Comfort

I don't know how many people ever even look at the sidebar on this blog but if you glance at it from time to time, you'll have noticed that the books currently on my bedside table have not changed in a coon's age (that's one of those fun "southern-isms" I can use now that I live in the sunny south and might be a redneck). You might also notice that the books listed there are rather heavy tomes, either in terms of literary value or just plain old weight (or both). So despite the fact that comfort food, which I gravitate towards this time of year, is hearty and stick to your ribs (mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.), my comfort reading, and the only reading I've really been doing lately with the stress of the season, is light and inconsequential. As a matter of fact, when asked what I've been reading lately, the answer, more often than not has been "Smut." Perhaps not a kind designation but whether you call them "thigh thumpers," or "bodice rippers," or even "bored housewife books," they don't exactly have the heft or gravitas as say, War and Peace, which I actually do have a non-moving bookmark in at the moment. And it's not looking like 2008 will be the year I finish it although it can still be the year I tackled it. But these happily-ever-after books are my comfort reading. There's nothing better than my grandmother's mac and cheese, which, incidentally, my own philistine children don't like, prefering that cardboard Kraft crapola, a cup of overly sweet hot chocolate with marshmallows, a warm fire, snuggly jammies, and a romance novel filled with hot monkey lovin'. Yes, I am the perfect 35-40 female demographic and advertisers should flock to me for my opinions. And anyone wanting to send books spanning the literary spectrum from W&P to romances will not be turned away! So what spells comfort to you?

Fall Into Reading Challenge

Callapidder created a no stress, laid-back sort of reading challenge that each person tailors to his or her own reading habits. My list of books constantly evolved in the days leading up to the challenge as I decided I wanted to commit to finishing the books I'd already started. Some of them fell off the list before the challenge opened because I finished them ahead of time. But as of Sept. 23, the list was finalized:

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Riding the Bus With My Sister by Rachel Simon

The Girls by Lori Lansens

Marley and Me by John Grogan

My Home Is Far Away by Dawn Powell

As of right now, I've finished all but Middlemarch and I am beginning to wonder if I will ever finish it. I like it well enough but it just isn't grabbing me in that visceral can't put it down sort of way so I keep putting it down. I know this is the kiss of death for many people but I am one of the obsessive who finishes everything I start and this book won't be the one that makes me change my policy (that book was Paradise Lost but that's a whole 'nother rant). Here's hoping I get through another 650+ pages before Dec. 21!