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The right amount of space. Not too spacey, not too cramped… create a space that allows you to be cozy and comfortable while reading. Consider the different furniture and accessories you’ll be needing as well so your space does not look too cluttered.

Cozy seating. An overstuffed chair, bean bags, a fluffy couch, a seat with an ottoman… what kind of seat makes you not want to get up from it? If you plan to read to your children, ensure that there’s enough space for the two of you in one seat too.

Good lighting. Correctly position your lamps so your reading material is well-lit, and that the light does not get into your eyes.

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Side table. To hold your eyeglasses, a cup of hot chocolate, a bowl of popcorn, pen and paper, more books, your reading light, this table will hold your reading companions.

Bookshelves. Have some bookshelves in your reading corner instead of in another room. Easy access to many books will encourage more reading.

A Book Bag or a Book Basket. If you read several books at a time, put the set of books you’re currently reading in a basket. This way, you don’t have to go back and forth to the bookshelf when you’re in the mood for that other book you’re reading. And if you have multiple reading corners at home, you can just carry your book basket to the other corner and not balance a bunch of books in your arms.

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Quiet time. Getting lost in a good book is wonderful… except when you suddenly hear your neighbor screaming or your teenager’s stereo blasting again. Choose an area that allows for long moments of quiet reading.

Decorate with items inspired from readings. Don’t hesitate to place that Sorting Hat you got from the mall by your couch — it shows how much you enjoyed the Harry Potter series.

Happy reading!

Post from: Blisstree

Creating a Reading Corner

Born into rock and roll royalty, flying in Learjets to the Virgin Islands at five, making pot brownies with her father’s friends at eleven, Mackenzie grew up in an all-access kingdom of hippie freedom and heroin cool. It was a kingdom over which her father, the legendary John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, presided, often in absentia, as a spellbinding, visionary phantom.

Part of her story includes spilling personal secrets such as a 10-year incestuous affair with her father. Why does the world need to know this? 

Mackenzie Phillips has struggled with addiction problems since she was a teenager. Is this a necessary part of her treatment and healing?  Is this another form of brutal honesty?  Her father is dead. He’s not around to defend himself. The affair happened when she was an adult. I do not get the point of telling this particular part of her dark and troubled history. This news is going to affect everyone related to both her father and herself.

Maybe I’m troubled because it’s such a disturbing idea. Incest is one of those subjects that makes me cringe and I’m guessing that most people have the same reaction. I’m puzzled by the purpose of this book. Is it supposed to help people?  Is the purpose to gain attention and make money?  

Everyone grows up with challenges of one kind or another. Part of being a responsible adult is making healthy decisions. I don’t see writing a tell-all as a particularly healthy decision.

Image credit: Barnes and Noble.com

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I Won’t Be Reading High On Arrival

The Sexually Confident Wife: Connecting With Your Husband Mind, Body, Heart, Spirit
by Shannon Ethridge
Available – September 8, 2009

The Sexually Confident Wife is a good fit for married women of faith.

Shannon Ethridge, author of the Every Woman’s Battle book series, wrote this book because she believes that …”every woman deserves to enjoy great sex with her husband, without inhibition or shame. But many wives live with the burden of self-doubt or feel mystified about what men really want in bed.”

She cites statistics that say only 8% of married womenfeel they’ve got a “very hot” sex life, 21% find their intimate life “routine and boring,” and another 21% feel like their sex life is non-existent. Not good statistics. Sex is an important part of being human. Need some guidance married ladies of faith?  This book sounds like a good first step.

Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid: The Simple Truth to a Complicated Relationship
by Howard J. Morris and Jenny Lee
Available – September 2009

Running with the idea that men act “stupid” and women “act” crazy when it comes to matters of the heart, Morris and Lee, comedy writers and “real-life couple,” use their personal experience as fodder for this relationship guide.

“Using wit, hard-earned wisdom, and a highly entertaining he said/she said format, the authors explore the surprising method to his dumbness and the valid reasons behind her insanity, while providing real solutions to perennial relationship problems.”

This one sounds pretty good. I was talking to my boyfriend today when I felt myself tearing up for no good reason. It was annoying and just a little “crazy.”  I’d love to learn away to avoid feeling that way.

Kiss and Tell: A Trivial Study of Smooching
by Kevin Dwyer

This one isn’t a self-help book, but as a big fan of “smooching,” I felt it was worth listing this upcoming book of kiss trivia  here. Includes a variety of kissing facts, including “what makes French kissing  ’French’” and why people take the time to “kiss the Blarney Stone.” 

Image credit: Barnes and Noble.com

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Fresh Fall Reading: Relationships & Sex

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I casually read the first Twilight book and thought it was pretty good, but was not obsessed.  Then last week I read the second book in the series, New Moon, and couldn’t put it down!  I ran to the book store as soon as I turned the last page and was so saddened to find that Eclipse hadn’t been released in paperback yet.  Could I force myself to wait a few weeks to find out what happens between Bella, Edward, and Jacob?  I decided that instead of spending too much money on the book that I would read once, I would spend some time thinking about the cultural obsession with the Twilight series and why it is that adults find themselves hooked on these teenage novels.

I realize that I wasn’t too interested in the Harry Potter series because I didn’t find anything relatable in it.  I wasn’t interested in keeping track of all of the new words that the author created for the fantasy world that the characters lived in.  Where Harry Potter was about fun words and complicated magic, Twilight is about a love story.  The fantasy element is important, but I think that readers keep turning pages because of the love that Bella and Edward feel for each other.  Even though the main characters are teenagers, the love that they express seems deep and permanent.

