Holley's House

new year, new me

2012-01-16T08:06:00.000-06:00

boy, does that title sound SO corny, like a crummy self-help title. but it's true. i can only speak for how i feel right here, right now, but i feel as if i've turned a corner. i'm feeling more and more each day like i did 8 years ago (was it 8 YEAR?!) when i was kicking ass and taking names at weight watchers. who knows why i've blown it since last summer and gained 60 pounds. focusing on the why of the past doesn't help me find the how of the future so i'm letting go of all that.

enter the new me: heavy, chronic knee pain, which i associate with the increasingly chronic tiredness and irritability. i'm ready to feel better, physically, mentally, and all other -ally's that apply. the knee pain is the most disheartening thing dragging me down right now. now that i have the image in my mind, it's very much like kirsten dunst's dream sequence in melancholia with the yarn. if you don't know what i'm talking about, that's another sad thing best left to another discussion. the most i'll say about it is find your local indie movie theater and beg them to get it if they haven't shown it already and you just missed it.

i just finished the greatest book i've had the privilege of reading in quite some time, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greastest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney. The book discusses willpower in general, not just for the purposes of changing your eating habits, and it was all information that i needed to hear. for instance, who would have guessed that making yourself sit/stand up straight consistently throughout the day is more likely to strengthen your willpower for resisting that fast food run than telling yourself what an awful idea that would be, how much fatter and uglier eating that doughnut will make you, etc. Also, and Dr. B has been prompting me of this for YEARS, self monitoring. Whatever it is you need to do (watching what you eat, stopping smoking, saving money), making a physical note of what you do is important.

so i downloaded a food/exercise journaling app on my phone. i have absolutely NO idea why this did not occur to me earlier, but Baumeister talks about it in the book and BAM, the idea was planted and implemented. i absolutely LOVE it! the search functions are great and the best feature, as far as i'm concerned, is that it has an imbedded barcode scan feature, separate from the QR code reader that i already have, so if i have a product to add to my food log that still in it's original packaging or i just want to check how much of my daily calorie allowance a packaged food will take up, scan the barcode and the nutritional info and serving size is right there on the screen. it's super easy to look up other foods and add your own as well. like ANY other monitoring vehicle, if you have a custom food to enter or write down, you have to add up the nutritional content of all ingredients and divide by the number of servings. that's true for any attempt to log your food for any program or app so i'm accustomed to that as a holdover from my weight watchers days. the app i downloaded is the Calorie Counter from Fat Secret. Fat Secret has a great website (http://www.fatsecret.com/) as well and the app, like any good app should, syncs any info so that whether i add my food or exercise on my phone or the website, it populates to both places without me having to worry about it.

i'm excited about it, and about how committed i feel about, so i hope this motivates someone to get out there and add some sort of new self improvement change to their life!

happy new year

2012-01-06T16:32:00.002-06:00

so, I'm six days in on the new year and not doing so well with my new year's resolution to blog more. however I'm absolutely kicking ass on my new year's resolution to stop using my debit card at drive thru's...but it is only 6 days in. I'm trying not to focus on that though. One of my daily motivational emails (which I printed out and have hanging over my desk at work) says to be careful what you wish for, not because you might get it, but because that may emphasize its absence in your life. So, somewhere in my convoluted mind, this connection makes sense to me....that I not focus on the 299 odd days left in the year with no debit drive thru, but rather on my 6 days of ass kicking success. Tomorrow will be big number 7!

KT and I are going to see The Devil Inside tonight. There's little we like better than a good demon possession movie, so hopefully it'll be just that...GOOD! I don't know what's worse, going home alone to a (hopefully) empty house as I'll be doing, or going home to a husband who KNOWS how susceptible you are to getting spooked and who possibly might hide in a dark doorway to scare the crap out of you as you creep in late at night as KT will be doing. It's a toss up for sure :-)

You may be thinking to yourself, or actually saying out loud, "why go to a horror movie if it scares you?" I have no answer for you. I love horror movies, the scarier the better. If it keeps me from going to sleep or makes me wakeful, staring out into the dark from under the covers, I'm happy. Go figure.

again, Happy New Year!

books and movies 2011

2012-01-06T16:11:00.001-06:00

I always like to keep track of the movies I watch and the books that I read. No particular reason, just so's I can keep track :-)

THE BOOKS OF 2011
80. The Lady of the Storm by Kathryne Kennedy
79. A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander
78. Courting Death by Carol Stephenson
77. The Daddy Catch by Leigh Duncan
76. Guys & Dogs by Elaine Fox
75. Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
74. The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger
73. How to Eat a Small Country by Amy Finley
72. Revamped by Jeremy Lewis
71. My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock
70. Staked by Jeremy Lewis
69. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
68. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
67. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
66. The Warlock by Michael Scott
65. Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
64. Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay
63. The Necromancer by Michael Scott
62. Kill Shakespeare: Volume 1 by Conor McCreery
61. Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
60. What Comes After by Steve Watkins
59. The Sorceress by Michael Scott
58. The Magician by Michael Scott
57.Unforgettable by Penny Richards
56. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David Ulin
55. The Billionaire's Unexpected Heir by Kathie DeNosky
54. His Country Girl by Jillian Hart
53. Days of Reading by Marcel Proust
52. Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
51. Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston
50. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen
49. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
48. A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
47. Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
46. Cowboys and Aliens by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
45. Red Glove by Holly Black44. Belladonna by Mary Finn
43. Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
42. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
41. Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
40. Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
39. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
38. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
37. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
36. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley
35. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
34. The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
33. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
32. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
31. You Think That's Bad: Stories by Jim Shepard
30. The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
29. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
28. Smokin' Six Shooter by B.J. Daniels
27. Vampire Empire, Book One: The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith
26. Great Classic Science Fiction narrated by various artists
25. Slan by A.E. van Vogt
24. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
23. Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns by Erika Falk
22. Now and Then by Jacquelyn Sheehan
21. The Hunt by Anne Marsh
20. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
19. Exotica: Seven Days of Kama Sutra, Nine Days of Arabian Nights by Eden Bradley
18. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood
17. Bond With Me by Anne Marsh
16. The World Inside by Robert Silverberg
15. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
13. The Healer's Garden by Nina Pierce
12. Unchained: The Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood
11. Dane: Lords of Satyr by Elizabeth Amber
10. Taken Beyond Temptation by Cara Summers
9. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
8. Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
7. Conspiracy in Death by J.D. Robb
6. Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small
5. Perfect Partners? by C.J. Carmichael
4. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
3. The Hell-Fire Clubs: Sex, Satanism, and Secret Societies by Evelyn Lord
2. The Fall by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
1. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

