15 Reasons to Smile When Gas Prices Go Up (and up, and up)

It won't happen right away, according to Christopher Steiner, author of $20 Per Gallon--

which, have I mentioned, you can win?

--in fact, things will get a lot worse for most of us before they get better. But when the prices at the pump continue to skyrocket (and Steiner makes a strong case for the fact that they will), Steiner's book maintains that we can look forward to a future with:

1. Less traffic, especially at rush hour
2. Less smog and pollution.
3. A fitter, healthier population
4. Kids living close enough to walk or bike to school again
5. The demise of big box stores like Wal-Mart, and therefore
6. The return of the small-town Main Street
7. More telecommuting
8. Improved inner city transportation systems
9. High speed trains connecting major cities
10. Greater demand for and availability of locally grown and made food
11. Fewer products made in China and shipped overseas, and therefore,
12. More products made locally
13. Further innovation in alternative vehicles
14. The survival of species such as Bluefin tuna, which are currently being overfished to extinction
15. Increasingly greener energy sources

As he follows the rise of oil prices from the current $3-4 per gallon of gasoline, up through $6, $8, and so on up to $20 per gallon, Steiner gives the history of our dependence on petroleum in different arenas, and the effects rising costs will have on our day-to-day lives. To keep things lively, he also brings readers into the heart of America as he visits an airplane graveyard, makes deliveries throughout Manhattan in an electric UPS truck ("all in all, it amounts to a powerful golf cart with a ton of cargo space,"), and goes carp fishing with a professional fisherman.

Steiner acts like he can see the future. Yes, he backs up every assertion with facts and figures, but some of his predictions may turn out differently than he expects, and I'm sure there are other visions of the future. Still, this book adds a fascinating perspective to North America's current lifestyle. In the scheme of things, our dependence on petroleum products is a tiny blip on the radar of humankind--a blip that we're destined to leave behind at some point. We might as well suck it up and prepare ourselves for change.

The Soundtrack: Tower of Power's Only So Much Oil in the Ground.

Would you like a copy of this book? Be my (and Hachette Book Group's) guest! The giveaway will be open until Saturday, August 1, when I'll draw two winners.

$20 Per Gallon--Christopher Steiner (essay and giveaway)

As I mentioned, we took a road trip to California. Because I love irony, in between filling up the tank along our route I've been reading Christopher Steiner's $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better. Fascinating read. I've got a couple copies to give away to folks who comment on this topic between now and August 1.

Have you cut down on your gasoline usage since prices went up last summer? How would another dollar hike in gas prices impact your lifestyle?

As my answer to this question, I'm reprinting an article I wrote on my personal blog at the beginning of the summer of 2008. Since that article was written, we traded in our minivan and old station wagon for a single car that gets better gas mileage and seats 7. We rode our bikes and bused almost everywhere last summer and fall. We fell off the wagon when it got cold and rainy, and haven't quite managed to scramble all the way back on yet.

Okay, oil dudes. It's on.

Monday, June 16, 2008

I really like our local gas station franchise. The guys who've been running it for the past six or so years are a couple of all-around nice guys, and it's always a pleasure to spend a minute or two chatting when waiting to pay for gas. When the price goes up, they roll their eyes and commiserate. When it goes down...well, when it used to go down....they were glad for the relief, too. They also have nearly the best price in town and they're very nearby.

The gas guys also sell sunflower seeds, trail mix, pop, and ice cream bars. I think we'll try to buy lots of those things from them this summer, to make up for all the gas we won't be buying.

I like our local mass transit system pretty well, too, but I don't use it much. Unless we're going to be downtown all day, it's more expensive to take the bus or train than it is to pay for the gas and parking. Add to that the extra time it takes, and the hassle if you miss the bus, and it's hard to get motivated to pay $6-$9 for a round trip bus ride.

Until now.

No, I'm not talking about going car-free, though I applaud those who are. That'd be too drastic for us, and for our extended family who rely on us for the occasional ride. I'm just talking about putting the cars in their proper place for the summer: in the driveway, ready for when we need them.

