Reading is Sexy

Click photo for the link!

We love reading so much, we thought it would be fun to share a few reading inspired things we love over at cafepress.com. Above, there is a funny magnet with a librarian on it. This one happens to be on sale right now for just $2! This would look super cute on any fridge. The shirt below is adorable, and it shows how sexy reading can be. How cute is this pinup?!

Click the image to find where this can be purchased.

This particular shirt comes in different colors and sizes, and is reasonably priced. There is also a swearshirt and duffle bag with the image on it. Cute stuff!

Up next, there is an adorable Reading Rainbow inspired t-shirt that is fun! It looks like a vintage tee from the 80's!! "Take a look, it's in a book"...

Click the image for the link!

There are even cute kids t-shirts available! This one is great. Oh, and it is made with organic cotton!

Click photo for the link!

These are great ways to reward your kids and yourself for reading books. Enjoy being an appreciative reader!

ReKindled. Forgive the Pun.

When the Kindle first came out, I knew that eventually, we'd all have one. I love paper books, and I will never give them up completely, but I'm not so naive as to think they will always be the preferred medium for books. When the Kindle was first developed, I was resistant, swearing that I'd never have one, but it didn't really matter, anyway; they were expensive and constantly out of stock, and there weren't many e-books available. Now that you can get a Kindle or a reasonable knock-off for under $200 and nearly any book, newspaper, or magazine in an electronic format, I can foresee the end of the paper book era, and I find that I'm not so resistant to move along with the tide of the rest of the world.

My acceptance of the evolving world of print comes as a bit of a surprise for me. I have been resistant in so many other aspects of change in our literature and language. I am emphatic about proper spelling and grammar, even in text messages, even on Facebook. Just thinking about replacing entire words with their singular vowel sound horrifies me; I can't even joke about it without having minute tics (lol, u so crzy!!!1!) I don't read vampire novels (although I did read the first two books of the Twilight series, sue me) and I tend to shy away from anything that becomes too popular (see my post about Oprah Book Club books.) I suppose the difference between e-books and text speak (omg!) is the presence of logic. I love books, but even more than that, I love reading. A Kindle might not have the same feel or smell as a hardcover copy of my favorite book, but the content of that book is there, and that's what matters. The Kindle and other such e-readers take my favorite thing and make it more compact, more portable, more accessible. How can I be completely opposed to that?

I had an extra bit of money this weekend and almost bought myself a Kindle, but I decided to wait a while longer and put that money into my savings account. I couldn't justify the cost, even though they have become considerably more affordable. Right now, I read in one of two places: at home, or in my car (not while driving, of course.) It is not a problem for me to just grab a book and toss it in my bag before I head out the door. I also get most of my books from the library, and though I know that some e-books are available to be borrowed in the same way, I know myself well. I would take that Kindle and work fast to fill it up, spending money on books that I plan to read "someday." Right now, I buy books that matter to me, or books I absolutely have to read, but cannot get from my library. It's the only way I can keep my already massive book collection under control. Perhaps the biggest factor in my current lack of an e-reader is my propensity for dropping expensive electronics into water. I recently lost my BlackBerry this way, and I don't think I would be able to survive the heartbreak of such an accident with a Kindle.

So, no Kindle for me, not yet, anyway. Maybe I can talk myself into it in a year or two. My sister and blog co-author, Jen, just got one for Mother's Day, and I know she loves hers. I have to wonder if she'll continue to buy hardcovers or paperbacks, or if she'll just download them from now on. I wonder if it makes any difference at all, if I'm just being sickly sentimental. Is there enough love for paper books to keep them around much longer, or will they go the way of typewriters and become a whimsical collectible with no real relevance? Mp3s did not destroy music, and I know that e-readers will not destroy literature, but I can't help but worry about losing books. Maybe that's why I'm still reluctant to buy a Kindle: I'm hoping to keep books alive for just a little while longer.

Keep Your "O" Off My Book!

I like Oprah. I admire her, I watch her show, I subscribe to her magazine, and I think she's a fairly cool lady. When she started talking about books and got everyone to read, I thought it was great, and wished more power to her and the ubiquitous "Oprah effect." Sometimes I would read the monthly selection, most of the time I wouldn't. She chose some good ones (I am still grateful for the introduction to Wally  Lamb) and she chose some really awful ones (I thought James Frey's A Million Little Pieces sucked before everyone found out it was full of lies and got all mad about it) but it didn't matter; my reading habits had nothing to do with her. Well, that was true until she started putting her darn sticker on everything.