HOLLEY GOES TO THE MOVIES - 2011
Melancholia (2) :-D
Dolphin Tale :-D
The Adventures of Tintin :-D
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked :-(
Arthur Christmas :-D
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows :-D
Breaking Dawn (2) :-D
Paranormal Activity 3 :-D
Dream House :-(
50/50 :-)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark :-D
Our Idiot Brother (2) :-)
The Smurfs (2) :-)
Mr. Popper's Penguins :-/ meh
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides :-/ meh
The Help (3) :-D
Cowboys vs. Aliens :-)
Captain America :-/ meh
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams :-D
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2) :-D
Green Lantern :-)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules :-)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2D) :-)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (3D) :-)
Thor :-/ meh
Priest :-)
Hop :-)
Insidious :-D
Gnomeo & Juliet :-D
Paul :-D
The Adjustment Bureau :-)
Rango :-D
The Rite :-/ meh
True Grit :-D
The Green Hornet :-/ meh
Season of the Witch :-(

the lonely ranger

2011-07-26T19:19:00.002-05:00

wow, almost two months away...I'm such an oathbreaker

Why I think it's SO much harder to get on here and update my books, movies, and weight yet not actually blog is beyond me.

I've taken my niece and nephew to Disney World, attended the American Library Association conference in New Orleans and been to the beach twice since June 15th. I call that a bit of activity. I'm so tired now I could just spit. I told my mom, no rest for the wicked, and she said that I'd definitely not been getting any rest but that I wasn't wicked.

Moms, they're good for taking up for you and a whole passel of other stuff if you're lucky. I am.

I'm stuck in the Game of Thrones vortex again right now. Between the TV show (I can't watch) and the new book (I most certainly can read), I don't think about too much else except Downton Abbey. Damn you VSL, for bringing this show to my attention! My faithful friend Netflix delivered it, disc by disc, to my hot little hand and I fell utterly and helplessly in love. If you've not yet availed yourself of this little PBS show, do so immediately if not sooner. The second season is in filming right now so I'm already lining up viewing options with friends who do have broadcast television.

Of course, I also did the same thing for Game of Thrones and couldn't stay on the viewing wagon but my own personal road to hell is paved with GOLDEN good intentions. Always has been. Hopefully they'll get it released to DVD soon (Christmas bells are ring-ing!) and I can lock myself in the house, not answer the phone, and gorge on its oh-so delicious decadence. I'm all about that.

I'd truly forgotten how much fun this was. Shame on me. Mel just accosted me with stupid PDF questions. It's always nice to see someone reach ripe grad school type ages and still not know how to print a f*#king PDF. "It prints fine at home. I don't understand why your computers are so difficult."

me either, princess.

Something that can't go out on Facebook. THIS is why I've been blogging less and NEED to blog more.

That is all.

gardening anxieties

2011-06-02T22:53:00.002-05:00

My rosemary, petunias, and eggplant are growing like hard core mofos!

My tomato plant is grudgingly growing, but it's very, very bitter about it. I'm not certain why.

I forgot to water my plants one day 2 weeks ago and my cilantro suffered mightily. I was nursing it back to health, but was away from home overnight on Memorial Day. Apparently, my plants want water, and a lot of it, first thing in the morning. 4/5 of the cilantro is dead and crispy and my strawberry plant, previously in the "hard core mofo" camp, is struggling out of a severe dryup. I'm most sad about the little stalk that I am POSITIVE was about to bloom! My first little strawberry, dead in our 100 degree May heat. I firmly believe it's going to bounce back, though I'm not so sure about the cilantro. It's little tag said "full sun" but maybe it was exaggerating just a teensy bit. Perhaps it should have said "mostly full sun, unless it's 100 degrees in May and there's no shade" but I guess that doesn't fit too well on the little tag.

But oh, the petunias are eating it UP! Pour on the water and watch them grow. It's possible they could be able to detail my car by this weekend if this rate of growth continues...

I'll have to take another picture to compare with that first one, just for posterity's sake.

Off to bed! I promised myself at least 7 hours of sleep tonight and I just may make it. That most enormous, black hole of time suck, Facebook, is dealing me fits. I'm going to have to start using the kitchen timer and parse out time. When the timer goes off, the book of face is closed. We'll see how it goes.

That is all.