With oil companies responding to global warming and international conflict by raising their prices to outrageous new heights, it's not just about saving a dollar here and a dollar there. It's teaching my kids that you don't have to be dependent on a car in order to get from point A to point B. Giving them the gift of confidence that mass transit and their bikes can get them where they want to go--that'll save more money in gas during their early adolescence than I'll ever pay in bus fares now.

It's about investing my money in something I can feel good about instead of something that gives me a sick feeling at the pit of my stomach.

I'm not setting myself an ultimatum or a specific goal. I put gas in the wagon on June 12, and in the van a little before that. How long can I go without giving the oil dudes another payment? It's as simple as that.

Giveaway sponsored by Hachette Book Group and open to U.S. and Canada residents who can provide a street mailing address.

Barry's Blogger Book Bonus

Contest winner has been drawn via Random.org--congratulations, Robin_Titan!

Author Barry Lyga asked for help giving away signed copies of his young adult books, and being the altruistic supporter of all things literary that I am, I'm stepping up to the plate. Even though this could very well require me to perform a task which I generally greet with the same enthusiasm as spending a night wandering through a swamp full of hungry, malaria-infected mosquitoes. (Translation: if you're one of those people who occasionally sees me in real life, so that I could get the book to you without a trip to the dreaded post office, I'll give you one thousand entries! Okay, one hundred. Okay, one. Please enter, so I can give you that one entry. Consider it a favor to me.)

So, I have a brand new (oops, I just read the prologue) gently used signed paperback copy of Lyga's 2007 book Boy Toy, winner of that year's Cybil Award.

[Ed: see my review] Here's what School Library Journal had to say in their starred review:

"For the past five years, Joshua Mendel has struggled with the aftermath of being sexually abused by his seventh-grade history teacher. Now a high school senior, he still experiences 'flickers,' his name for vivid, mini-flashbacks of his times with Eve. He still refuses to associate with Rachel, his seventh-grade romantic interest whose insistence on a game of spin the bottle at a party led to the exposure of his abuse, a trial, and Eve's imprisonment. Rachel is eager to resume their long-abandoned tentative romance, Eve has been released from prison, and Josh wants nothing more than to win a baseball scholarship to a college far from his small town where he feels certain everyone knows about his past. Despite years of counseling, Josh is unable to move on until he reveals the complete details of his experiences with Eve to Rachel and to his friend, Zik, and finally learns to accept the truth about it. Short groups of chapters set in the present alternate with much lengthier segments entitled 'Flashbacks, Not Flickers,' in which Josh describes his relationship with Eve from the beginning to the emotionally wrenching trial. The well-paced plot begins slowly, describing Eve's initial approaches to Josh as she wins his confidence and loyalty, then speeds up as their more frequent contacts move into the realm of inappropriate teacher/student behavior. Lyga's skillful writing subtly reveals Eve's cleverly calculated abuse of Josh in a way that older teens will find fascinating, distressing, and worthy of their attention." --Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA

This book is recommended for ages 16 through 106.

To enter, post a comment including your email address and anything else you'd like to say about Barry Lyga, or young adult books, or the post office, or...? Winner will be announced on June 30, 2009. In accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, you must be 13 or over to enter.

Lyga is also having a book trailer contest to mark the launch of his upcoming book, Goth Girl Rising. It looks like a lot of fun, and everyone who enters will win something, so go check it out after you've entered here!

Final Winners and Last Call

Here are the final winners in the Parenting/Nutrition book giveaway from Hachette Book Group. Those who are winning for the first time have until the weekend to contact me with their mailing address. Those who are carry-overs from previous weeks have until Thursday, after which I'll draw new winners for those books.



N.D.D. Book: Marion (I've got your address, Marion, so you're all set)
G-Free Diet: Food Allergy Assistant
If Your Kid Eats This Book: Jeane

Giveaway Winners

My plan was to write a Sunday Salon post yesterday including the latest winners of the Parenting/nutrition books giveaway, but that didn't happen. Instead, the boys and I went to a big picnic, and then to a friend's garden to plant pumpkins. (We have too much shade in our yard to have success with most vegetables). Then dinner, the grocery store, a few chapters of Ranger's Apprentice with the family, after which my internet had apparently packed it in for the night.

