Dairy Queen - Catherine Murdock

I have no idea how I came across this title, but there it was in my hold pile. I can’t say I often peruse "young adult" chick lit., but this turned out to be an excellent book. DJ, a Wisconsin farm girl, has a busy, messy, broken family. Her father injured his hip and is now the house-husband; her mother is both a teacher and principal with more of a life at school than home; her younger brother is expected to great things in sports and has continual practices; and her older brothers have left over a family rift. This leaves DJ to run the entire farm single-handedly. Throw into the mix a spoiled football star wanna-be her uncle asks he to "train up" for the next season and she is nearly overwhelmed. Murdock’s voice for DJ is perfect. DJ is not a lazy whiner or soft spoiled kid. She is tough and funny, sarcastic and realistic. Scrubbing barns, milking cows and haying give her plenty of time to muse on her family and their quirks and consider what her future, if any, has in store for her. Ignore the category, read the book.

Inside Havana - Chronicle Books

Once, years ago, our friend Rebecca asked us to come out and look at her recently deceased grandmother’s house. It had been built during the civil war and had received its only wallpapering at that time - which was still hanging in black shreds throughout the house. Going through nearly 150 years of history stacked, stored and rotting in this house was both horrifying and fascinating. Stepping out into the fresh air after discovering a vintage electric shock kit was such a relief. I can’t imagine the relief Cuban refuges must feel when they hit Florida and get away from an entire country of such monumental grand and decaying rot.

This collection of photos highlights and beautiful decrepitude that is Havana. Original deco and art nouveau buildings still stand, often with the original, and very carefully preserved, furnishings inside. Gleaming finned caddies still fill the roads. Black and white photos and posters for clubs from the 40s and 50s decorate walls. And against this worn backdrop, everyday people go about their lives, watching tv in crumbling rooms , listening to their cd players in rotting, resplendent never-changing rooms, standing in the deco streets in shorts playing cards. Other areas of Havana has been abandoned completely. The images of the dance school, now overrun with jungle vines, is particularly creepy and beautiful. This is a gorgeous and horrible book.

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/site/catalog/excerpts.php?isbn=0811833437&store=books

Early Bird: A Memoir of Early Retirement - Sidney Rothman

When Sidney Rothman, head writer for Letterman, is fired he decides to take some time off. After 10 years of frantically being "on" in the hyper-alert city of L.A., Rothman decides to go to the only place he ever remembers feeling relaxed in his life - Florida. So, at the ripe age of 29, Rothman finds himself a roommate in a retirement "village" and starts early retirement… just to try it out. Both funny and sad, Rothman muses on the early-bird dinners, trying to break into the cool cliques by the pool, the joy of terry-cloth clothing and the pace of life for the end-of-lifers. Funny, weird and interesting. And to be honest, working for a very long time doesn’t look so bad after all…

Childfree and Loving It! - Nicki DeFago

Yup, there it is. This is it, the perfect book for those without a maternal/paternal bone in their bodies (me). I like kids - in very small doses and at certain ages. However, I am more than happy to hand them back. Do I want any? Never! Touching on everything from the big global reason not to have children (overpopulation and resources) to the basic (don’t wanna!) DeFago talks about "the last taboo" - not wanting kids. For those of us who have no desire to spend sleepless nights, gobs of money and the best years of our lives on screaming spawn, this book is a wonderful comfort. Quotes from numerous interviews show a wide range of folks with and without kids. Some were pressured into having children with the lame old "you’ll love them when they’re yours" line (actually, some of those people don’t love them and regret them immensely) to folks who have lived happily without children and can’t imagine ever wanting to change their lives. I sure can’t.

Different Dances - Shel Silverstein

I idly picked up this Shel Silverstein collection while wandering through a used bookstore the other day and gave it a flip. Oh my. This is NOT your usual Silverstein wacky, quirky drawings. Actually, they are. They just have a lot more nudity and swear words. With his usual impish wit Silverstein lampoons sex, politics and sexual politics. Hilariously nasty and funny drawing in Silverstein’s definite style, but with a hard, black-humored edge. Great fun - just keep it away from the kiddies.

(Be sure to check out the Amazon review - they obviously never cracked the cover and have NO IDEA this is not a book for kids)

Anybody Out There? - Marian Keyes

The latest installment in the Walsh family soap-opera is a doozy. Anna, the youngest Walsh girl (the spacy-new age one) gets her act together with the help of her brother-in-law Garv and moves to New York to work in marketing. The story picks up with Anna back in Ireland -recovering with a torn kneecap and a cut up face. Slowly the story reveals where the injuries come from, what the picture is that shows up in her mailbox, where her mysterious man Aidan has gone and why the strange woman keeps encouraging her dog to poop on the Walsh’s yard. All of Keyes’s books are excellent and engulfing. This is by far the biggest tear-jerker, but also funny and uplifting. The rest of the cast swings through, of course - the Walsh’s, assorted friends, and The Real Men. I’d highly recommend reading the series from the start, as there are some giveaways. However, if you do start here you will soon find yourself getting the rest of the series to see how they could have possibly ended up where they did. I’m looking forward to the next book already. Good stuff.