I don't remember when the "O" sticker first appeared; it's possible that it was plastered all over the cover of her first selection (which happened to be Jacquelyn Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean, if you were curious) and I somehow just didn't notice it. Once I did notice that sticker, I saw it everywhere, and it unnerved me. That little sticker changed the way I read. It made me self-conscious. I didn't want anyone to see me reading a novel with Oprah's seal of approval and think that I was incapable of chosing books for myself. That sticker undermined my expertise, and as much as I like Oprah, I refuse to believe that she's better at choosing books than I am. The easy fix would have been to simply peel the sticker off, but those things were made with some kind of freakishly strong Oprah-grade glue that wouldn't come off without taking a good chunk of the cover with it. So, I could look like one of Oprah's reading minions or like I don't take care of my books.

Oprah huh?



That sticker made me wary of certain books. I rebelled against Oprah and her super-sticky stickers. They were designed to make me want to read something, but instead, they repelled me, and I would often refuse a book simply because Oprah told me I should check it out.  My rebellion extended beyond the obviously branded books to books that looked like something Oprah might like; there was nothing worse than having a stranger ask me if I was reading an "Oprah book." If I happened to read a book before Oprah got her mitts on it, I had to make sure that everyone knew about it. That's right, I had The Road on hold at the library at least two weeks before Oprah said a word about it. I still feel a bit smug about this, ridiculous as it is.

At one point, I decided that contemporary fiction was getting to be too stressful for me, so I went back to the good old classics. Of course, soon after I made this decision, Oprah stretched out a bit and started encouraging people to read Faulkner and Tolstoy and Dickens. That would have been great, except that now the sticker was gone, replaced by a permanent graphic printed right on the cover. Oprah has officially proliferated the reading world, and now she cannot be peeled away. Even your non-fiction isn't safe; if the author appeared on the Oprah show, watched the Oprah show, or has heard of Oprah, there will likely be an endorsement somewhere on the book. 

Now that the heyday of Oprah's book club has largely passed (it helped oodles when she stopped making regular selections and instead chose books when she darn well felt like it), and the show is in its final season, I have hope that the "O" emblem will gradually fade from existence, at least on my books. I don't begrudge Miss O and her embrace of literature, I just wish she hadn't gotten so stamp-happy with her love. Couldn't the graphic have been smaller? Or maybe it could've been tucked inside the book somewhere, like in the middle of a random chapter or hidden within the cover art itself. I wouldn't be opposed to a fun game of "Where's Oprah" with my copy of She's Come Undone. In the meantime, I suppose I'll have to continue avoiding the mark as much as I can, and when that's impossible, well, there's always electrical tape.

Short Review: Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein

The gist: The world of little girls is a hot pink mess, thick with pink princessy frou-frou unlike anything parents have dealt with before. Is all this extreme girliness just a harmless phase, or is there something more sinister lurking behind all that pink?

What I Liked: The conversational tone and sense of humor made this an easy and enjoyable read, without skimping on the hard facts, and there are some surprising hard facts. Orenstein navigates this territory with honesty and hubris, dismantling the mighty pink monster in a way that enables you to see it clearly without completely admonishing it. She doesn't offer any concrete answers, but provides the reader enough information and space to decide whether those Disney Princesses are friends or foes.

What I Didn't Like: I got this feeling like I was a tiny post trying to protect my kids from a hurricane. More than once, I felt the urge to move to a cabin in the woods without electricity and pop culture, and I still don't know what to do about my daughter's insistence that she wear dresses in subzero temperatures so that she can be "pretty."

Should You Read It?
If you have any young girls in your life, yes, absolutely read it. At the very least, it will make you laugh.

For more information, check this out.

You might also like Can't Buy My Love by Jean Kilbourne and So Sexy So Soon by Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne.

Read, You Will.

I have always been an enthusiastic reader, and as such, I don't get why people don't read. Sure, I understand that people are tired and busy and prefer movies and television and video games to books. I like to think (and hope) that these are just weak excuses and that the real reason people don't read is because they haven't heard about how awesome it can be. No, really. Reading is awesome! It expands your vocabulary and knowledge, and it's much easier than Sudoku. The real beauty is that you can read whatever you want, and the benefits are the same. A raunchy romance novel may not have the same distinction as a hefty classic, but it will still do amazing things for your mind.