I took this as a sign that I was meant to finish my book and go to sleep earlier. I was zonked out by 11:00. Ahhhhhhh! I feel so well-rested! Finished my book (Into the Beautiful North) this morning and now, random.org has chosen the winners. Some of these are from previous weeks and I haven't heard from you yet so please contact me soon because next Sunday I'll be drawing new names for anyone who hasn't contacted me (SpiralMama! This means you! It's been a month, girl!).

The N.D.D. Book: Korah (you also won the G-Free diet, last week!)
The G-Free Diet: Anita Yancey
If Your Kid Eats This Book: GAHome2Mom and (from last week) GShome and (from the first drawing) SpiralMama.

Congratulations to the winners!

Now we're off to yet another end-of-the-year picnic, as soon as I figure out how to get there.

TSS: Struck Wordless

For the past three days I've been sweating over my review for Ron Carlson's The Signal, which comes out tomorrow. Carlson is the author most recently of Five Skies (2007) and several other books, including my favorite collections of short stories. The trouble is, I like the man's work too much.

It can be a little terrifying, requesting to review the latest release by a favorite author, because what if it doesn't measure up? With a library book it's easier to quietly slip the book back into the book drop and pretend it didn't happen. Or with a new-to-you author, you can say "this wasn't for me," and move on. But after you've gone on and on about how wonderful someone's writing it is, it's humbling to have to say, "I didn't like it much."

And if the book is everything you'd hoped it to be? What do you say then?

"Go buy this book! Read it, read it, read it! Do! It's so...it's just so...it's really, like...you know? Really-really-really good!" Knowing that the author may at some point read this babbling, could be reading it and thinking "This is the kind of person my books appeal to? Christ."

But, hey, Dr. Carlson teaches creative writing at college. He's surely been exposed to worse than I can come up with, with the possible exception of the paragraph above this one. I'll try to do the book justice in my write-up, and then I'll force myself to hit Publish and move on.

Tomorrow.

Do you ever feel intimidated when writing about a favorite author? Which author or book has been the hardest for you to review?


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This week's giveaway winners: (this giveaway continues for two more weeks, go to parenting/nutrition giveaway and leave a comment to enter).
Dr. Sears' N.D.D. Book: Lisa
G-Free Diet: Korah and Carleen
If Your Kid Eats This Book: GShome and SpiralMama

Sunday Salon: This is me in a flurry of activity

I'm intent on getting my house in order this weekend. So far I have:

1. Made a list of things to do
2. Made ham & egg English muffins for breakfast
3. Praised Evan for his stellar job of vacuuming the rug
4. Finished reading Do-Over by Robin Hemley
5. Prevented the cat from peeing in an open drawer

Only one of these things was on my list of things to do (can you guess which?).

I enjoyed Do-Over. It's one of those gimmicky memoirs whose subtitles are reminiscent of those old National Inquirer headlines: Family spends a winter living in a tunnel! Mother deals with grief by rescuing child slaves from Ghana! Girl eats only tofu for a year! Man travels the world to find out where his clothes were made!

I'm a sucker for these. I don't know why.

The gimmick of Do-Over is that Mr. Hemley decides to go back and relive the experiences that hold regret for him. So, at 48, he spends a week as a kindergartener, a week as a camper at summer camp, a week attending the boarding school he dropped out of before Prom, and so on. I'll be reviewing it next week, for now I'll just say, gimmicks aside, this was a good read.

Next on my reading list is Ron Carlson's The Signal. So excited about this one! Ron Carlson is one of my favorite authors of both short stories and longer fiction. When I learned he had a new novel coming out, I was just about as close to squeeeee! as I get. But before I can get started on that, I must get to my to-do list. Item #1: Draw giveaway winners.

This week's drawing for the Parenting & Nutrition Book giveaway:

Dr. Sears' NDD Book: Pam
The G-Free Diet: Teddy Rose and Marion (I have an extra one this week because Jen, who won last week, also won the book in another contest)
If Your Kid Eats This Book: Gaby317 and last week's winner, SpiralMama (still waiting to hear from you, SpiralMama!)

