Too Many Books

 Y Yesterday and today may sound like a Bob Ruff commercial, but I have no issue with that, nor should you. Not to sound bossy, but...  If you aren't aware of the West Memphis Three, look no further than look no further back than the heels of the Satanic Panic in the bible belt of West Memphis, Arkansas.  Damien Echols and two of his friends were teenagers in 1993, when three young boys were found bound and drowned. A confession was coerced out of one of Damien's friends - a kid with a mental capacity a la Brendan Dassey. Damien, 18, was sentenced to death row and his two friends, not yet "adults" received life sentences. All three were released in 2011. The identity of the real killer(s) remains unknown, though there is speculation. I recommend Bob Ruff's Truth and Justice podcast season on the case, along with the documentary The Forgotten West Memphis Three , available on Apple TV.  Book I Haven't Read Yet : Life After Death: Eighteen Years on Death Row by

 I  I wouldn't know about Kerry Max Cook if it wasn't for Bob Ruff. I mentioned his podcast, Truth and Justice, in my post yesterday. This man is doing WORK when it comes to the wrongfully convicted.  Book I Haven't Read Yet: Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook.  Kerry is an innocent man who served about twenty years for the 1977 rape and murder of a 21 year old woman named Linda Jo Edwards. The case against him was circumstantial at best, and only tightened thanks to police corruption and prosecutorial misconduct.  The amount of evil in Smith County, Texas will make your head spin. Truth and Justice's second season covers the stories of Kerry Cook, Kenny Snow and Ed Ates. The struggles and injustices all three faced at the hands of the power hungry is unreal. Why I Haven't Read It  - Bob Ruff suggested reading Chasing Justice before listening to the aforementioned season of h

 H Here's hoping everyone had a Fatty Fatty Thanksgiving and an even Fatter Black Friday. After gorging myself on turkey, ham, and every side item known to humans, I spent black Friday (and the rest of the weekend) in a home-cocoon, watching basketball and football, reading, and decorating for Christmas.  But you didn't come here to hear about me. You came here for vague details about books I haven't read yet. And so here we go.  I wanted to do a True Crime theme this week, but I've already read Adnan's Story by Rabia Chaudry, so I felt it only fair to start with another book she's written, because All Hail Rabia, our queen.  (If you aren't already obsessed with Adnan Syed's case, then I'm not sure we can be friends. If you didn't obsessively follow the Baltimore Sun's Lee Sanderlin's live tweets during the hearing in which Adnan was finally released, then I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU.)  (I understand that I actually don't know most of

 B Book I Haven't Read Yet:   Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaarder.  Why I Haven't Read It:  Some books are intimidating. This is one that has always confounded me, but I think that's deeply tied to my religious trauma. So, my high school boyfriend gifted Sophie's World to me as a high school graduation gift. Or maybe a birthday gift. I can't quite recall, since it's been over two decades. So, for over twenty years, I've held tight to this book, even started reading it a couple of times. But I always end up placing it back on a shelf.  This book has lived with me in five different cities, and has traveled to at least 4 different states. It's spent time on psych wards with me. It's a book I turn to when the mania takes over and makes my brain mushy. I've even left notes to self in the front cover, so that the next time I'm manic, when I undoubtedly reach for this book, I'll see said notes and give

 I If I believe in God, I'm pretty mad at him today. Another LBGTQIA+ nightclub shooting. More hate crimes. More death.  My hearts are with those who have lost, so senselessly.  Book I Haven't Read Yet : God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.  Why I Haven't Read It: I actually started this book around the time it came out in 2007. After growing out of an Evangelical upbringing, I moved FAR away from the idea of the "God of the Bible" being the right entity for me to believe in.  I mean, a bunch of human dudes wrote down some stories about Jesus and things. They weren't even alive during the time that Jesus lived, but we are supposed to believe that they wrote with 100% accuracy? I've met a lot of men. They don't get things right all the time, particularly after a game of telephone. Also, I'd just been toying with the idea of Atheism altogether after watching Julia Sweeney's show "Letting Go of God."

