BOOKS: Booky Booky, Clicky Clicky

There are a few things I probably could have done, but didn't, when our neighbour's broken burglar alarm woke us up at 4:40 am today and proceeded to go off every ten minutes till almost 7:00:

1. Get some work done.
2. Fold laundry.
3. Give myself a much-needed pedicure. (Sandal season is going to come to the Pacific northwest eventually, right?)
4. Read.
5. Deal with my email backlog.
   
6. Write a meaningful, well thought out post for today.

Instead, I hauled my tired old carcass to the gym and did a zombie-like workout on the elliptical trainer. Ever since realizing that speed-reading isn't a cardio activity, and that my ass -- which seems to have gone MIA since I lost the weight I gained during pregnancy -- isn't going to find its way back home on its own, I've been putting in my grudging five workouts a week. So at least that's out of the way.

Instead of giving you my own thought-provoking ideas, I'm going to plunder a few bookish blogs I like and give you some other people's thought-provoking ideas. Arrr, matey! I'm a blog pirate adrift on the high seas of the internet! Or something like that.

Mike has posted a section of a story he's been working on, and if you've been looking for confirmation that he's going to be a literary star one of these days and you want to be able to say you read him when, you should go read it.

Exxie is in a reading slump. I had one of those a couple of months ago and man, it sucks worrying that you're never going to find a book that fires up your brain and soul again. Give her some reading suggestions or encouraging words. Or you could send her money. I know that always makes me feel better.

Carrie has an excellent review in the current issue of Bookslut, and she challenges you to find it. I did, and I could tell you where it is, but that would just ruin the fun.

Karen has posted a link from her site to a lovely essay written by Michael Chabon on his site about, as she puts it, "the fleeting nature of the "memory-making" time we spend with our kids."

Speaking of children, I've really been enjoying Neal Pollack's site ever since he came over to the dark side and accepted that posts about your kids are the funnest things to write. Pollack took a lot of flak a while back for publicizing his struggles with his "spirited" toddler Elijah on Salon, but anyone who reads his hilarious entries about his adventures with his son can see that he's a caring, hands-on dad. But, you know, the public always needs a whipping boy so they can unleash all the secret resentment they still harbour toward their own parents. Last year it was Pollack. This month it's Britney. Next it could be you. Watch out!

That's all from me till Monday. And boy howdy, if you think posting about other people's sites is a lazy cheater's way to blog, then you've never done it. Over and out.