Hi

Kami, take Peter and the Starcatchers off the list.  It was so lame-o that I didn't finish.  I almost never put down a book before I finish.  It catered to what is traditionally considered "boy humor" and was low on plot development and the writing was overblown.

Kelly, that is such a hard question!!  In my family I'm considered the prude, but whenever I say I won't watch this or that, or read this or that, my family always points out that Dirty Dancing is one of my 3 favorite movies, and that I keep The Road Home--a book about the Vietnam war that is loaded with swearing and alcohol abuse.  And the kicker is that I plan on encouraging all of my kids to read it--when they are in 11th grade or so.  There is just no magic way to decide if the worth of something outweighs the drawbacks of it sometimes.  Then again, sometimes it is obvious that something has no worth (Twilight) but sometimes it isn't that easy.  And also, sometimes we have our pet things that we like to read about, watch movies about, and if a movie deals with that subject matter we tend to overlook other problems (Dirty Dancing--it has dancing, yes, but it also deals with class conflict, one of my favorite movie and book themes).

The opposite is also true--there are things I can't handle (violence) so even if a movie has a really, really fantastic theme if it is violent I can't watch it.  That's why I haven't read Hunger Games.  I'm not saying people shouldn't read it, I'm just saying I have a hard time with violence so I haven't read it.  Maybe it is great--like the Vietnam book I love--and the good/thoughtful parts make it worth reading.

Since, clearly, I have nothing of significance to tell you, I'll stop talking now.  Just wanted to let you know that I hear you--not easy.