We have a great book club in my neighborhood.  A group of ladies (ranging from 5-25) meets each month at a different person’s home.  Everyone brings something to eat or wine, both are which are consumed in abundance.  It’s a great, fun time, but book club for me has one problem: the books.

I originally joined book club to try to expand my reading selections.  I read–a lot–but I read a rather narrow range of interests.  Non-fiction (usually science related, although not always), or science fiction.  I thought I should expand my horizons a bit, maybe find something enjoyable I wouldn’t normally read on my own.  This was a good idea in theory.

I read about six books I would never normally pick, books that book clubs all over the U.S. are reading, books that get great Amazon reviews, books that have a consensus: they are good.  Most of these fall into the category of “women’s fiction”–whatever that means.  I pretty much hated every one of them.  They bored the crap out of me. A lot of the books feature extended sessions inside the protagonist’s head: what they are thinking about, their demons, what they think of events.  Romances, moral quandaries and the like. The thing is, unless there’s some crazy space faring science/alternate dimensions/worlds blowing up/black holes or the story is actually true and not fiction, I can’t bring myself to care much.  Perhaps this is a side effect of having to read so many boring Thomas Hardy novels in high school.  

So, I’m a book club failure.  I can’t decide if I should keep torturing myself by reading these books, just so I can attend the fun social aspect without looking like a loser, or if I should just give up and realize–I like what I like.

I am frequently reminded how my husband and I view things related to our house quite differently.  So have come up with this quicky wife to husband design translator.

Wife: Patina       Husband: Poor 

Useage: Wife–”That table has a wonderful patina”  Husband–”You mean it looks poor”

Wife: Industrial     Husband: Prison

Usage: Wife–”I love that bunk bed, it’s very industrial”.  Husband–”It looks too much like prison”

Wife: Cottage     Husband: Messy

Usage: Wife–My garden is cottage style.  Husband–You mean it’s messy with stuff all over the place

Wife: Modern    Husband: Expensive

Usage: Wife—-I love that Nelson bubble lamp, it’s so streamlined!  Husband–Why is something so simple so expensive?

Wife: Rustic      Husband: Poor

Usage: Wife–”I love that rustic look.”  Husband–”It looks poor.”

I’m from Phoenix, Arizona originally.  I went to middle school, high school, and got my bachelor’s degree at Arizona State.  I’ve lived in Colorado for the last 11 years.  When I go back to Phoenix now I generally find it one way. Depressing.

Every major metro area in the U.S. has sprawl, but in Phoenix, it’s an art form.  There are very, very few places you can get to without a car, and everywhere there now looks the same: beige adobe, red tile roofs, one endless soulless strip mall and big box bonanza after another.  I was in Phoenix recently to attend my best friend’s wedding.  We stayed at a four star resort in north Scottsdale (which was desert when I lived there).  There are houses all around this resort, but little else.  A trip to the grocery store is a 15 minute drive, one way (I timed it).  Most of Phoenix is this way, nearly devoid of character and totally slaved to the car, no human scale at all.

We saw a sign while driving to the grocery store that said “mixed-use development!!!” under this is said “retail AND office space!”.  This is what passes for “mixed use” in most of Phoenix.  My husband commented that is was similar to the “We have both types of music: Country AND Western” famous line.

There are a few bright spots, downtown Scottsdale is a human scaled area which is just now adding housing (VERY expensive condos but they are cool), the Willo neighborhood close to downtown Phoenix, Verrado–a new urbanist neighborhood in Buckeye (way the hell out west of downtown), and downtown Tempe which has housing in walking distance to offices and retail.  In Denver though, there’s a million walkable neighborhoods (new and old) with great access to public transit, not to mention the investment we’ve made in our rail line that will connect all the metro area.  I feel Denver is much more progressive, enviornmental, and human oriented city than Phoenix currently is.  I’m glad I live in a place that values me more than my car (at least in SOME places!).