Hollywood Nobody

I need to write about guilty pleasures today. This weekend I finally finished reading Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, a biography of Meriwether Lewis. I usually finish a book in a day or two, so the two weeks this one took made me need a change of pace. So the first book I dove into immediately after was Lisa Samson's new YA book Hollywood Nobody (see review below). Lisa's writing is like a good friend to me, and much of the book revolves around a young girl and her blog about Hollywood goings-on. Which brings me back to guilty pleasures. I love judge/court shows. I'm not sure what the appeal is, and just watching them makes me feel like my IQ is dropping points, but I can't quite stop myself. We don't have cable or Dish, so we're stuck with just the seven basic channels, but I can still watch these shows from 10 am every day until 5 pm. Not that I do, who has time for that much TV? But it's always good to know that no matter when I take a break during my day, there's always a judge yelling at somebody about something. When Mia hears Beethoven's Fifth, she immediately looks for Judge Judy to be on the television. Recently in my nightly Bible reading, I came across Solomon's judgment about the prostitute's baby. I couldn't help but think of Judge Hatchett and her regular DNA cases. I can't be the only person addicted to these programs with the huge proliferation of them! Judge Young is new this year, although he's a bit to huggy for me (so is Hatchett for that matter). I prefer my judges hard as nails. Give me Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown; they dish out common sense in heaping portions. My favorites from least to most: Judge Cristina, Judge Young, Judge Hatchett, Judge Morton, Judge Marylin Milian, Judge Joe Brown, and Judge Judy. So that's my guilty pleasure, what's yours?

Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson is the first in a new YA series about 15-year-old Scotty Dawn. Scotty's mom Charley is a food designer for small independent films, so they spend their life in a beaten-down RV (that Scotty calls Y) traveling around the country from shoot to shoot. Scotty has freedom most teens would dream of, and she gets to meet assorted Hollywood personalities. But the downside is that her freedom comes at a price: Charley is hiding a secret about their past that is putting Scotty in danger. And meeting the stars isn't so interesting when you end up seeing how unstarlike they are in person. But on a new shoot, Scotty meets her crush, up and coming star Seth Haas, and she starts to rebel against the restrictions her mother puts on her and starts to want answers. I love Lisa's writing; no matter what the book, she always manages to nail the character's voice with accuracy and bring life to the story. This is a great read for teen girls, but also their moms! Scotty is smart (she homeschools herself) and funny with a dry wit and original sense of fashion. She looks at every journey as an opportunity for teaching herself more about the world and her place in it. She's searching for her home, and in that quest for belonging, she starts to investigate Jesus and religion. Her fresh take on Christianity and honest questions are fantastic. Charley and Jeremy are frustrating (as they are meant to be) in their refusal to open up to Scotty, but in the end, as they explain, their reasons become clear. Scotty is a great character and role model for young girls and she gives insight for moms into how their daughters think and look at the world.

I love Mr. Cheap Stuff! He has great coupons for free and cheap (duh!) stuff on his site. Here's a recommendation I found yesterday. Go here to Dale & Thomas' Popcorn site for a free $20 online gift certificate. Yep, completely free, no minimum purchase. Now that you have that, go here, yep back to their website. They are giving away two free bags of popcorn. You pay the shipping at $5.95. After you make payment, they will give you a code for $6 off of your next purchase. Go back to the home site and find something you'd like. You can enter your $6 coupon at one spot and your $20 gift certificate later. Jess and I ordered the smallest sampler pack at $28.00, plus $7.95 shipping. After the credits, it cost us $9.95 for six foot-long bags of popcorn. Can you say Christmas present?