C Cheers to the weekend and cheers to the book I haven't read yet: It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender and Sexual Health by Robie E. Harris and Michel Emberley.  As a mom of a 6th grade girl, I'm in the trenches. My kid is SO private that I've hardly seen her body since she started developing breasts. She got her first period around the end of March, and she didn't tell me until AUGUST. She cried when she told me because she knew my feelings would be hurt, and she felt bad for "lying." Other than, in fact, having feelings that WERE hurt, I provided her with all the grace in the world. It's her body - she has a right to privacy, even with me. When she wanted me to teach her to shave her legs, we did so with her clothing on, pants rolled up and legs over the side of the tub.  Kids aren't always comfortable discussing puberty with their parents. I wasn't either. It's okay.  Important resources are out there - and

 B Book I Haven't Read Yet :  Gay Like Me: A Father Writes to His Son by Richie Jackson Why I Haven't Read It: I wish I could read nonstop in the wee hours, but when I don't sleep my brain gets all wonky. Plus, I still haven't finished the book I'm currently reading, and I have a new policy to go forth and finish one book before starting the next. (We'll see how long that lasts.) Should You Read It? Yes.  This book is already tugging at my heart, and I don't even have it in front of me. In an interview with Town and Country mag, author Richie Jackson talks about the need to share with his son "what it means to be a gay man and what it takes to be a gay man in America." As his gay son prepared to head off to college, Jackson found it imperative to be vulnerable, and to open up painful wounds of memories, mistakes, fears and moments - moments like Jackson's 4th grade teacher calling him a word that rhymes with maggot.  He's one of us, awake

K Kids play dress up.  Is it that big of a deal? A dad in my wealthy, suburban county (in a very red state) was up in ARMS because of this children's book, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress. His issue with it was, and I quote, "it delves into the topic of gender identity, albeit softly cloaked in the concept of dress up." We had a semi-productive conversation via Facebook messenger, and he tried to explain his viewpoint to me. I guess the book was read aloud in his kid's elementary school class. He hadn't had the chance to opt his kid out of hearing about a boy who liked to dress up in a tangerine dress and was bullied for it at school. Heavens to Betsy! He took issue because of his Christian beliefs - as he told me: he believes that God has created each of us male and female, but the current secular worldview teaches that gender (and even biological sex) is now a construct. I asked him how he would feel if his child wanted to do theatre or ballet. You k

 Book I Haven't Read Yet: This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson Why I Haven't Read It: It's pitched as an Instruction Manual for those who come out. I guess I didn't think I need to read it.  I didn't realize, the back cover copy says: This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference.  This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU. Should You Read It? : I think so. I'll tell you one thing, though. Teens should have access to this book. Juno Dawson seems pretty cool. For one thing, she's British, which in itself makes her immensely cooler than me. She's a novelist, a screenwriter, a journalist, a columnist and clearly an overachiever. She's an "occasional" actress and model. She's won YA book prizes. I want to be her when I grow up. This Book is Gay was originally released in 2014 but was revised and updated in 2021 to include more content around sexuality and gender. The introduction by

I get the feeling I'm going to be busy next year at the school board meetings in my mostly-white, wealthy, suburban bedroom-community. (Oh, and it's in Kentucky, to boot.)  Lindsey Tichenor, our newly elected State Representative, ran unopposed, but seems to be Opposed to everything that would cause her Christian Kids to potentially open up their brains to a broader worldview. She blocked me on Facebook. And this extreme right-winged group, Moms4Liberty blocked me on Twitter. (Their intent is to flip school boards so that they become full of election deniers. Blech.)  Since the Tichenor family live in my county, I'm stuck listening to her voice her narrow-minded opinions at the school board meetings during public expression. Her hot button topic lately (other than masks and transgendered bathrooms) has been books.  I'm making it my 2023 MISSION to ensure that books by LBGTQIA+ authors, BIPOC authors, and other underrepresented authors are NOT pulled from the libraries o

