Welcome to Junior.com!

Hey, all!

I've been interested in this BLOG thing for a while and now friends of mine are doing it, so I figured I might as well. There's also a professional reason for me to be interested in these. I suppose the best way to figure this out, then, is to just start one up. blogger.com appears to make this easy, so here goes nothing...

A quick little something about myself... when I have the chance, I like to read for pleasure. When the time presents itself, I pick up several books at once. Right now, I am reading:

• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. Very interesting book on the sadly overlooked branch of intelligence in our education system.
  
• Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. My boss turned me on to this. Actually, I'm listening to it on tape in the car, but I'm in love with this author now! I just picked up three others by him from Half-Price Books today! The title is misleading: it's not a sappy love story.
  
• Searching for David's Heart by Cherie Bennett. This is a young adult novel. I met the author in L.A. and I think of her as a friend now. She and her husband were very nice and I've had the pleasure of seeing a stage adaptation of her great Life in the Fat Lane (which was also great)! This book of hers was recently adapted for t.v. and I enjoyed it, and so now I'm reading the book to see how the adaptation worked. Life in the Fat Lane, by the way, should be required reading for all Junior High School (or maybe High School) girls.
  
• Frames of Mind by Howard Gardner. Interesting topic, but academic and boring author. I've tried to read another book by this guy and dropped it. Still, the subject (multiple intelligences) is interesting. I'll try it for a little longer.
  

I also recently finished:

• The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket. The latest installment ("Book the Eleventh") in the Series of Unfortunate Events. As always, very funny.
  
• Joe College by Tom Perrotta. Author of Election (adapted into a darkly humorous movie with Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon), Perrotta delivers a fairly funny account of a Yalie's 3rd year of college. The Deux ex machina at the end is a relief, but also a little too convenient.
  
• Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire. I had already been impressed by Maguire's popular Wicked and found that I enjoyed this take off on the traditional Snow White story just as much!
  
• The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker. I listened to this one on CD in the car. I started listening to it a second time, but someone had a reserve on it at the library, so I had to return it. This book is a must-read for everyone, women in particular, single women in particular, but really, everyone will get something out of it. Non-fiction.
  

And in the very near future, I need to read:

• "Troilus and Cressida" by William Shakespeare. All I know about this right now is that it's by Shakespeare. If I had to guess, there are at least two characters in it and their names are "Troilus" and "Cressida." I have a 5 year old son. We came this close to naming him "Troilus."
  

Have you read any of the above? What do you think?

I guess I gravitate toward really good fiction and also books somehow related to psychology. I'm also big on parenting books. And I'm always looking for good picture books to read to children.

Any recommendations?

You show me yours, I'll show you mine!