel, Behemoth . If you haven't, you're missing a fabulous series. Although just when you're really getting into the story, you'll realize it's not done, and the next book doesn't come out until fall. How rude. The world of Leviathan is an al