 As my politically themed Book Week draws to an end, I'm about to get real irritated when I talk about Nick Adams, author and toxic white male.  So, a palette cleanser before I dive into the festering swap that is this guys online persona and ideals.  Happy Veterans' Day to all who have served our country well. My favorite veteran is my Pappaw, Carl Burch, who left us way too soon in April of 1996, when I was a sophomore still sporting braces on my teeth. I miss him.  One of the last pieces of advice he gave me was " Kill 'em with kindness ." He was talking about my parents, so I'll go ahead and assume that Pappaw would be fine with me tearing Nick Adams a new rectum, which I'm about to do. ************************************************** So.  The Nick Adams Twitter feed is relentless in the effect it has on my blood pressure. Here are a couple of examples of the nonsense he's spewed so far today, and the initial tweet that set me off. (I quote his t

Two things.  1) James Carville is hilarious. There's just something about his smile and the sound of his voice.  2) My husband's bookshelf is amazing. (There's something about his smile and voice, too. Swoon.) Book I Haven't Read Yet:  ...And the Horse He Rode in On: The People v. Kenneth Starr (1998) Why I Haven't Read it: As you know, the titles on my shelf are very heavy on women's fiction, poetry, plays, and the textbooks from my feminist and critical theory college courses. My non-fiction titles are somewhere between lacking and non-existent.  To Be Honest: I also want to plug Carville's other books, particularly... 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation (2009) It's the Middle Class, Stupid! (2012) We're Still Right - And They're Still Wrong (2016) But since I have ...And the Horse in front of me, we'll stay focused on this one title. Should You Read It?  So, as I just learned 20 minutes ago, Ken Starr died just

 I'm sad today.  Charles Booker is a wonderful man. He lost the race for the Kentucky senate to that jerk-off Rand Paul, whose ads painted Charles Booker as an angry, violent black man who had angry, violent supporters. Rand threw a temper tantrum in his ads because some Democrats (inlcuding me) thought it was funny that Rand's own neighbor beat him up.  A couple of my friends were at the Victory Party the Booker campaign put on at the Muhammed Ali Center in downtown Louisville last night. One friend went live on Facebook and I was able to hear Charles Booker's "concession speech." It touched my heart so deeply.  Book I haven't read yet: From the Hood to the Holler (A Story of Separate Worlds, Shared Dreams, and the Fight for America's Future) by Charles Booker (2022) Why I haven't read it yet:  I've been a lazy reader lately. I'll get there.  Should you read it:  YES.  Here's an excerpt from Charles Booker's concession speech. Get your

 I think the time has come to explain the title of this blog: Too Many Tabs So, to be honest, I have always been pretty  completely disorganized, electronically speaking. (Ok, everywhere else, too.) I have my lists, and I get done what I need to get done, but when it comes to the way I organize documents, the way I delete emails, the way I close out my apps -- I am, admittedly, pretty sloppy. Open Safari Tabs on my phone: 21 (down from 72 when I deleted some earlier in the week) Gmail emails in my inbox: 27,118 (but for like a year now I've gone through them and deleted daily) Sloppy Notes on my Notes App: 89  Number of spots I had to pull from to complete my manuscript: I lost count Anyway. My creative brain and my logical brain love to fight against one another. Sometimes I spin out when my to-do-lists get jumbled, and I end up with sub-lists, and I try to put things on my Google calendar, but to also use a paper planner, and blah, etc. I'm sure you can relate, dear reader. F