I know that my enthusiasm for reading is anomalous, and I don't expect people to be as voracious about it as I am, but I do want people to read, even if it's just a little. I can't say exactly why it means so much to me; maybe I just want to share this thing that has shaped me into an amazing, intelligent, verbose, and totally modest individual. Books changed my life, and I think everyone can benefit from reading. So, to make the idea a little easier to swallow, I'm going propose a few flexible rules for reading.

Rule #1. Read whatever you want.
Read magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, literary masterpieces, Harlequin romances, murder mysteries, science fiction robot love stories, poetry, travel pamphlets, whatever you want, as long as you read something. I believe that there is something for everyone, and if you put in a little effort, you will find something that you will enjoy reading. Keep searching until you find whatever it is that you love, and then read the heck out of it.

Rule #2. No reader's guilt allowed.
I suffered from reader's guilt until my senior year of high school, when I told my English teacher that I hated the book she was forcing us to read at the time. She just shrugged and said, "Well, then, don't read it. Life's too short for crappy books." It was the first time I had ever been given permission to not finish a book. I  used to trudge through a book until the bitter end, bound by a sense of obligation to finish what I started. Now, I'll give a book no more than 100 pages to grab me. If I don't love it by then, I'll put it down and read something else. So if you start a book and at any point you start to hate it, I give you permission to start using it to level your kitchen table.

Rule #3. No time requirements.
Someone once told me that if you read for five minutes a day, you will read about 22 books a year. I'm having trouble substantiating this claim, but I think it's important to remember that you can make a long journey with small steps. Even if you read just a page here and a minute or two there, you will eventually get through whatever it is you're reading, and you will be better for it. This is leisure reading; there are no deadlines, no pop quizzes. Take all the time you want.

Rule #4. Use your library.
Libraries are underutilized, and this makes me sad. Is there anything better than free books? Sure, you don't get to keep them forever (well, you're not supposed to, anyway) but how often do you re-read a book? Most libraries have online catalogs, so you can search for your book and even place it on hold so that it will be waiting for you at the front desk. You can also re-check your books online to avoid late fees. Libraries also have audiobooks, CDs, movies, and even e-books available, all for free. Your library card also gives you access to all their databases, which is something I'll explore in-depth in a later post, but trust me, it's awesome. So use your library and learn to love it.

Rule #5. Talk about it.
If you loved a book, recommend it to all your friends. Write about it on your Facebook page, lend it to reliable people who will return it, put it on your t-shirt. If you hated a book, get out the loud speaker and talk about it even more. There is no better way to find out about great books than by talking about books, and it always makes for great conversation.

So get out there, find a book, and bury your nose in it. Not literally, though. That will make the words blurry and defeat the purpose of this post. If you find a keeper, let us know about it. Happy reading, everyone!

Nose planted firmly in book. 

Welcome to SodaPop Pages!

SodaPop Pages is brought to you by a pair of bubbly sisters with a mutual love for food and cooking, summer fun, vintage style, trying new and sometimes crazy things, and books, books, books. Why the name?We have big plans for fun things we'd like to share with our readers, and our interests are hard to categorize. Soda pop makes us think of food and drink, which is one of our main areas of interest, but it also makes us think of summer fun, vintage style, and the joys of childhood. Our other main focus with this blog will be on books and reading, hence the Pages of our title.

Allow us to introduce ourselves:

Hello! My name is Jennifer. I live in Germany with my husband and daughter. My husband is in the Air Force, so home is where they send us. I love the mystery of how things are made, and am a DIY fanatic. Cooking and crafting are some of my major interests. I love to sew and design, and plan to start attending online classes for fashion design. So far, I am self-taught. I learn from my mistakes, and revel in my failures as much as my successes. I am also an avid reader. I have two etsy shops featuring my handmade designs.

http://www.jenharruff.etsy.com/ and http://www.cupcakesandcameos.etsy.com/.








Here I am with my signature hair flower.

 

I am Melanie, mother of one girl maniac and one boy maniac, living with said maniacs and my husband in a little city in the land of Montana, or as I like to call it, "Not-Quite-Canada." I'm an imperfect stay-at-home mom, doing my best to keep my kids alive and happy and my house at least a little clean. Some days are better than others. I'm a reader and a writer and an aspiring librarian, and when I'm not hiding my face behind a great book, I like to make a fool of myself in front of large crowds singing bad (and sometimes good) sober karaoke. Mornings are tough for me and I don't truly wake up until after noon, my bowling average is dismal, but I get very lucky at pool, and I hate gameshows.



I love fire.

Find us on facebook at www.facebook.com/sodapoppages

Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/sodapoppages