what is love?

this past february national geographic had an interesting article about love. you can read an excerpt here. another short except is can be found here. this one is more about the chemical similarities of people in love and those with ocd (a mental disorder). i actually scanned in the whole article, so i you want to read the thing, just comment me and i'll send it to you. anyway, since it is national geographic it mainly talks about the science of love. but i do appreciate the chemistry and the biological reasons of why we love, stay in love, and fall out of it. i even find it rather romantic. because personalities change, and obviously so do looks. but scents? your pheromones? i dunno... that seems like a keeper. which is nice. because it means that even years from now, you and him will be the same people, where it counts anyway. but if you do need some help, it even has a couple suggestions on how to rekindle that spark.
best quote: "'I married him because of his B.O.'"

oprah's 1st offense

kaye gibbons - a virtuous woman. this earns mention because it is the first oprah's book club book that i've not liked. lol, seriously. i don't know what happened with this one. maybe her usual book club recomendation person was sick? and so someone else filled in the spot? i don't know... anyway. boring book. no real point.

expert's guide

samantha ettus' the experts' guide to 100 things everyone should know how to do was actually a bit disapointing. there are lots of good topics and yet very few of them actually go in depth. and some of them are just common sense. i mean, how to wash your hair? ...doesn't it instruct how to right on the shampoo bottle? and if you can't take the time to read that itty bit, i doubt you're gonna read this book. also frederick fekkai tells you to wash your hair everyday. and yet everything else i've ever read tells you otherwise. anyway. i did like the selection of topics and i thought that most of the experts she chose were very qualified. however, i do think the book would've benefitted from a few more pictures. but i dunno, maybe i just need a little more help than most...

april 2006

j.m. coetzee - waiting for the barbarians (again)
suzanne finnamore - otherwise engaged
sue miller - while i was gone
ruthanne lum mccunn - thousand pieces of gold
elizabeth strout -amy and isabelle (again)
elizabeth berg - open house (again)
anne tyler - back when we were grownups (again)
kaye gibbons - a virtuous woman
iris murdoch - under the net
erik larson - the devil in the white city
david lawrence - circle of the dead

back from break

so you know how i planned on reading tons during the break? well, i didn't. in fact i barely read at all. i only finished one book. a book that i was already half-way through. bleh. i did however manage to read like a million magazines: 2 newsweeks, 3 bazaars, 1 allure, 1 in style, 2 luckys, 1 national geographic, 1 domino, 1 teen vouge, 1 esquire, 2 janes, and 1 seventeen. that's right. 16 magazines. and that's if i didn't forget anything. oh, and i started another book too. guess it wasn't all for nothing after all...