Books are the Best

When I am in a funk I have always found that bed and a book are the only salve I have. Right now I am reading Julie and Julia. Very funny. I can't say that I have ever met a funny, cussing woman that I didn't like. Particularly one that drinks too much and cooks nothing but French food for one year for no discernible reason. What I find amusing about the fact that I like reading cook books so much (Ruth Reichl is another) is that I HATE to cook. The only thing I can think of that I find as mundane as cooking is gardening. I really wish I were one of those people who likes to be industrious. But if I can read about someone else's process of being useful that they kindly embellish with descriptive passages and poetic turns of the phrase and that I can read while lying in bed while eating chocolate. Well then count me in!I don't know why I like books so much. Probably because I can pretend to be someone else and stop being so self-analyzing. I can relax for a bit and escape my mundane life for one that is more interesting. And the best thing about prose is that even pedestrian actions seems romantic and exciting. It is so much easier to be compelling in fiction. I think this also applies to blogs. It doesn't really hold true for this one because I think the only people who read it know me already. And there's no way in hell I am ever letting a member of my family have this URL. I am certain that I have already been disinherited, but no reason to fan the flames now is there? I keep thinking there is time for my life and my self to be different. All the while knowing perfectly well that the years and opportunities are quickly passing me by. This is beginning to sound a bit depressing for a Friday night. Which, by the way, here at casa exciting—I am on the internet writing this, Josh and Ben are asleep and it's only 6:30 in the evening. Woo hoo! We are REALLY living on the edge here. And then I remember that I am an over-priveleged white woman with a healthy child and a wonderful husband and a roof over my head and I tell myself to quit complaining. What a slag! But seriously, check out Julie's blog about the Julie/Julia project and what appears to be her current one.