Twilight was about Bella and Edward falling in love, but New Moon was about the heart-wrenching and confusing experience of being dumped.  I think every woman who has fallen deeply in love can relate to the pain and suffering that Bella experiences as she tries to move on with her life without Edward.  The way she describes her loss and the actions that she takes to fill the hole in her life seem exaggerated, but they are actually extremely relatable.  The confusion that is caused by her relationship with her best friend Jacob is also extremely realistic.  How many times have women been confused about a guy friend…do I love him as a friend or a boyfriend?  Am I really ready to move on?

The Twilight series was written for teenagers, but the feelings that the characters experience are definitely for adults.  You don’t have to think Robert Pattison is a hottie or have an interest in Science Fiction to fall in love with the Twilight series.  You just have to know what it feels like to love and lose and you will feel that part of you is written into each novel.

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Bella and Edward: Relating To Twilight Love

Summer reading programs at local libraries offer youngsters fun and reading encouragement.  Our library, the Pease Public Library in Plymouth, NH, has excited young readers for many years.  I’m always impressed by what is planned for youngsters and the community.  Also, the children receive prizes, donated by local businesses,  for the number of books they read during the summer.

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Even, though my grandchildren are too old (high school and college age when the programs are geared for pre-school through grade 8), we do attend some of the family programs…movies, entertainers and projects.

I’ve taken Kara and Alex to these summer reading programs since they were in pre-school.  Then when I was no longer needed to help, I enjoyed the evening reading and using my laptop while I waited.

Visit your library and those in neighboring towns. We still check out many books and movies throughout the summer and enjoy them at home.

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What Does Your Library Offer?

This was considered an appropriate policy, especially since students as young as fourth grade wanted to check out these books.  This gave the parents input into their children’s reading selections.

This raises some interesting questions:

Do you think a school should limit a student’s reading material unless he/she has parental approval?

Do you like the fact that a school will check with a parent first?

Do you think the school or librarian should simply let children of any age read whatever books are in the library?

As a mother and grandmother, I like the idea that I’d be consulted and give input into my child’s reading matter.  What do you think?

(Image: Pop Culture Graphics at Amazon)

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Should School Libraries Monitor Kids’Books?

IMG: Amazon.com

Summer Reading Books:
Scary Stories: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Fairies: Cook Book By Barbara Beery
The Kids’ Book of Chocolate By Richard Ammon
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Always Wear Clean Underwear! by Marc Gellman
Franny K. Stein: Mad Scientist by Jim Benton
The Shivers in the Fridge by Manushkin
How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty by Nathan Zimelman
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

How many of you remember poems by Shel Shiverstein? I also remember Franny K Stein and the Wimpy Diaries as her brother checked them out just a year or two ago. Course I didn’t like her comment, “Mom you know these books right?” In reference to Shel’s, “Yeah why?” She kind of shrugged and replied, “They just looked old, like classics.” OUCH.

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The Library Bags are Home

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 ”These weren’t ‘bad’ books,” Beth continued, “only books Lizzie’s mom thought didn’t go along with their religion.”

We had always read to and with Beth when she was younger and encouraged her love of books.

 I didn’t restrict the books Beth read.  Instead, when she was in high school, she shared with me, and we discussed why or why I didn’t think they were appropriate.  I thought I needed to teach her how to make judgments about her reading, movie and television (now Internet) watching before she was on her own.  If I said, “No,” to specific books, they might have more appeal.  Also, she’d read them anyway, as Lizzie did.

 Do you check on the books your children are reading and limit some of them?  Or do you feel, that as they grow older, they will read these books anyway.  So you need to teach them how to make good decisions?

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Do You Limit Your Child’s Reading?

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I thought I’d pass this information along in case parents, grandparents and others would find this list of interest for reference.  Some books deal with death of a family member or friend; others are about the death of a pet.

• Remembering Mrs. Rossi by Amy Hest
• Love You, Soldier by Amy Hest
• Because of Winn Dixie
• Each Little Bird That Sings
• Sarah Plain and Tall
• The Higher Power of  Lucky
• Carolina Harmony
• Julia’s Kitchen
• The Tenth Good Thing About Barney
• Blackberries in the Dark by Mavis Jukes, about a boy visiting his grandmother after the death of his grandfather
• Sun & Spoon by Kevin Henkes
• Saying Goodbye to Grandma by Jane Resh Thomas
• Some of Us Survived: The Story of an Armenian Boy by
  Kerop Bedoukian,  an eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide
  written from the author’s point of view when he was 8 years old.
• The Road from Home by David Kherdian  is the true story how Kherdian’s mother and  family were annihilated and driven from their historic homeland during the Genocide.

Do you have any to suggest that you think are particularly good at helping youngsters…and adults?

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Books for Youngsters About Death

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He and his grandfather tried some initial robotic activities and his interest continues.  I’ve begun to explore this area more in depth to stimulate Grandson’s interest.  A friend’s son entered into a robotics competition recently.  Another friend’s nephew is majoring in robotics at college.

Robotics is the wave of the future for youngsters now and as they grow up? As parents and grandparents, let’s help them explore this area for future careers and interest.

Some books to consider:

Robot Building for Beginners by David Cook

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Building Robots by Gareth Branwyn

Programming Microsoft Robotics Studio by Amy Morgan

The LEGO Mindstorms NXT Idea Book

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Robotics for a Grandson