My mini garden

2011-05-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

This is the first summer that I have not been petsitting since I was 18 years old. Just to place that in time and space, I'm in my mid-30's now. To say I'm excited is a vast understatement. I have plenty of land in which to place a sizable garden but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. Petsitting was giant commitment in and of itself and I don't want to load up with another quite so soon. Thus, the container garden! It's my first attempt and I've never been terribly successful with plants that are not in my office at work, so we'll see how it goes. In the hanging baskets, I have cilantro, rosemary, and strawberries. The large pot has some beautiful wave petunias and the small one an arm of Christmas cactus I accidentally knocked off of the 50-60 year old plant at my Aunt Cathy's house. As penitence, I'm going to try to grow it. It has some little root filaments 2 or 3 inches long, so maybe it will like all this fresh country air!

Below are what I hope will be my big producers. Even though I don't like tomatoes or most tomato based products, I do love salsa and I make a mean lasagna. I hope this lone plant may contribute to both dishes over the course of the summer. The other plant is eggplant.

I don't like okra and everything else available at the time of purchase grew on a 6-8 foot vine which I don't really want on my porch. I though about getting one of those basket that hangs from a deck railing and just letting the vine hang over the side but I haven't made up my mind. I'm not certain whether or not that would work. Plus, I'm not sure if the bunnies like squash. Anything on the ground is game for the live action Watership Down going on in the back yard...and the deer, although I've never seen them in the front yard and the bunnies aren't so shy.

sand and sun

2011-04-23T20:44:00.000-05:00

I just got back yesterday (Fri, Apr 22) from the Alabama Library Association conference in Orange Beach. I know, I know...it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it! The weather was perfect but I was in conference meetings each day from 8:30-5 so there wasn’t a whole lot of time to goof off. I and my coworkers did spend each evening out by the pool drinking bushwackers. I had never heard of such a thing before but now, sitting here in my quiet house, I’d nearly kill for one. Basically, it was a 151 chocolate milkshake with a little extra floater of 151 on top. Yes, it is VERY special and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously. The “mix and mingle” kickoff party Tuesday evening was alright but there was not enough seating and the music was too loud. I’ve no idea why every conference seems to think we must be entertained instead of actually letting us network, but oh well.

My coworker Nancy and I, in attempt to be fashionably late, instead missed out on most of the free margaritas. I only had time for one before they shut it down. It was supposed to be 5-7pm but by 6:15, there were no more free ‘ritas...maybe they didn’t anticipate a high demand from a bunch of librarians. If so, boy were they surprised! They did have a raw oyster bar so I got back at them that way. They tasted great but there were some weird spots on the insides of the shells but I was neither sick nor dead the next day so they must have been alright. I had some each evening and continued on not sick or dead so yay Orange Beach!

Yesterday, I decided to check out early, head down to the public beach and play a little before heading home and then Nancy pointed out that the hotel had a pool, bathroom, and bar and no one but the computer system knew I’d checked out. I packed my stuff, loaded the car, then snuck a hotel towel and a bushwacker down to the beach for some quality time with the ocean and my book. A great quote from Danish author Isak Denisen (wrote Out of Africa): “The cure for anything is saltwater...sweat, tears, or the sea.” So true, so true. The red flags were out and the surf was aggressive but I eventually waded out and had my ass handed to me. I finally, after much struggling and cursing on my part, made it out to a relatively calm section and floated facing the horizon. I huge wave came curling in and I ducked under to let it roll over me and discovered how close I was to shore when it ground me down to the sand and proceeded to REALLY exfoliate my back and fill my swimsuit with eighteen million pounds of sand.

I decided that was enough frolicking for me and headed back to my beach chair. I discovered, on my way home, that the little adventure had also stripped all the sunscreen off from the nape of my neck to the soles of my feet. I am a crispy critter from the back. It’s quite painful and I don’t think I’ll be allowing that to happen again any time soon. I packed up for good and snuck out of the hotel around 4 and got home around 9pm last night. I was exhausted but I’m really glad I stayed to play. If I’d had a brain in my head, I would have swapped weekends with someone and taken a few extra days vacation but I didn’t think of that so off to work I went this morning, grumpy as hell.

The water was clear and beautiful (and a little chilly, but refreshing!) and I saw no evidence of the yucky oil spill that had decimated the region exactly one year before. There are still a lot of places for sale but everything looked full and more cars were streaming in as I was leaving so I really hope the Gulf Coast makes a full recovery this year! It’s beautiful, the seafood is terrific, and the natives are glad to see you!

The original trip down was very nice too, though I forgot to pack my other audiobook and the one I’d been listening to ended entirely too quickly. I hate the radio and there wasn’t enough 3 or 4G coverage for Pandora to work very well. I should have just stopped at a Cracker Barrell and rented one of their audiobooks, but by the time I’d really gotten miserable I didn’t see one single CB before I got to my destination. I really and truly think some sort of worm hole must have opened up because how often can you say you can’t find a Cracker Barrell?! My GPS took me this crazy ass way through Florida and I should have bought a lottery ticket on my way (56 million) but I didn’t...stupid of me. I did notice that most of the Florida public works workers I saw on the roadside were smoking huge, ginormous cigars clamped in the corners of their mouths. That’s just not something I see here in fair AL, but it was amusing. All I could think was that maybe some interesting Cuban black market trading was going on. Also, I saw my first, real-life, Google Maps Street View car. I was driving along and at an intersection about ½ mile ahead I saw this white car with florescent green markings that had a big pole coming up off the roof about 6 to 8 feet with a big red ball on top. As I got closer, it sort of looked like a camera but I still couldn’t tell until I got close enough to read the logo and there it was, Google Maps! I’ve seen images of the cars online but never come across them in person. It was interesting to think my little grimy white Accent might end up on someone’s street view.

