“Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House” by Cheryl Mendelson

Why, oh why did I think I would want to read this book?

Actually (uncharacteristically for me) I remember exactly what drew me to this book. It was the statement that appears on its front cover: “Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food.” I thought this book might provide me with some reasonable guidelines in conjunction with effective but rapid techniques to elevate my housekeeping efficiency as well as the quality of my results. (But, never having perused JoC, maybe my expectations were skewed?)

I think this book is probably not meant to be read cover to cover and is intended more as a reference to dip into as needed; nevertheless, reading it cover to cover is what I set out to do. And it worked until I got to chapter 14, The Fabric of Your Home. OMG. I will never need to know that level of detail about ALL the different types of materials that exist. I was totally derailed.

But I managed to tough it out, for the most part. I definitely skimmed over sections that I was pretty sure would never apply to me, but I read everything that seemed like it might be helpful. And most of the way through this book, my assumption was that once I finished reading it I would hang onto it as a reference just in case. But the closer I got to the end, the more I noticed that I was not finding any information that I would actually make use of in my life. And you know what else? There's this thing called the Internet. As it turns out, I've found the Internet to be a pretty dang good reference. Not to mention that it can typically give me an answer that doesn't go unnecessarily deeply into details, AND that doesn't make me feel bad because I will never vacuum my curtains weekly. Not until they make a Roomba capable of doing that. 

"The Dilemma" by B.A. Paris

I have been in a reading slump. For some reason all I’ve been able to do recently is crossword puzzles. It has certainly not been for lack of good books waiting for me to read them. I don’t really know how to explain it, but there it was. 

Until last week, when obligations brought us past our nearest Half Price Books store (two hours away) where I gathered a teetering stack of (almost) new books. On the way home (I promise I wasn’t driving!) I chose the one I was least interested in and started reading. Forty-eight hours later (minus two full work shifts), I’d finished it, a reader once again. 

This is the story of Adam and Olivia, who are preparing for her 40th birthday bash—something that’s been in the works for years. Their 22-year-old son Josh is there to celebrate with them and help out, but their 19–year-old daughter Marnie is studying in Hong Kong for the year. And of course everyone has secrets… Adam has a surprise for Livia, not realizing she might not be pleased by it; Marnie is hiding something from her parents, though she doesn’t know Livia has already figured it out, and Livia knows she should have told Adam but hasn’t yet; Josh has changed his plans and is afraid to tell Adam; so everyone has A Dilemma of their own. And then Adam realizes something terrible may have happened, but he’s not entirely certain yet…

Given the fact that I read 340 pages in 2 days, this book was obviously a page-turner. And I did enjoy reading it. But I didn’t love it. It wasn’t one of those fully immersive experiences. For me, somehow, the writing wasn’t real enough. It was just a made up story about imaginary characters. Yes, yes, I know in a literal sense that’s true of all fiction… but in the best books, it doesn’t feel like it. Not that I would be capable of recreating that myself. But I am capable of recognizing it when presented with it.