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Hi everyone,

I've gotten a big fed up with some things and I've moved my blog. From now on you can catch sassymonkey reading here. Please update your bookmarks and feeds.

Thanks!

Canadian Student Financial Planning Guide

I didn't really like this book. But I really didn't expect to like this book so it's not a surprise at all.

My first issue is that I can't figure out who they are really trying to market it to - as in what age. From their plan on saving it's something you ought to read at least a year before going to school (probably more if possible) but at the rate tuition is rising it's really darned hard to figure out how much money you'll need for basic tuition. Not that their saving advice is bad. It's good to have savings before you start school. Mind you, they'll get eaten away pretty fast once you start...

Second issue - they talk about how it's ideal to have money coming in on a weekly basis and do a weekly budget as opposed to getting money in lump sums or "boosts". While I don't really disagree with them (budgeting lump sums over a semester is *hard*) I'm willing to bet that most of the students who would be interested in this book are not people who have a steady source of money. I'd be willing to bet that most of the readers would be relying on student loans and scholarships, both of which tend to come in lump sums! Part-time jobs can be a source of weekly or biweekly income and they do talk about them but it can be difficult to maintain a working and studying schedule (I know, I had three part-time jobs...at the same time).

This book does have some good information. It goes on to talk about apt vs dorm living. About your various expenses. It talks about cheap forms of entertainment.

However they even talk about finding a job when you finish school. They also talking about maintaining a long-term savings account and investing - while still a student (oh I laughed until I practically cried on that one...).

I think the problem lies in that they tried tried to do to much in one book. They try to cover way too much ground. If they want to right a book about saving money and funding your education they should have done that. If they wanted to write a book about searching for a job when you are done of school they should have done that. The combination of the two is annoying and just doesn't work.

personal finance, student loans, non-fiction

Huh!

So um yeah...yesterday the note on my library account said three books to pick up. I just checked and now it's up to six books! Including one book I totally didn't remember requesting - Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden. When I click on the Library of Congress information for it, it turns out the author is married to Joseph Boyden. Joseph Boyden is the author of Three Day Road. Cool! I know I totally didn't know that before I reserved it (I now have a vague recollection of reserving it since I read the description on Amazon).

The other books waiting for me? A couple of the history of lingerie (yes I am aware reading about lingerie is taking my obsession with it to a new level although I've convinced myself it's ok...). Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Dish by Barbara Moses and Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (one of my favourite books that I've been wanting to reread for a few weeks).

Books on my shelf that need to be read and go back to the library- Pay it Down by Jean Chatzky, Story House by Timothy Taylor, and The Ballroom on Magnolia Street by Sharon Owens. Oh and Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook (it was by the library desk, it's small and fits in my purse so it's a good public transit book).

Plus today, on my way back from buying baseball tickets (Toonie Tuesday tomorrow, yay! oh wait...that won't make sense to most of you...um $2 ticket day!!! lol) I stopped at Chapters (I like the location on John Street - they always have very tempting displays!) and bought So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson (dude I could so write this book!) and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (I'm totally blaming this purchase on the fact the chick on the cover is wearing Victorian undergarments...).

Hmm now I remember why I stopped writing down all the books on my list...it's scary!!! I think I'm going to go read or something...

Mount TBR, lists

My Life in France

Illegitimus non carborundum est - Don't let the bastards grind you down. This was apparently one of Paul Child's favourite phrases around his 50th birthday. Good advice Paul.

My Life in France is really about the writing of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which I've somehow resisted ordering despite desperately wanting to through the reading of this book and Julie and Julia) than about their life in France as just as much of it takes place outside of France as it does in it. But one would not exist without the other. It starts off as Julia and Paul move to Paris shortly after the beginning of their marriage. At the time Julia, then in her late 30s, can barely cook. After moving to France she takes up cooking with passion, if not with skill. She takes a course of cooking at the Cordon Bleu and through various ties and connections meet the people with whom she will write the classic book of French cooking. It takes them through time in Paris, Marseilles, Bonn, Oslo, Washington, New England - they were a busy couple!

It's been a long time since I've seen Julia on TV. I was quite young when her shows were in regular rotation. Plus I lived in two-channel world (I had only two channels until I was about 16 when we moved into town and could get cable). I often forget how funny she was. Her humour comes shining through in this book. One of my favourite lines was "The American poultry industry had made it possible to grow a fine-looking fryer in record time and sell it at a reasonable price, but no one mentioned that the result usually tasted like the stuffing inside of a teddy bear." Yep, that's Julia.

I loved the little bits and phrases of French thrown in here and there. I really do miss French. I ought to do something about that. It was nice to exercise my brain a bit. (If you don't read French don't worry, you really don't need to as things are explained - it was just nice to see.)

In speaking of her budding friendship with Avis De Voto, a friendship formed via letter, she comments, "We had grown really fond of Avis. Odd, to feel as though you knew someone quite well whom you had never met." How many of us today, in the land of the internet, feel that way?

And finally one last gem of Julia wisdom "I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanation over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-depreciation's [...] it is so dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is fine, whether it is or not. Beside, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings..." Thank you Julia. Lesson learned.

A great book for Julia fans.

Bon appétit!

Julia Child, non-fiction

Eek!