Winter is coming...

2011-04-03T21:47:00.004-05:00

Allow me to introduce the most exciting thing to happen on HBO in recent memory...

Game of Thrones Exclusive Preview

KT and I and our circle of fellow ASOIAF fans are very nearly going out of our minds with anticipation. If you've not yet read this series and you don't mind a little blood, guts, and underhanded glory, definitely read these books by George R.R. Martin!

A Game of Thrones

A Clash of Kings

A Storm of Swords

A Feast for Crows

A Dance with Dragons (forthcoming)

humble and apologetic

2011-04-01T18:37:00.002-06:00

so....January

Yep, I admit it! I have fallen down on the blogging job and I'm ashamed. We'll see how far that blogging shame will carry me.

On an anecdotal note, I experienced my very first Walmart entrapment last week. I was meeting a friend to see a movie, got to the theater area early, and decided I had just enough time to pop in Wally World to both alleviate the discomfort of an hour car ride on 32 oz of water AND pick up a few badly needed household items. One problem solved, I started in on the other. I was *almost* through with my shopping when the tornado sirens went off. Not long after that, an overhead announcement informed us that the police had advised WM to begin the "code black weather emergency procedures" and all WM associates and customers were to proceed to the middle of the store and wait for further instructions.

I continued to shop, because obviously they are not *serious* about everyone in the store having to hole up together by the fitting rooms. Um, yeah. They are completely serious. While my movie watching companion was out in the free world, completely allowed to go where ever they desired (and texting me of this information), I was trapped in WM. For 20 minutes. With nothing to do...except Words with Friends. Needless to say, except for some mild I'm-going-to-be-late-for-the-movie anxiety, I was content.

Am I becoming assimilated? Can I experience any lag time without whipping out the spiffy new smartphone I purchased for my own birthday? Only time will tell and I'm fairly certain it will be telling a story I'm not entirely comfortable hearing.

On the same note, I just finished listening to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and am currently all fired up with some urges for change in my own food buying habits. We'll also have to see how that goes. Some of the things I would love to be able to change are pretty hard to do in my area. There is a local produce market near the library, but they are more boutique-y and I can only afford to shop there once every month or so. He was also very affective in making Whole Paycheck seem not so good a choice as well, for reasons other than the whole paycheck part.

All that to say, I will be investigating some avenues for purchasing local produce regularly and, hopefully, meat for my quarterly cookathon. The road to hell and all that....

Peace out

htw

chagrin

2011-01-15T10:59:00.001-06:00

I, professional librarian and bibliophile, left the house for a long weekend without books. I *thought* I had them, but now that I have finished my most current read, I've discovered nothing in my bookbag.

My Nook? On my desk at work.

My books? On the counter at home.

What was I thinking?! Nothing productive, obviously. Ah, the humanity!

Movies in 2010

2011-01-13T14:33:00.002-06:00

I'm quite sure no one is terribly interested in this but since this does form part of my record keeping activities, you get to read it too!

Gulliver's Travels

Tron Legacy

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2)

RED

The Social Network

A block of 9 short films

Evil Things

Mars

Human Centipede

Dogtooth

Cleanflix

Barbershop Punk

Ready, Set, Bag!

Until the Light Takes Us

NY Export: Opus Jazz

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Teenage Paparazzo

The American

The Girl Who Played With Fire (2)

Winter's Bone

Grown Ups

Get Low

The Last Exorcism

Piranha 3D

The Expendables

Step Up 3D

Eat, Pray, Love

Salt

Inception

Despicable Me

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Knight & Day

Eclipse (3)

The A-Team

The Bounty Hunter

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Shutter Island

Sex and the City 2

Robin Hood

MacGruber

Date Night

Iron Man 2

How To Train Your Dragon

The Back-Up Plan

Kickass

Clash of the Titans

Remember Me

Alice In Wonderland 3D

Leap Year

The Wolfman

The Crazies

Antichrist

The Road (2)

Lovely Bones

The Book of Eli

Avatar (3)

Daybreakers

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassu

2010 reads

2011-01-13T14:26:00.002-06:00

So, I made it to 139. Just a few short of my goal of 150 and not too shabby a total if I do say so myself. I will keep a sidebar item for my reading this year but don't believe I will be participating in a formal challenge. I enjoy noting what I've read but it gets to be too much like work at some point. Once again, I have to whine about how much I want to get back to blogging. I could say that I'm just too busy, but I don't really believe that Challenge Majong on Facebook counts as "busy" and I like to lie to myself least of all. I've made some good memories and done some serious landscaping throughout the country of my skull with this list. Here's hoping this year is just as good and happy reading I wish to you all as well. I like to imagine a legion of patient fans waiting for my next post. Don't disabuse me of that notion, it's one of my dearest....

