storyfires

Hey, all. Time for our June blog book give-away drawing. I'm using my uber-high-tech method of randomly selecting a name that I've scrawled on a folded orange sticky note and thrown in a cereal bowl, along with a lot of other orange folded sticky notes. uber-high-tech selection process I close my eyes, reach in, unfold the paper... And the winner is Jamie ! You get a free book! Email me your physical address and I'll get Leviathan in the mail right away. Everyone else, head to the library right now and get yourself a copy. Unless you happen to be my sister, and you happen to live in Brazil or Fiji, and summer happens to be winter where you live, and books in English are harder to come by than they ought to be, in which case I might send you a copy anyway. Happy reading!

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...

I spent the weekend in New Mexico at the Great Southwest Track and Field Meet. Albuquerque was hot. And smoky, thanks to a huge Arizona fire that filled the place the night we got in. The city was also full of fast people with large muscles and zero-percent body fat running in the heat. Luckily, a hot wind blew away most of the smoke so the runners didn't die of smoke inhalation. My favorite part: water cups in Albuquerque are HUGE. Yes, huge. You know how if you go out for fast food or to a movie theater and ask for water, most places give you a leprechaun-sized styrofoam cup and if you complain they threaten to call the cops for suggesting something so outrageous as a full-sized drink of water? In Albuquerque, you get giant water cups. Humungous. With lids. And straws. And lots of ice. Which was great, because did I mention New Mexico is hot? My least favorite part: large cockroaches. Like  the one we found in a drawer in my hotel room. Nice and healthy-looking. ...

I didn't set any New Year's Resolutions this year. Not one. I felt sort of guilty about that for awhile. Um, not that guilty. Not guilty enough to set any. I mean, I'm constantly evaluating myself and trying to do better. Maybe too much. And then I decided, maybe goals are overrated. Maybe I spend too much of my time looking forward, wishing, wanting, dissatisfied with myself and others, and not enough time savoring the moment. Beautiful Mt. Timpanogos. My favorite. When Robert Persig ( Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ) pointed out that it's the sides of the mountain that count, not just the top, he wasn't just talking about hiking. Maybe that's what I haven't been doing in my life. Maybe I need to do what my neighbor does: wake up every morning, see the sun or the rain or the snow, and say, I am alive, and that's a gift. And just enjoy whatever the Universe dumps in my lap. Even when it looks like pig poo. Er, perhaps I don't ...