Winners, please email me at Worducopia/at/gmail/dot/com with your mailing address so I can pass it on to the publicist at Hachette Book Group and get your book to you. If you haven't won yet, you'll have another chance each Sunday until mid-June, and I'm taking new entries through then.

Parenting/Nutrition winners, Week 1

Time to announce the winners of the first round in my parenting/nutrition books giveaway!

Dr. Sears' NDD Book goes to Andrea.
The G-Free Diet goes to that classy devourer of books, Jen.
If Your Kid Eats This Book... goes to Spiral Mama.

Congratulations to the winners! Please email your U.S./Canadian street address to me at worducopia/at/gmail/dot/com.

I'll be drawing new winners for the next four Sundays and taking new entries (and comments and blog posts and so on for extra entries) until the final drawing. This week's winners are still eligible to win the other books as well.

Nutrition & Parenting Books Giveaway update

Not sure what I was thinking, but I buried this at the bottom of another post and it bugs me every time I look at it, so I'm reposting it as it's own post. Clearly I'm more of a reader than a marketer. (If you entered at the initial post, have no fear, I've got you down.) Don't want any of these books? Leave a comment letting me know why, so I won't feel so lonely.

I have five copies of three books to give away!

#1, The N.D.D. Book: How Nutrition Deficit Disorder Affects Your Child's Learning, Behavior, and Health, and What You Can Do about It by Dr. William Sears.
Dr. Sears is the author of The Baby Book, my perennial baby shower gift, as well as a slew of great pregnancy, birth, and parenting books. I haven't seen this one yet, and I'm not crazy about the overuse of the word "disorder" to describe kids' behavior, but if this is anywhere near as good as the rest of his work, it's worth buying. But you don't have to buy it, because you can win it here! Link to this giveaway on any parenting blog or website for two additional entries--leave me a comment linking to your post (only once per person, though--I don't want anyone spamming for this!)

#2, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide. More and more people I know are considering or embarking on a gluten-free or low-gluten diet. If you're one of them, this may be the perfect book for you! Two extra entries (once per person, no spamming) for a link to this giveaway on any nutritional or gluten-free focused website or blog.


#3, If Your Kid Eats This Book, Everything Will Still Be Okay. Lara Zibners, an emergency room physician, wrote this advice book to help parents know when a trip to the E.R. is in order and when it isn't. What parent couldn't use that? I'll give two extra entries (once per person, no spamming) for a link to this contest on any medical or parenting website or blog.

I'll be drawing a winner for each book every Sunday for the next five weeks. To enter, leave a comment stating which book/s you'd like to win, and a way to contact you (email, blog address, or you can check back on Sunday for winners, I'm not fussy). I'll add extra entries for thoughtful comments on other posts, or for entrants who say they were referred here by you. Stumble, Tweet or blog about this giveaway for another extra entry.

I think I just made this way more complicated than it needs to be. Clarification: enter here, spread the word, stick around, win a book, yay!

Also, check out my Diversity Rocks blog for details about your chance to win 5 free books by Asian or Latino authors! If you've posted a May book review for the Diversity Rocks reading challenge, or if you've ever participated in the CORA Diversity Roll call meme (this week's topic is YA books by authors of color, hosted at Color Online) you've already been entered once, but check out the post to learn how you can enter multiple times.

Contests!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! My kids gave me their usual, precious Mother's Day gift: they got up early to come to my 8:25 choir rehearsal, and sat through that and the first service like young gentlemen before going to their Sunday School classes.

I did the drawing for my Beauty Books contest last week, but did I tell anyone? I did not. Given the fact that my family seems to think I blog twelve hours a day, you'd think I would have more posts to show for it, wouldn't you? So, I have winners to announce, and a new contest to tell you about.

First, the winners--please email me (Worducopia at gmail dot com) with a U.S. or Canadian street address to have Hachette Book Group send the book to. (I'll make every effort to contact winners I don't hear from but if I'm unable to get an address by the end of the week I'll have to draw a new winner)

Winners of Bobbi Brown's Living Beauty are:

1)Lenore
2)Angie J.
3)Tracie

Winners of How Not to Look Old are:

1) Glenda
2) BermudaOnion
3) Tara

On Aging Gracefully (plus a giveaway!)