139. Dangerous Pleasures by Bertrice Small

138. Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb

137. Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb

136. The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

135. Wine, Tarts, and Sex by Susan Johnson

134. She's Got the Beat by Nancy Krulik

133. Mythical Beasts of Japan: From Evil Creatures to Sacred Beings by Koichi Yumoto, Akiko Taki, and Hiroyuki Kano

132. Sudden Pleasures by Bertrice Small

131. Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb

130. Under the Bright Lights by Daniel Woodrell

129. Mates, Dates, and Cosmic Kisses by Cathy Hopkins

128. The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant

127. Ceremony in Death by J. D. Robb

126. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

125. Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

124. Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn

123. Entwined by Elisabeth Naughton

122. The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis

121. Immortal in Death by J.D. Robb

120. Glory in Death by J.D. Robb

119. Forbidden Pleasures by Beatrice Small

118. The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

117. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

116. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins

115. Poems Bewitched and Haunted selected and edited by John Hollander

114. Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okarafor

113. Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

112. Private Pleasures by Beatrice Small

111. Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

110. The Curse Workers: The White Cat by Holly Black

109. The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan

108. Abhorsen by Garth Nix

107. Genesis by Bernard Beckett

106. Winter Kissed by Michele Hauf and Vivi Anna

105. Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix

104. What is Man? by Mark Twain

103. Shadow Fall by Erin Kellison

102. Vampirates: Empire of Night by Justin Somper

101. How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley

100. Sabriel by Garth Nix

99. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

98. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

97. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

96. A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn

95. Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart

94. Vampirates: Black Heart by Justin Somper

93. Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison

92. Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker by Syrie James

91. Vampirates: Blood Captain by Justin Somper

90. Marked by Elizabeth Naughton

89. No Doors, No Windows by Joe Schreiber

88. Leaving Unknown by Kerry Reichs

87. Vampirates: Tide of Terror by Justin Somper

86. All Tied Up by Cathryn Fox

85. Dragon America by Mike Resnick

84. Cry Sanctuary by Moira Rogers

83. Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

82. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

81. Divorced, Desperate, and Delicious by Christie Craig

80. Weddings Can Be Murder by Christie Craig

79. Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper

78. Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan

77. Beastly by Alex Flinn

76. Extras by Scott Westerfeld

75. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik

74. Specials by Scott Westerfeld

73. Stay by Allie Larkin

72. Antiques Roadkill by Barbara Allen

71. Her Hero in Hiding by Rachael Lee

70. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

69. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

68. Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik

67. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

66. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik

65. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

64. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

63. Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

62. God Is In the Pancakes by Robin Epstein

61. The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography by Selina Hastings

60. Identical by Ellen Hopkins

59. Glass by Ellen Hopkins

58. The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe

57. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

56. Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock

55. Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller

54. Willow by Julie Hoban

53. The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

52. Crank by Ellen Hopkins

51. Dog Blood by David Moody

50. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larrson

49. Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

48. Troubles by J.G. Farrell

47. Anathem by Neal Stephenson

46. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

45. The Golden Globe by John Varley

44. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

43. The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women & a Forty-Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow

42. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

41. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

40. Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

39. Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals by Robert Sapolsky

38. Claiming Ground: A Memoir by Laura Bell

37. The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

36. The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott

35. Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

34. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

33. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

32. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

31. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

30: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

29. The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

28. Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

27. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

26. Impact by Douglas Preston

25. Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal

24. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

23. City of Thieves by David Benioff

22. The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Tahir Shah

21. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

20. The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn

19. Altar of Eden by James Rollins

18. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

17. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

16. Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

15. Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy

14. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

13. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

12. The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose

11. Once a Spy by Keith Thomson

10. Four Short Stories: A Great Storyteller at his Best with drawings by Henri Matisse by W. Somerset Maugham

9. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

8. Believe Me by Nina Killham

7. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

6. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

4. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

3. The Hours by Michael Cunningham

2. 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke

1. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

2010-12-30T08:08:00.001-06:00

Nobdy brght a comptr so it lks like it'll b pesky txt upd8s! Snowy Breckenridge, CO has brght on a lovely case of altitude sickness. -6 temps 2day or 2morrow!

november reads

2010-12-13T11:37:00.004-06:00

17 books this month and I'm still pushing towards 150 for the year...doesn't look like I'll make it at this point, but I'm not giving up yet!

I'm in the process of rereading J.D. Robb's (Nora Roberts) 30+ book In Death series (futuristic romantic suspense)

The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Josh and his partner Brent buy a historic, though VERY high maintenance, mansion and the epic farming/decorating adventure begins! Brent worked for Martha Stewart for a while and he and Josh both go a bit overboard on their own home as a result. Very funny and touching!

Bertrice Small's The Channel series

Forbidden Pleasures

Sudden Pleasures

I read the first in this series last month (Private Pleasures). Mildly entertaining erotica centered around a town where women can subscribe to a "television channel" that allows them to experience any fantasy for real. If you've read Bertrice Small before, you know the game.

Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis

A slim book and a lightning fast summation of the history of Islam and its development in the modern world. A bit dry and repetitive but overall fairly informative.

Entwined by Elizabeth Naughton

The 2nd book of Naughton's Eternal Guardians series (Marked). Greek myths, huge heroes, lots of angst and sexiness. It's not great, but it is very entertaining!

Kwaidan: Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn

Hearn seems to be the imminent collector and translator of Japanese folktales and fables for the last century or so. This collection was more strange tales and stories (and that was the original subtitle of this reprint of a 1904 title), nothing too creepy. Fascinating studies of butterflies, mosquitoes, and ants (in relation to folktales and fables) at the end of the book.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Who doesn't know what this is? I loved rereading it and I also loved the movie Part 1!

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant

Such a good story of how many of these dogs beat the system (which usually recommends euthanization for dogs seized from fighting situations) to become therapy dogs and/or loving family pets. I thought the experience would be a lot rougher than it was. Truly heartwarming and the volunteers involved are so dedicated to what they do...very inspiring.

