Okay, we all agree that Hondo is the cutest puppy ever but this puppy training business is beyond exhausting. My last puppy was twelve years ago (he is lying at my feet as I type this and none too pleased with the new addition) and oh how I have forgotten all of the rushing outside before he pees part! It doesn't help that I do my writing primarily at night and he is up by 7AM to go out....and then not interested at all in going back to sleep.

I'm telling you, this dog just might be the end of me people...it could happen!

But first, some odds and ends to address. Leila wrote about Caddy Ever After today, a book I am currently reading and loving. We share a mutual appreciation for all things Hilary McKay and I was so glad to see Ms. McKay's comment that this is not the last book in the Casson family series. I'll be reviewing Caddy (and the other recent title, Permanent Rose) around December or so - they will be in a column that I'm tentatively calling "All Hail Quirky Families".

Cecil is very proud to report a mention of her recent book, The Queen of Cool, in a Horn Book essay about YA Chick Lit. I loved Queen (and Boy Proof) but oh lord....here we go again on the chick lit thing. With Elizabeth Merrick's anti-chick lit anthology coming out soon it looks like this will be very much a back and forth topic (and thanks to Gwenda for pointing out Liza Palmer's very clear response to all this). I'm just gonna say that I think it is so lame to be upset because some women write happily ever after books and some women read them. I'm sure the stories in Merrick's anthology are very good (she has some great authors in there) but it all seems a bit cannibalistic to me somehow. I read Nora Roberts sometimes - go ahead hate me. Then tell me if you've read Vera Brittain or Ernest Gann or Pierre Berton or James Salter. Have you read Martha Gelhorn? Can I read her and Katie Fforde and still be a real woman? Am I weak because Trisha Ashley makes me smile and Andrea Barrett does too? Can I read light stuff and heavy stuff without breaking the time space continuum or something?

Basically at what point does the need to categorize me by what I read on any given day finally stop? And if someone wants to read Chick Lit and only Chick Lit for the rest of their life is that really so bad? Is that really the worst thing that could possibly happen to a reader?

And don't even get me started on the YA portion of this argument. Just about everybody wants to fit in when they are a teenager and if you don't believe that then ask the honest question at your next high school reunion. For most girls (99.9%) fitting in means a boyfriend when you are 15. (or 14...eep, maybe 13?) And yes, the Gossip Girls and the rest of that ilk are trash and there are plenty of great romantic YA books out there that should be read instead (I'm reviewing one right now), but romance is a big part of being a teenager (for the girls anyway - not too sure the boys are so concerned with the romantic angle...) and that is really okay. As crazy as it sounds I know folks who won't let their toddler watch Disney movies - any Disney movies - because they have happily ever after endings and they don't want her to grow up thinking marriage will make you happy.

Ooookay. That's healthy - marriage does not equal happy. Boyfriend/girlfriend does not equal happy. I'm sure the child will be quite well adjusted in her bizzarro never be happy with someone else world.

But I digress. The question (finally!) is why does something have to be anti-chick lit at all? Why can't we have chick lit and mysteries and sci fi and drama and fantasy and westerns and everything else. Have you seen an anti western anthology lately? Why is chick lit so bad that we have to be for it or against it?

Insanity people, plain and simple insanity. Gotta go - time to take the puppy out.......again!!!