In honor of election week, let's talk books about politics. My book shelf has a ton of novels I haven't read yet and very little in the way of non-fiction.  Luckily, my husband and I have only been married for about a year and a half. His side of the built in bookshelves are more of a mystery to me.  This morning I went shopping like it was Half Price Books over there, right in my very own living room! Book I haven't read yet:  LIES And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right) by Al Franken Why I haven't read it: Generally, books like this just aren't my thaaaaang. But, given the political climate, I feel like I have some catching up to do.  Should YOU read it? Well, Al Franken is hilarious. So, if you have a sense of humor, yeah.  Published in 2004, LIES appears to delve deep into the rhetoric of the Right. According to the back cover, Al Franken exposes them all for what they are: "liars. Lying, lying liars... He takes on the pund

S  So, I'm pretty sure it was kismet that Janna Donovan and I met at the Louisville Book Festival a week ago. She presented at a panel "Writing about Hard Things with Humor and Resilience."  That panel seemed to call to me. Janna and I connected one-on-one after her presentation, and I was able to tell her about leaving my corporate career in late 2021, and how the Burnout and Work Stress nearly  killed me, too.  She's my soul sister. We met for coffee yesterday and talked through her work as a therapist and my journey to find new footing. She also gave me a ton of information about her journey into self publishing - everything from her editors contact info (hey Dustin!) to her cover artist experience. She also described what it was like working with Ingramspark to print the beautiful books - seriously, the best look and feel I have ever seen or touched when it comes to a self published book.   Book I Haven't Read Yet : Burnout Diaries (How Work Stress Almost Kill

Seriously, I want to be best friends with Jen Mann.  No, for real. I met Jen last week at the Louisville Book Festival, and I fell in love as soon as I saw the display at her table. She had these cool triangle shelves to show off her books, bright stickers with fun slogans... and her energy was just -- contagious.  Wouldn't you know it? My girl's not local. She is from Kansas City. What. A. Bummer! Book I Haven't Read Yet :(Working With) People I Want to Punch in the Throat, by Jen Mann Why I Haven't Read It: Get off my back people! I have a TBR list as long as my arm. Plus, I'm going to give this book to my Hubs for Christmas. He always talks about punching people in the face, so I feel like it's right up his alley. I'll read it after him... I really need to stop buying books for other people. Should YOU Read It?: 1 million % - yes. You should. But you might want to start with her first two. This one is the 3rd book in her New York Times best-selling, Throa

 O One of my favorite authors at the Louisville Book Festival was, hands down, Wesley Browne. We talked about everything from Jason Isbell's music to True Crime documentaries and how someone called him and wanted him to be on one, but he couldn't. Even though he's an attorney, he doesn't have any murder cases going on. Isn't that sad?! Book I Haven't Read Yet: Hillbilly Hustle, by Wesley Browne      Why I Haven't Read It? I'm giving it to my dad for Christmas, then demanding to borrow it when he finishes reading. Should You Read It? That's a resounding Hell to the Yeah. So the main character Knox owns a pizza parlor and also has to care for his parents, for whatever reason. Maybe they are in poor health. Probably. Something happens during a poker game, and Knox has to start dealing marijuana out of the pizza shop!! Silas House wrote a book endorsement (or "testimonial") in the front pages of HH. I really respect Silas, so ima go ahead and l

T This week I will continue blogging about books written by authors I met at the Louisville Book Festival late lasst week.  Samantha was another author who had a compelling ad in the Festival Program. She looks likeable to me, and I fell in love with the title.  Book I Haven't Read Yet - Alive AF: One Anxious Mom's Journey to Becoming Alcohol Free, by Samantha Perkins  Why I Haven't Read it Yet - my TBR pile overfloweth. I'm going to read Bad Vibes Only, then Bacon Grief, and then - maybe - I'll get to this one if I don't get overly distracted by the midterm elections. I'll do my best. Should You Read it? - I'm thinking yes.  TBH it would be really hard for me to tell you not to read a work by an author I've met. But that's a moot point today. Here are my two (five) cents: 1) I'm judging this book by its cover, and the cover art is exquisite. I love the bright yellow, and the simplicity. Props to Onur Askoy, cover designer.  2) Obviously,