Mates, Dates, and Cosmic Kisses by Cathy Hopkins

2nd book in a long-running British young adult series about three seventh-grade friends learning about life, dating, and friendship. Since there are three girls, I'm not sure what will happen to the story as of book 4 but I'm willing to find out!

Under the Bright Lights by Daniel Woodrell

After Winter's Bone, I wanted to read some of his other work and I am not disappointed! This is the first book in his Rene Shade detective trilogy and it is very raw and spare, like a rangy junkyard dog, and just as snappy. Woodrell is not one for flowery language or extra detail, just the bare bones of the story scraping across your nerves. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Mythical Beasts of Japan: From Evil Creatures to Sacred Beings by Koichi Yumoto, Akiko Taki, and Hiroyuki Kano

This thick little book is composed mainly of illustrations from hundreds of years of Asian art, but the few areas of explanatory material are totally worth the journey. I picked this up after finishing Kwaidan and loved a further exploration of the world of Asian myth and legend!

150 books, here I come!

tales of passion, tales of woo

2010-11-30T10:45:00.002-06:00

not really, but someone from another library once called the reference desk looking for that book for one of their own patrons and the actual title is "Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe." It makes me smile to think of it AND it sort of reminds me of the card throwing at Rocky Horror. It's an ADD moment to be sure.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate the holiday, I hope you had a fabulous Thursday :-)

I was at KT's house from Wednesday to Friday and had a blast. Cookies, games, Christmas decorations, frivolity, and controlled chaos were the order of the days and I've rarely had such a rollickin' good time! I fell off the portioning wagon fairly badly but mananged to eek out a .2 pound loss for the week of Thanksgiving. And you know what? I'll take it.

I'm still REALLY loving my new used car and just zip in and out of traffic like a little bumblebee. I don't know if I'll ever want something other than such a small car. They are very zippy and fun.

So far, I've failed at my endeavors to blog more, but I did delete a few of the more obsurdly time consuming things in which I participated on Facebook in an attempt to free up more time for other things. I've frequently found myself coming in from work and getting straight on the computer for the rest of the night and not doing anything really other than staring at Facebook and hitting the refresh button. Not good. I have too many books to read and a monthly subscription to Netflix to be spending all of my time playing games and hoping my "friends" will talk to me. I'm also going to harshly weed the feeds in my Google Reader. I just have too many and the thoughts of logging on are too much to bear. I miss checking in with the sites and blogs that I really enjoyed before I got all bogged down in too much info. It's time for a fresh start!

I hope I haven't lost everyone with my blogging laziness. Are you all still there?

library archaeology

2010-11-19T10:38:00.002-06:00

Mr. Johnson moved on to something more lucrative after Miami Vice...

Inside Bowling by Don Johnson and Jack Patterson

october reads

2010-11-12T16:30:00.002-06:00

I'm still racking up on my reading! I managed to get in 13 books last month and am going strong here mid-November. I'm feeling REAL strong on my goal of reading 150 books for the year!

What is Man? by Mark Twain
Controversial and, dare I say, irreverent essay on the humanity of humans in the form of a Socratic dialogue between an Old Man and a Young Man. The OM takes the position of human as machine, working as programmed and motivated only by his own contentment of spirit. The YM, as young men tend to do, takes what he considers to be the high road. Great companion read to Bernard Beckett's Genesis, coming up a little later on this list.

Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr by Garth Nix
This is the middle book in Nix's young adult fantasy Abhorsen trilogy. Magic, necromancy, adventure, danger, loyalty, and bravery - something for all and I loved the whole series!

Winter Kissed by Michele Hauf and Vivi Anna

Two winter-themed tales of romance from Harlequin. Okay, but not great. LOTS of awkward dialogue.

Genesis by Bernard Beckett

One of my favorite books. It was published as a young adult novel in the author's native New Zealand and it gets catalogued both ways around the country. A young girl, Anaxamander, is presenting her historical research on Adam Ford in an attempt to get into The Academy. Adam's life was a pivotal moment for a society that had already been devastated by a world-wide plague and suffering extreme isolation for many, many years. Anax's historical research uncovers so much more than she intended or is ready for. A++

Abhorsen by Garth Nix

The concluding volume in Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. This is a great series to pick up for Potter fans!

The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan

A mind-bending, reality-shredding tale of dread from an author Neil Gaiman describes as "the poet and the bard of the wasted and the lost." Author Sarah Crowe is attempting to get away from her grief over the death of her lover, Amanda, but burying herself in work in an isolated New England farmhouse. Her discovery of an unfinished manuscript on the evil history of an old tree on the property doesn't help her situation much. VERY, VERY good. One of the very best works of cold, dead-weight dread I've read in recent memory.

The Curse Workers: The White Cat by Holly Black

A first novel in a new young adult series from Black, set in a universe where curse workers have been officially outlawed, but are so common that everyone is required to wear gloves so that no skin-to-skin contact, and thus no curses, can be transmitted. Of course, some people cheat, and that is what currently has Cassel in so much trouble. The audio is narrated by Jesse Eisenberg and he does a great job!

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Everyone born Post-Shift has the ability to see ghosts. Aura has capitalized on that by working in her aunt's law firm seeking justice for the wrongly killed. She takes some pride in her work but it's a pain in the ass overall. That is, until her boyfriend, on what should have been the best night of his life, accidentally dies instead. Now she's caught between the ghost of the boy she loved (who still considers them to be a couple) and the possibility of new love with Zachary. This is a young adult novel, but I would only recommend with confidence to high school age and up for language, sex, and drugs.