A couple of weeks ago I modified my "Books to Read" list. I changed it from a simple list in Word to a colour coded list in Excel. I did this because I wanted to be able to know at a glance how many books are on the list. Plus I can sort it by the books I've read. I have a column for date read and I recently added a colomn for the date I added it to the list. (Yes, I know I'm a geek.)

This is scary because I've noticed that in the last week I've added about 10 books to the list. I think that's about normal. Do you know how many books I've read in that time??? ONE! ONE BOOK!

Ok, I earlier this year I had been reading at least 2-3 books a week on average. April has been a dismal month for me. I've been having a concentration problems. Work was busy. But still - I've added ten books and been able to cross out one.

I need help.

Ok...back to reading.

And the winner of Canada Reads 2006 is...

Ok, this is probably gonna sound a bit...I don't know...but I kind of wish that this book hadn't won.

I don't think this is a bad book. In fact it's on my list of books to read. It's on a lot of peoples lists of books to read. I heard on the radio that it's been on the bestsellers list for a long time and it's also been nominated for the Giller Prize. Call me crazy but personally I think it would have been nice if maybe a book that had already gotten a bit less attention had won.

I know - rooting for underdogs is so very Canadian. lol

Can-Lit, Canada Reads

Fat Girl

This book made me queasy. Each time she launched into one of her rather graphic descriptions about how people smelled my stomach rolled over. Seriously. At one point I took a ginger pill. Be warned - if you read this book you so don't want to be snacking on anything at the same time.

I'm not fat. I've never been fat. I have no idea what it's like to be fat. So I found this interesting because it's a voice I haven't really heard in my own life.

It's a very frank memoir. But I have to say that I didn't like her. At all. Despite the fact that she was unloved, abused and neglected I couldn't really seem to feel any sympathy towards her. She just wasn't likable. But I think that maybe that was the point. I think that maybe she was saying, "Look at horrible I was. Is it any wonder that my mother beat me and didn't like me? Is it any wonder that my father abandoned me? Can you blame them?" I think maybe I didn't like her because she didn't want to be liked. She painted herself in the worst way possible. Yeah, she was a kid and she did some stuff that she shouldn't have. But she was a kid.

I'm not going to recommend this book but I'm not going to not recommend it either. I can't really tell anyone to go read something that made me resort to taking something to quell nausea. But at the same time I feel that Moore's voice is important and should be heard. Read some reviews and decide for yourself (if you want someplace to start you can read Denise's review here).

fatgirl, non-fiction

Booking Through Thursday

Actually done on Thursday this week...

Connect any six books in your library to each other by any way you want. One book will remind you of another because the author's name is similar, a fictional character shows up in someone else's book, another author is talked about by characters in a book, maybe the same friend recommended both books, or whatever. Your list should be at least six books long. Books from a series count as one entry in your list.

I'm starting with 1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen because I haven't read in awhile so it stands out on my bookcase and makes me think of 2. the Grace Harlowe books by Jessie Graham Flower because both came from my grandmother's bookcase when she moved out of her house (I got first dibs on the books, yay) which makes me think of 3. Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery because the book is set in PEI and that's where I grew up and my grandmother lives and since it's set during WWI it makes me think of 4. Marching as to War by Pierre Burton because it's about Canada and war and since I haven't finished that book it makes me think of 5. Candy Freak by Steve Almond because I totally haven't even cracked the cover on that book which makes me think of 6. It Must Have Been Something I Ate by Jeffery Steinberg which I bought at the same time as Candy Freak and haven't crack the cover on it either and I'm kinda scared to because after giving up on two books with a similar topic lately I'm not sure I'll like it.

Whew!

bookingthroughthursday, meme

Canada Reads Update

I just thought I'd post a quick update on Canada Reads. So far two books have been kicked to the curb - Cocksure and Deafening.

There was a lot of debate today about Three Day Road and A Complicated Kindness. Rooms for Rent is still on the list as well (although a lot of the panel isn't crazy about sitting down to read an entire book of poetry) but they kept pretty quiet about it today. I think the panelist that is supporting it was trying to not draw attention to it today. lol The panelists were feeling feisty.

You can read or listen to the debates here.

Can-Lit, Canada Reads

Speak *trigger*

It's been awhile since a book drew me in like this one. It felt good to fly through a book.

I've had this on my list of books to read for months after it popped up one day in my Amazon.ca recommendations. Then Denise mentioned it in her books for girls post last month and I bumped it onto my request list.

I was wary about this book. It has trigger potential. I've had the book checked out for awhile but work has been stressful for the last few weeks so I figured that picking this up when I was strung out wouldn't be wise.

Speak lured me in pretty much immediately. It kinda surprised me because the paragraphs are very short and it's almost stream of consciousness. You are very much in her head. But it worked really well for me. The author gives Melinda a very strong voice.

As Denise mentions in her post it is a tough read. But it's a good tough read.

I borrowed this book from the library and my favourite part was getting to the last page and seeing that previous readers had turned blank page facing it into a pseudo-bathroom wall. And now I'm off to look up the number for a local crisis line to add to that page (even though it kinda goes against my writing in library books rule) because, well, some girl reading the book might need it.

teens, rape