My daughter had a birthday party last night, which forced me to finally get all my Christmas decorations down (yes, I do know that it is January 12). My husband suggested we leave our 12-foot tree up and just decorate it with pictures of our daughter; the fact that I actually considered this is a testament to how unenergetic I've been feeling lately! Anyway, as part of my Christmas clean-up, I removed all the books from my living room shelves (they are about 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide) and dusted my little brains out. I told my kids the faster they got the books down, the faster we could go to their school book fair (which, of course, resulted in even more books to shelve). My point is, when I got all of the books back into their proper places, I realized that I had no room for anymore! I couldn't believe it. This was after I plucked about 10 volumes off to donate to the library/add to my Book Mooch inventory.


Now, I know a lot of you resolved not to buy more books this year and I did, too, kind of. However, I have found a better solution. Instead of purchasing fewer books, I'm buying new bookshelves! Actually, my favorite handyman is going to build them into the master bedroom. Floor to ceiling shelves will line the north and south walls of the room; hubby gets the north wall (on his side of the bed) and I get the south (on my side). I'm so giddy about this I can hardly contain myself. Of course, my exercise bike will have to find a new home, buy hey, I have my priorities, right?

When my husband spotted Strangling Your Husband Is Not an Option by Merrilee Browne

Boyack at Deseret Book, he immediately plucked it off the shelf and handed it to me. The subtitle of the book is "A Practical Guide to Dramatically Improving Your Marriage." Now, before you draw any conclusions, I have to say that I have a good, solid marriage. But, since all relationships can be improved upon, I took my husband's recommendation and read the book.

After the first chapter or so, I have to say I was pretty annoyed with Sister Boyack. I had left the book by the toilet in the master bathroom, so my husband had scanned this first section as well; even he said, "Sounds like she has a 1950s mentality." Basically, the first part of the book (Chapter 2, really) concerns the "Five Don'ts of Wifehood," most of which include focusing solely on your husband (to the exclusion of other duties and interests) and making yourself attractive so that he won't cast his roving eyes elsewhere. I thought this was unrealistic and insulting to both men and women. Boyack did make some good points, but overall, I was not impressed with Chapter 2.

Luckily, I kept reading, because Boyack really did have some good thoughts and ideas. Basically, her philosophy is that wives cannot "fix" their husbands. They should quit whining about all of his faults and focus on perfecting themselves. Boyack suggests that women take care of themselves - physically, spiritually and emotionally - so that they are secure enough to allow their men to resolve problems in their own - uniquely male - ways. She says that wives' incessant nagging and criticism prove that they have no faith in their husbands, thus leading to husbands who don't believe in themselves. Sister Boyack backs up her guidelines with quotes from leading psychologists (including both the predictable - John Gray - and the surprising - Dr. Phil), LDS church leaders and the scriptures. With these heavyweights on her side and 25 years of marriage under her belt, it's hard to deny: Merrilee Browne Boyack knows what she's talking about.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with everything she says - I know my husband is not going to stray just because my gray hairs are overdue for a visit with my hair stylist - but I did extract some valuable information from Boyack's book. Of particular interest to me was the "As if" philosophy she describes and the section where she quotes Dr. Michael Gurian on how males think. I was also pleasantly surprised by the way she sidestepped the canned Sunday School answers to marital problems (pray, attend the temple together, etc.) and sought answers beyond the usual cliches. Not that she didn't beat dead horses in places, but I felt that she did have some new insight.

As far as the issues I had with the book: I thought Boyack lingered a little too long on issues I felt were not that important (honestly, does she really think husbands are going to dismiss their wives because they wear sweats once in awhile?), and didn't take enough time with the issues I found truly fascinating (the differences between how men and women solve problems). I also thought Boyack's tone got annoying at times. She was obviously trying to be upbeat and warm, but I found myself frequently irritated by her phraseology - I mean, nobody says dagnabbit.

All in all, I liked Strangling Your Husband Is Not an Option. It was quick, readable and had some valuable advice. I don't agree with all of Boyack's opinions, but I do believe that every marriage can be improved upon, and I will be incorporating some of her tips into mine. For instance, as soon as I publish this post, I'm going to call the hair salon - I have a few gray strands that need some attention!

Grade: B

In the waning days of December, I was feeling way too pooped to do a wrap-up post on my reading. Now that the kids are back in school and I feel some of my energy returning, I decided to take a look at my stats. I'm glad I took a look - the numbers are interesting.

In 2007, I read:

66 books total (give or take; I know I didn't review every book I read. Still, this number seems really low to me.)

Of those books:

25 were written by male authors; 39 were written by females; and 2 were written by a male/female team

59 were fiction; 7 were non-fiction

1 was a short story collection

19 were YA novels

I also abandoned 3 books and completed 1 challenge.

I read a lot of books I really loved. The best 3 were:

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Very, very interesting. My goal in 2008 is to read more, especially non-fiction. I'm also going to keep a running list of books read on the sidebar - that will make my 2008 wrap-up post much easier :) I've also got a ton of challenges to tackle. Furthermore, I'm going to try to finish up several series of which I'm currently in the middle. So, stay tuned. Lots of fun stuff is coming up!

Happy reading this year. I look forward to reading all of your blogs!