Settle Down Children

It's that time again, friends. No, don't get out your hunting equiptment and the map of northern Jersey- it's time to read Laura's book reviews.

Yeats' Irish Legends

Like Lewis Black, I have a respect for Ireland. Of course I've never been there, but I do know that a) the stereotype is true. they do drink. and of course, b) they don't care about healthcare.

Sounds great! Thanks, Lewis Black. But Yeats has taught me another important lesson- that the Irish are freaking weird.

THESE STORIES ARE MESSED UP. They are truly disturbing. People say that life is ducked up now, um, not really when you consider how many Irishmen were slaying, eating, and burning each other on a regular, daily basis five hundred years ago.

Still, I really enjoyed reading the legends and the poems and stuff. Give it a try. It's mad funny at times too. Irish people=intense.


Anderson Cooper's Dispatches From the Edge

Of course, reading my husband's memoirs is kind of unnecessary as we share the most intimate details of our personal, tormented lives with each other. Yet even I, the woman who darns all his socks and orders Chinese food everynight, was surprised at how much I learned about A-Coop from this book.

Anderson intermingles his early childhood memories and experiences in Darfur, New Orleans, and Sri Lanka in a way that is not only extremely personal and touching, but riveting and, dare I say it, HARROWING. The details he shares on his experiences create a sense of "I WAS THERE" in the reader. Even during the toughest parts of his life, you're reading A-Coop's story, and feeling like you're with him the whole time.