It’s not that I can’t quit, it’s that I don’t want to!  Addic­tion.. or Obses­sion no, no.. Altered Book Com­pul­sive Dis­or­der!  That’s it!  That’s what I think doc­tors should call it.  Who would have thought that tak­ing the kids to a sum­mer pro­gram at our local library would incite an “altered view” of just about every object I encounter.  “Can I put that on one of my pages?” I ask about every thing from a stamp off a soon-to-be recy­cled envelop to an old shoe string. “Out of con­trol,” you say.  And to that I say, “HA!” Keep read­ing…

I feel like rant­ing and don’t have time nor energy to edit, so I’ll make it as sim­ple as I can…

IT’S TOILET PAPER OR TOOTHPASTE Peo­ple! Keep read­ing…

I’m Not Julia Roberts — that’s the book I just fin­ished. This soap oprea of a book is about the bag­gage (or some­times, as Lu says “mov­ing vans”) peo­ple bring into new rela­tion­ships when they are, or have to deal with a step­mom, or step child, or mom/dad of step child.  I found it hard to put down. This could have been a quick read, if my fam­ily would have went with­out a meal or two.
I liked fol­low­ing the web of sto­ries whose char­actes lives inter­sect and inter­twine.  There are so many char­ac­ters, in fact, the book actu­ally has a “tree” in the front. Inspite of it’s mul­ti­ple char­ac­ters who aren’t always nice, you find you­self sym­pa­thic to them, even the con­trol freak of an ex, Beat­rix.
I thor­oughly enjoyed the style of writ­ing author Laura Ruby used.  It was funny and witty, with the same feel as Gilmore Grils or Weeds. As a mat­ter of fact, I think this book should be made into a movie or bet­ter yet a tv series.  Yes, it’s always fun to watch some­one else unpack their prover­bial baggage.