Private Pleasures by Bertrice Small

Are you familiar with Bertrice Small? If so, 'nuf said. If not, let's just say I was more than ready to get off the YA train and in to something a ~~whole helluva lot~~ *bit* more grown up. In plain language, this is erotica so if that is not your bailiwick, beware! I wish WE had The Channel.

Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

We've booked this author to speak at our library next year so the whole department is reading his books so we can start the handselling. Chaz pushes his wife overboard while on a cruise celebrating their anniversary. He was concerned that she'd found out about his shady dealings on the job and thought this would be a convenient way to shut her up. Unfortunately for him, Joey's years as a champion diver in college hold her in good stead and she's ready for revenge. Fast moving story with lots of funny characters and humor, some of it very sexual in nature, but the author's CONSTANT use of every character's full name, first and last, was SO F*&^%ing ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes more than once in the same sentence. I want to read some of his other books but can't make myself do it as that was SO offputting.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okarafor

*sigh* I sooooo wanted to love this but it just didn't happen. It got lots of good press but it just didn't resonate with me. It most reminded me of Alice Walker's Possessing the Secret of Joy. I am newly horrified by rape and female circumcision, in detail. Lots of sperm and other bodily fluids tossed willy nilly. I could see the point the author was trying to make, or shine light upon, but it took away from the central story for me. However, I think I will remember Onyesonwu until the day I die. A job well done, I'd say.

Poems Bewitched and Haunted edited by John Hollander

The main thing I learned was that there are billions and billions of poems out there on how evil/witchy/demonic women are. Poems suitable for a Halloween collection about evil/warlocky/demonic men are apparently pretty thin on the ground. *sigh*

Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras by Cathy Hopkins

A long running, VERY British young adult series so it's "mates" as in friends rather than any other definition. Short, funny, and highly entertaining! Lucy is an outsider in her family and feels like everyone knows what they want to do with their lives, already, at the ripe old age of 14...except her. A new girl horns in on her BFF and the hottest boy in town turns out to be SO VERY unattainable. I really liked it and am reading the second one now. There are a lot of books in this series so I hope they stay fun!

What are YOU reading?

go elf yourself!

2010-11-10T13:29:00.002-06:00

In honor of the fact that I am on staycation this week AND that I am indeed putting up my Christmas tree today, I present to the world my elf self! It is so much trouble getting out all these decorations that I want to look at them for way more than two or three weeks! I have lots of trips and pics to post about, but I've got to get the tree up since KT and the rest of my fav fam of five are coming over for dinner and decoratin'. Enjoy!

drag, confetti, and toilet paper..oh my!

2010-10-30T09:01:00.001-05:00

Dr. Frank-N-Furter 2.0

He's got a little captain in him :-)

Great Scott!! I suffered a very minor rice grain to the eye during the wedding, but this was a rice, confetti, toilet paper deluge and I had my newspaper out for protection!

I had to brush my hair out on the front porch to get all the rice out and my shoes and bra were full as well, but I didn't undress outside. Rice vacuums up just fine! A few butter smears from the toast and a handful of cards for sorrow, cards for pain are all I really ended up with. And we've all decided that if we start NOW, there could be some EPIC costumes for next year!

Oh, and I am no longer a f*%&#ing Rocky Horror virgin!

That is all.

I would have signed it twice if it were ethical to do so!

2010-10-28T17:02:00.002-05:00

Defund NPR?! These people are daft and not in a good way like Daft Punk. I absolutely DO NOT listen to any radio stations in the area except WBHM because they don't have anything interesting, enlightening, or entertaining to say. When I want news, that is the station I tune in on all my radios. I am a no-TV household and proud of it. Don't take away my public radio.

Morons. How can anyone honestly take them seriously?

Sign the petition!

poetry parade

2010-10-20T17:40:00.003-05:00

I am enjoying my Poems Bewitched and Haunted challenge, but the glut of "women are evil and deadly" selections, while flattering in a very Dexter kind of way, is disheartening too. I really would have like to see it more balanced out with some evil and deadly dudes. I know they're out there. There have been some fairly decent ghost poems and I'll shortly have some favorites picked out to share. At the end, I'll pick out some of my favorites overall and list them here too. The spooky poems have been an enjoyable event, might have to make poetry a permanent feature. I don't read enough of it anyway.

Also, the Kia was retired in a very dignified fashion. This is the new hotness:

It's a 2008 Hyundai Accent hatchback and I'm loving it! So nice to be more confident in the fact that I can get back and forth from work without dying! The poor Kia was just falling apart on me. It was a great car but I drive 80 miles a day, minimum, on crappy Alabama roads. There's just no sane way to make a car last under those conditions and I don't expect it. I shopped via Carmax and had one of my best car buying experiences EVER!

witchy woman

2010-10-09T11:24:00.003-05:00

one of my fav Eagles songs

I FINALLY made it through the "Hags and Beauties" section of Poems Bewitched and Haunted. It was a chore. I sure hope men get equal treatment somewhere in this book because it was depressing how hard the woman-bashing went on. I thought, perhaps, somewhere, there would be an empowering sort of hag or beauty but no, they all could have starred front and center on Days of Our Lives or some such show. Powerful, shallow, ignorantly cunning...pshaw! I was glad to get past all that.

The "Dangerous Procedures" section was disappointing. Really, it was merely an extension of "Hags and Beauties," with recipes! Blissfully short.

