www.notsomuchtotheyearofyes.com

Hi all - Reads Wizardspoon here, aka, MANDY. That is my awesome occasional pen name that I just recently made up. You're probably wondering "Reads, where have you been?" Well, my friends, the answer is simple: housesitting.

Yes. Housesitting for my dear, sweet uncle in a little villa known as Gig Harbor. Do I love it here? Yes. Do I want to live here? Yes. Have I read much, especially since I'm fairly isolated from my comfort zone? No, weirdly enough.

I decided to come prepared for the journey, and checked out about 8 billion books from the library. I thought to myself that I would zip through all of them and have to go back for more, since I would be spending so much time by myself. It turns out that wasn't so.

See, I have a problem. And it's called text messaging and hanging out with people. I know, it's a common problem nowadays - but I have it pretty bad. They should make a pill for it, because I'd add it to my pill container for sure. I get back in the evening from hanging out with my family or working, and my monkey brain does not want to sit still to read a book. It wants to catch up with people via text message, and maybe watch some good old American TV.

The other day I was all ready to sit down and start into the Year of Yes by Maria Dahvana Headley. I was excited - I had heard things about this book, and it looked really cute. The premise? She just says "yes" to anybody who asks her out for a whole year. I am a huge fan of memoirs, especially ones that do some sort of experiment (ie, A.J. Jacob's amazing books), so I was pretty excited. But I could not get into it. In fact, several times when I was ready to snuggle up with a book and one of my uncle's dogs (old lady moment for sure), I found myself turning on the TV.

What is it about my brain that makes me do that? It's constantly multitasking. I am literally never doing just one thing at one time, and I know I'm not alone. If I am driving, I'm listening to music, or talking on the phone (on the hands free, of course). If I'm doing laundry, I'm transcribing a hearing, or getting some work done (or writing a blog)... I can't let my brain focus on purely one thing. I wonder why that is? And when it comes time for my monkey brain to calm down, and for me to read a book, sometimes I just can't do it. I go through periods where, like Jewel said before, I devour books like a hungry tiger. And I thought this would be one of those times. Maybe it's being away from home, or being near my cousin and her family, but it took me forever to get through this book.

And maybe it's partly because this book wasn't that great. There, I said it. It was written in a really confusing way, in a way that jumped tenses and alluded to the past but then was suddenly in the present. I got confused a bit, and the only thing that kept me plugging through was this challenge, and the sense of completion. I hate quitting on books. In fact, I have been reading a book the entire summer that I can't get myself to finish - maybe it's because it's really good, because it doesn't suck. But this one I probably could have skipped and been fine with it. Who wants to read about how much love another girl gets all year? Who wants to read about a girl who, I believe, is 19 or 20 and is distraught because she hasn't settled down? Ummm - hello. 28 year old over here with no sympathy and a headache from reading the tiny print of your book in dim lighting.

So I say not so much, year of yes. And I will keep plugging through "This I Believe", which is shaping up to be great. Until next time, my friends.... :) Hopefully my monkey brain will not take me so long this time!

Meh.