If it were any smarter, it'd write a book, a book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon.

I was chatting with a friend last night. Sometimes she reads my blog and then tells me what she thought of it. (Sometimes I feel really weird about that, like what I write here is totally private and no one should read it. And sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who writes a blog -- by definition public for the world -- and feels that way.)

So last night she said, "So you've been reading a lot of books."

I totally couldn't decide if that was just a statement of fact or some kind of commentary. It felt like a judgement. And I thought, so reading books is a bad thing? Please see the earlier post about how much free time I have!

Total side note: I was listening to a podcast (can't remember which one) and the guy they were interviewing said that the average American reads less than one nonfiction book each year. So if you were to read three nonfiction books on one topic, you would be an expert. He was quick to point out that he means comparatively and the bar really isn't high there.

So I'm trying to decide what to become an expert on. Any suggestions?

And back to the real purpose of this post, which is (naturally) another book review. (I feel like I need to justify again how I'm spending my time, but I'm not going to!)

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

This is also for my American Lit class. I'm getting really excited about the class. I actually have a whopping 22 students enrolled. That's double the number I have ever had in my largest lit class. (The polling sample of that statistic is so incredibly small it renders that statement not statistically significant).

The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes told through the eyes of Esperanza, a young Mexican-American who moves to Mango Street. She tells about her life, her family's life, and the lives of the neighbors that she observes.

The stories are good, but mostly the novel is interesting stylistically.

Final review: It's a great read that will take 2 hours at the most.