How is USA so good?

I swear that until a few years ago I never watched the USA network, except for a few late night and over-run movies.

But in the last couple of years, they have come up with some great original series.

My personal favorite (also loved by my husband) is Psych. In it, two friends pretend to be psychics and solve mysteries. It's so funny and different.

They also have the (slightly less) great Monk, Burn Notice, and In Plain Sight. All of them are enjoyable, plus they're all new in the summer when not too much else is.

My only complaint is their bizarrely short seasons. I am always thrilled when I see new shows are going to be coming on, but they often show about six episodes and then disappear for another four months.

Still, try them and I promise you will not be disappointed.

Fun girly goodness

Great summer reading is hard to come by. It's got to be escapist and a good read and just a little trashy. Chasing Harry Winston , by Lauren Weisberger, falls into all of those categories.

It's the story of three friends trying to make changes in their personal and professional lives all the while flitting around with boys and travel and jewelry.

These are all good things. My only complaint is that none of the girls are particularly likeable. I generally wanted things to turn out well, but I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. Perhaps I am just too far removed from fabulous women in New York.

This book is by the author of The Devil Wears Prada, which totally rocks, in both book and movie form. If you've somehow missed that one, read it first.

Japanese game shows rock!

So I may be one of the two people in the world who has been enjoying "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" this summer.

The show itself is kind of lame, but I do so love the parts when they compete in Japanese game show competitions. I have loved Japanese game shows ever since watching them in a hotel room in Hawaii.

So the show is worth watching especially if you can fast forward to just the game show parts. The rest of it is your typical reality show fare of stupid people arguing.

Look! They often dress up in costumes. Who doesn't enjoy that?

My all time favorite young adult books

When I was young, I completely fell in love with Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet . It's made up of Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant.

It's a kind of fantasy-ish series about a girl who disguises herself as a boy so she can become a knight. There's magic and kissing, which is, of course, the perfect combination.

I have found this series to hold up well. I not only read it a million times as a kid but have reread it several times as an adult. So enjoyable.

Christy is a little like 7th Heaven...

Leisure Girl has been alone for the last week or so while her husband has been traipsing around the country.

I have spent these nights curled up in bed by eight watching Christy: The Complete Series. This is one of those shows (think 7th Heaven, Doctor Quinn) that I usually find a little too wholesome/slow. But I wanted to try it because I like Kellie Martin, the main actress.

All in all, it was quite fun. At times a little slow or preachy, but the characters are relatively enjoyable and it has the two guys fight over one girl aspect that I love (and is so often found in Korean TV).

The series is based on a book by Catherine Marshall, which I have now added to my library queue.

Unfortunately, the series ended with a cliff hanger, but they they made a mini-series to follow it up. I've heard the mini-series is awful (and has different actors) but I must have closure, so watch it I shall.

I thought The Manny would be juicer..

So when I first saw The Manny by Holly Peterson I thought it looked too frivolous. A shocking admission, given some of the things I've admitted to reading, I know.

But I finally got it from the library, and got past my prejudice enough to read it.

The result? Mixed.

It's fairly well written, but none of the characters are quite well developed enough that you really care what happens to them. The main character stays with a lousy husband for pages and pages and pages. Why? Clearly, life's too short.

There's a romance, but even that is a fair amount of build up for not much action.

Plus there's an endless in-depth (one of the few things that is) work sub-plot. Please, if that's what I was interested in I would be actually working, not reading a book called "The Manny."

All in all? Not too frivolous for me, maybe just not frivolous enough.