I've never been one to spend a lot of time on my looks. When I first tried make-up as a teenager I felt like I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. (This was in the days of blue eyeshadow...) And I didn't want to waste time trying to make it look right. I just wanted to get up and do the basic shower and deodorant, run a brush through my hair and be on my way. A good haircut, to my mind, is one that looks halfway decent without requiring styling. When my big sister put highlights in her hair I scoffed, "I'll never dye my hair."

Lesson learned: never say never. Also, never scoff at your big sister. She doesn't forget a thing.

Undeniably in my forties now, I've truly never felt better, but my perspective on certain things has changed. I still don't style my hair, but could I maybe stop it from thinning so much? Still don't want to wear make-up, but I now accept the need to moisturize. And if I'm going to moisturize every morning, might it be a good idea to find a product that also evens my skin tone? And, what the heck is my skin tone, anyway? I stopped reading those articles in Teen magazine when I was 15.

And also, fashion. Help! When I was younger I knew what was in, and I either wore it or didn't. Now I know what's in, but if I wear that I'll look ridiculous. How are forty year old women supposed to dress these days? Not like my mom did at forty, that's for sure. (Now a lovely seventy-something, Mom wouldn't be caught dead in those clothes either.) When I shop, I see skinny teen clothes and old-lady-on-a-cruise-ship clothes. I don't see a clothing section that reflects who I am.

Here are two books that offer different perspectives on aging beautifully without resorting to drastic measures like plastic surgery.

Bobbi Brown's Living Beauty adds quotes from and lots of pictures of real-looking women in their forties and up. There's also a chapter on dealing with menopause, and another on late-life pregnancy (not to be an issue chez Worducopia, I trust). The sections on eating right and clothing choices are brief, while more of the 204 pages are allotted to those fun "before and after" makeover pictures and problem-solving tips for things like darkness under the eyes, uneven skin tone, and droopy eyelids.

Charla Krupp's How Not to Look Old deals with similar issues but with a no-nonsense "You don't want to wear that, darling," tone that readers will either find refreshingly honest or mildly judgmental, depending on their own perspective. Krupp has been Beauty Editor for Glamour magazine, and offers specific advice: lists of clothes that look dated and "forbidden fashion items for every woman past the age of thirty;" products for everything from skin care to tooth whiteners; and three levels of interventions for various beauty issues. Both of these books prominently feature women of different shades and ethnic backgrounds but How Not to Look Old gives more specific advice for women of color.

So, what kind of time do you spend on your beauty routine, and has that changed as you've gotten older? Do you care about looking chic or hip? Does your mom/aunt/grandma/daughter?

All comments about this topic (hint: Do you want a free book isn't the topic) will be entered to win one of these books! (if you're interested in one and not the other, let me know). Hachette Book Group is offering three copies of each, to readers --or their moms, wives or grandmas!--with U.S. or Canadian mailing addresses (sorry, no P.O. boxes, please). Winners will be chosen by random drawing on May 4th.

TSS: Inspiration and the blogger's book cart

First, I have the results of my Rich Like Them giveaway to announce! Since I rarely read all the comments in other people's giveaways, I want to give you a heads up: the responses to this question (tell about a person whose life philosophy or success you admire) absolutely made my week. If you need a mental pick-me-up, take five minutes to read about the inspiring people everyone wrote about. Wow. Thank you, all who entered.

The winners were chosen randomly, using Random.org, and they are:
#15: Susan
#27: Sweetsue
#42: Donna
#25: Demmi
#30: Rottawa

Congratulations to the winners, I hope you enjoy the book! Email your U.S. or Canadian street address to me at worducopia@gmail.com, and I will pass it along to Hachette Book Group to send out your copy in the mail.

In other news...

I'm trying to be more organized, because I was getting overwhelmed with all the review copies sitting on my desk. I now have a Windows calendar filled up with reviews I want to post on particular dates this month. Which makes it seem ridiculous to check out additional books from the library, but that doesn't stop me.

