Mood boosting books

Here's a list of mood boosting books. “It is hoped those with ‘mild to moderate’ mental health conditions will try out the idea before turning to prescription drugs — many of which can have unpleasant side effects,” The Daily Mail explains.

Sounds good to me. And I have Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, which I can highly recommend.

Book recommendation, and a brief rant

Just so I don't lose my note, a patient said Jeni should read Jen Lancaster.

Also, while I'm making brief notes, I just need to get this off my chest: "worser" is not a word. It's "worse". You can't get more worse than worse and make it worser. It doesn't work that way.

Example:
Incorrect: My low back pain is worser than yesterday.
Correct: My low back pain is worse than yersterday.

Thank you.

Book list

I'm mentioning this Indies Choice Book Award list here mainly because I am a slow reader and struggle to pick a new book because it is such an investment of time when I do commit to reading a book and I want to make sure I pick a good one. And if it made a "best of" list, then it's probably a good start.

Tournament of Books

Jeni and I love books ... we love the way they look on the shelf, the smell of a book, and of course reading books. And tournaments are fun too. So when I saw The Tournament of Books today, I thought, "What a great idea!" Now, I haven't read any of these books, so following the tournament might be like watching March Madness without a favorite team in the mix, but the fact that they have a Zombie Round alone makes it worth tuning in to. That, and the fact that the winner gets a live rooster (which explains the t-shirt).

And speaking of t-shirts, really, if nothing else, follow the t-shirt link and look at the other shirt on the page. I seriously think I need an "aeiofu" t-shirt. Maybe for roller derby night!

The Graveyard Book

I rushed out last night after my workshop and stopped by the closest Books-A-Million to get the new Neil Gaiman book (just released on the 30th) The Graveyard Book. But the Books-A-Million I first stopped at didn't have it. It seems that they put it out early, then realized it was out too early, then pulled it off the shelf and managed to somehow lose it. But they called the other Books-A-Million (the one just beyond our house) and they had it, so we went out there and picked it up (thanks Tiff for the gift card!). Thanks to a discount on the book and a coupon and a gift card (thanks again Tiff!) I was actually able to get my book, plus the new Laurie Notaro book for Jeni (The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death -- really if you haven't read any of her stuff you must -- brings Jeni to tears laughing). A lot of running around meant we didn't get home until almost 10:00. I figured if we went to the second Books-A-Million first they would have been the one without the book and we would have run back the other way, so it all worked out.

Free book

Cory Doctorow wrote the book Little Brother, a young adults book, and has placed it online for a free download. This book has been well reviewed, and it's free. Jeni and I both love books, and like to share books with others, so when I saw that this one was available for a free download, I wanted to point it out. No, I haven't read it yet, but I did download it.

Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and he said of Little Brother, "I'd recommend Little Brother over pretty much any book I've read this year, and I'd want to get it into the hands of as many smart 13 year olds, male and female, as I can. Because I think it'll change lives. Because some kids, maybe just a few, won't be the same after they've read it. Maybe they'll change politically, maybe technologically. Maybe it'll just be the first book they loved or that spoke to their inner geek. Maybe they'll want to argue about it and disagree with it. Maybe they'll want to open their computer and see what's in there. I don't know. It made me want to be 13 again right now and reading it for the first time, and then go out and make the world better or stranger or odder. It's a wonderful, important book, in a way that renders its flaws pretty much meaningless."

That sounds like a good book to me. And did I mention that it's free?

Recommended reading

Looking for something to read? Check out the Locus recommended reading list for 2007. (I checked, no Star Wars reference here. Sorry...)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Amazon.com recently acquired a hand written copy of five fairy tales written by J.K. Rowling. It is pretty neat to see the images of the book, the hand drawn illustrations, and to read the reviews. You have to wonder if this will ever see print. (I guess that depends on how well her next series does...)

100 Book Every Child Should Read

This is an interesting list printed by the Telegraph (Britain, not Bluefield) about the 100 books every child should read, even broken down by age group (early, middle, teen). There's a definite British lean to the books, of course, but I thought it was interesting to see which books they recommended, and to have some fresh titles to took at for your children.

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet

I had a patient's five-year-old son hanging out with me while his mom was in the office, and I was doodling with him and drew an elephant nose on the man's face, and antlers, and it reminded me of the book I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Theo LeSieg (Geisel backward ... aka Dr. Seuss). It's such a great children's classic. This, of course, gets me thinking about other favorites, including Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo! Children's books are such great memories...

I bleed for Harry Potter

I have a patient who works for the Red Cross and she was in last week telling me about a blood drive they were having where they were doing drawings for copies of the final Harry Potter book. Being O-negative (the universal donor) and knowing I was way past due on donating, I figured what the heck, I might as well try. As I showed up, the lady overseeing the drawing said if I donated using the Alyx machine, which separates your red cells instead of donating whole blood (red cells and plasma) then you definitely get a book. So I said "sure" and won a voucher for a free Harry Potter book. We'll be with all the excited kids at Books-A-Million at 12:01 tonight. I just like the spectacle of the whole thing, and think it's so neat for the kids (not our kids, of course, we don't have kids, and the cats don't read Harry Potter -- they much prefer Neil Gaiman and James Patterson).

(By the way, I called Books-A-Million to ask how late they'd be open, thinking maybe if we show around 12:15-ish we'll miss more of the line, and the answer, like I'd expect from a cashier, was, "We'll be open at least until midnight." OK, the sale starts at 12:01, so I think midnight's a given, but I'm in a good mood -- maybe it's the loss of blood -- so I'll leave the sarcasm for another day...)

Everything in the internet is connected

So this is my proof that everything in the internet is connected. This morning, in a brief moment between patients I took a minute to check a few blogs I enjoy but haven't been to lately. First, I went to the Dog Eat Doug blog (from the artist who does the Dog Eat Doug comic). He had a link to an artist he enjoyed, and whose style reminded me somewhat of my cousin Kerry. I viewed some of his pictures, liked it, and moved on. I then went to Neil Gaiman's Journal (on of my favorites). He wrote about a book he enjoyed, then mentioned his favorite book of the year so far, The Pinhoe Egg. Out of curiosity, I do a Blingo search for the book, and go to Amazon to look at it. The cover of the book is by the artist that was linked to from Dog Eat Doug. And the circle is complete...

There's A Slight Chance I Might Be Going To Hell

Jeni's favorite chick-lit author has a new book coming out, and with a title like that, who can resist?