Review -- Best Staged Plans

Teaching seven English composition courses in college sucks up my time like a giant vacuum. I'm either preparing for class or grading essays. So the minutes when I can read for pleasure are stolen gems. Yesterday, I picked up Claire Cook's Best Staged Plans and never looked back, gulping it down like an ice-cold Coke on a sweltering summer day. Afterwards, I felt happy and satisfied, ready to return to my laboriously written English compositions.
The main character, Sandy, wants to get her house ready to put on the market, so she and her husband can pay off the bills of kids in college and a daughter's wedding. Sandy's a home stager, so she's meticulous about preparing the house. She's a little bit like me in that she's frenetic and demanding, glaring at each tree rather than enjoying the walk in the forest. Her husband and adult son aren't helping out the way they should and she's had enough. A trip to Atlanta to stage a boutique hotel helps give her some perspective on life.
A lot happens in this 238-page book as Sandy attempts to corral her life into order when no one seems to be following her directions, not her daughter, her new southern son-in-law who calls her "Mo'am," her best friend or even the guy at the post office. Sandy's time in Atlanta helps her look at the big picture and realize the value of family.
The author also has a link on her website that encourages her readers to donate reading glasses because "Not having reading glasses is the biggest obstacle to disadvantaged people over forty re-entering the workplace."
Pick up this book for the story and it will give you plenty to think about when you're finished.

First Paragraph Tuesday -- Best Staged Plans

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph of the current book you are reading.
Teaching seven college courses right now, I barely have time to breathe, much less read anything other than essays, so I picked up what I hope will be a quick, breezy read. Claire Cook's Best Staged Plans. She's the author of Must Love Dogs. The main character Sandy is a stager whose daughter recently married and moved to Atlanta, while Sandy's son finished college and moved back home. Sandy goes to Atlanta to stage a hotel, hoping she'll have time with her daughter, but instead getting to know her new son-in-law. Here's the first graph:

Okay, so I accidentally wrapped my reading glasses in one of the packages I mailed.
"It could have happened to anyone," I said to my daughter Shannon.
"Wow, that's pretty lame. Even for you, Mom." The all-knowingness of her three and a half months of marriage reverberated through the phone line.
I ignored it. "If you get them, just mail them back, okay, honey?"
The minute life starts getting easier, your eyes go. So the time you once spent looking after your kids is now spent looking for you reading glasses. I hated that.

The eye doctor just told me that I need reading glasses when I have my contacts in, but I do hate the idea of everyone at the restaurant pulling out their glasses to see the menu.
What do you think? Would you keep reading?