Speaking of the library... I stopped by to pick up the holds waiting for me last week, and the hold shelf had nothing for me. Nothing! I was--what's that word again?--Oh yeah: astonished! Then I turned around and behold! A book cart, at the side of the check-out counter, empty but for two stacks of books: all for me. Yes, folks, I had my very own book cart at the library. This is what my world has come to.

Here's one of the stacks (the other was mostly kids' books):
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, by Annette Gordon-Reid: recipient of the 2008 National Book Award for non-fiction, this is the biography of three generations of a slave family owned by and intertwined with Thomas Jefferson's family.

The Secret Keeper, by Mitali Perkins, so excited to read this YA novel set in 1970s India!

The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner. Weiner sought out the happiest places on earth, and I want to know what he found! Somebody blogged about this like a week ago. Do I remember who? I do not. If it was you, leave a comment and I'll link you.

Pure Skin: Organic beauty basics by Barbara Close. I ran out of a moisturizer I wasn't thrilled with last week, so I set about researching what to replace it with. Came across the Cosmetics Database and became completely overwhelmed by the toxicity in the skin care industry. After hours of research, I bought an Oil of Olay all day moisturizer that apparently won't kill me too quickly, and decided to look into natural alternatives.

Songdogs, by Colum McCann. When I wrote about his story Everything in this Country Must, it got me thinking I should read some more Colum McCann. Songdogs, from 1995, was his first novel (he has a new one coming out this spring!); it's about a young man who returns to his native Ireland in search of his father. Only 212 pages, the perfect St. Paddy's day read, if I can get to it!

Freddie and Me is a graphic novel memoir, which was recommended on An Embarrassment of Riches, which is my local library's awesome blog. It's a coming of age story which is centered around the music of Queen. Yeah, I'm not really sure, either, but I can't wait to find out.

Dear Darkness, by Kevin Young. I've been wanting to read more poetry and more African American authors, and Kevin Young fits the bill on both counts. Wish I could remember where I came across his name.

Book Giveaway Carnival

Tracy of Book Room Reviews is hosting a fabulous book giveaway carnival all week, and I'm joining in with my giveaway of 5 copies of Rich Like Them. Drawing will be held March 8 and is open to U.S. and Canadian street addresses.

Be sure to check out the dozens of other great giveaways at Book Room Reviews, too! And if you have a book to give away, it's not too late to join.

To win a copy of Rich Like Them, click on the book cover:

Rich Like Them--Ryan D'Agostino (Book review and giveaway)

What it isn't:

• A self-help book
• A "secret" formula for you to follow to get rich quick
  
• A financial planning book

What it is:

• A book of stories about people who happen to be very well off
• Full of words to live by, whether you care about money or not
  
• Inspiring

What I'll remember:

• Harvey Jason, a rare book-seller: He talked about gratitude and the role it played in his success. He saw his own good fortune as a by-product of his relationships, both professional and personal, with other people. Nurture those, he said, and good things will come.
• By the time I completed my journey, it had been drilled into my head that if extreme wealth is your only goal, you will probably never become extremely wealthy. Milking a job you love for all it's worth, however--now you're getting somewhere.
  

How to get your copy:

• Leave a comment telling about a person whose life philosophy or success (doesn't have to be financial success) you admire. Preferably a real person who you actually know (I mean, any of us could say Ghandi, or Jesus, or Siddhārtha Gautama, but once somebody says that, how do you follow it with your great-uncle Bruce?).
• Entries accepted until March 8th.
  
• Hachette will deliver books to street addresses in the U.S. and Canada only.
• Make sure to include your email address or an easy way to contact you!

Ranger's Apprentice Drawing

Time for the drawing for the Ranger's Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw! Inspired by recent vlog posts on What Vanessa Reads, Maw Books and Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?, we decided to do our drawing on camera, so here we are:



If you're one of the lucky winners, email me your address and I'll pass it along to Penguin to send you the book. If you didn't win, you can try again at The Book Muncher and Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf, among other places.