Now we're getting to some good stuff, "Dangerous Venues!" Edgar Allan Poe's "The Haunted Palace" was pretty good, obviously, but my favorite so far is Thomas Hood's "The Haunted House." I will set it down for you here, but I will also be posting it, a stanza per day, over on facebook. It's perfect for it! Creepy and atmospheric with a gothic spice...good stuff!

Okay, the book only has Part I of this three part poem, in total there are 88 stanzas! It's too long to set down here, but click through if you are interested!

Read scary,
Holley

October challenge

2010-10-04T15:11:00.002-05:00

I've set a challenge for myself that, admittedly, has not gotten off to a very auspicious start but I have high hopes for myself and you should too! I have checked out a book of poetry, Poems Bewitched and Haunted, and plan to read it throughout the month, noting down my thoughts here. I counted up the poems to see how many I would read each day to make it last the entire month. I didn't read my 4 poems yesterday and haven't gotten to them today yet either but I WILL READ 8 poems when I get home tonight!

All of them so far have been fairly witch-y in subject. Cold, beautiful, otherworldly women who lure brave men to their death. Blah, blah, blah. I think it goes just as much in the other direction, but I guess that doesn't makes for good poetry?

Several of the poems were about a cold, beautiful, otherworldly woman named Circe, which of course reminded me of the Cercei of the much beloved A Song of Ice and Fire series. She too is cold and beautiful, though not otherworldly. Grasping, manipulative, and vicious, yes, but often devastatingly foolish. Not that that makes her enemies any less dead. And so it goes for the victims of the poetic Circe as well. Quite a few of them end up as pigs. I'm not sure when or why that became the go-to punishment for witches to assign.

Are you reading anything scary???

September reads

2010-10-02T12:00:00.003-05:00

I thought I was on track to be reading a lot less than last month, but 16 isn’t too shabby! I’m just a few books away from beating last year’s total and still basically have 3 months of reading to go, including another staycation in November. Would it be too greedy to shoot for 150 books this year? Surely not. Anyway, here’s what I read last month!

Leaving Unknown by Kerry Reichs
Maeve Connelly is a chronic non-finisher. To her embarrassment, she’s just been fired from yet another job and her parents are expressing some heavy disapproval at having to take care of her yet again. In a fit of inspiration, Maeve decides to move cross country from the Carolinas to take up residence with an old friend in California. With her ancient car, a chatty bird, and a sparkling sense of adventure, Maeve feels like nothing can stop her now…except, perhaps, that ancient car. The town of Unkown, Arizona will never be the same again.

No Doors, No Windows by Joe Schreiber
Greeting card writer and frustrated novelist Scott Mast has returned to his tiny New Hampshire hometown for his father’s funeral. His alcoholic brother and vulnerable nephew make the stay particularly uncomfortable in their separate ways and Scott is ready to head out. Before he can make his escape, he stumbles upon an unfinished manuscript of a horror novel begun by his father before his death. Now The Black Wing consumes him and he begins to wonder just what legacy has been left to him after all.

Marked by Elizabeth Naughton
This is the first book in the author’s Eternal Guardians series featuring Greek gods and demi-gods, demons, and, of course, eternal love. Ummm, of the hot variety. I’m sure you understand.

Vampirates: Blood Captain by Justin Somper
This is the third volume in the young adult series about the twins, Conner and Grace, each of whom were rescued by pirates after they were shipwrecked. Conner’s rescuers were human, Grace’s were not. Now Grace’s nemesis, the vampirate Sidorio, is back and amassing power to threaten the human and vampire world alike.

Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker by Syrie James
A further fictionalized tale based on the original fictionalized tale. What *really* happened to Mina and Jonathan Harker and the rest from Stoker’s classic horror story of darkness and obsession. I wanted to like this, I really did, and it was great up until about the last ½ or 1/3 and then she lost me. Dark, sensual, and more than a little depraved. Still good Halloween-ish reading!

Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison
Death broke a cardinal rule when he stepped through the veil of Shadows because of the love he bore Kathleen. Now the dark creatures of Shadow can pass through as well and the wraith menace grows, sucking the souls from humanity. Twenty some odd years after that event, the child created from that union, Talia, is on the run for her life. The wraiths want something from her but she has no idea that she is a banshee. Adam, leader of the wraith research group Segue, knows she may be the key to destroying the menace if he can only keep her alive long enough AND keep from falling in love with her.

Vampirates: Black Heart by Justin Somper
The fourth book in the series. Sidorio just won’t die and now has joined forces with Lady Lola Blackwood, a very dangerous vampire in her own right. Grace and Conner are quickly running out of places to hide and avenues of escape.

Summer at Tiffany: A Memoir by Marjorie Hart
Marjorie and her best friend Marty became the first female floor sales pages when they were hired for the summer at Tiffany in 1945. This is her story of that exciting, life-changing summer when they donned the trademark blue of Tiffany and Co.

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
A retelling of Sleeping Beauty. No where near as good at the author’s Beastly, but entertaining nonetheless.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Full of the flash and fire of Kerouac’s On the Road, but in Spain. Fishing, bullfighting, absinthe by the bucket loads, and the hectic, mercurial affection of one Lady Brett Ashley.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Grace has been obsessed by the wolves in the forest behind her house ever since she was almost killed by them when she was a small child. One wolf in particular, yellow-eyed AND the one who saved her life then, keeps her attention now. After one of her school mates is attacked, a group of men from town take their guns in to the woods, determined to rid the forest of wolves. Grace desperately tries to stop them, to no affect. When she returns home that night, she finds a naked, shivering, shot boy on her back porch. A boy with disturbingly familiar yellow eyes.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
The sequel to Shiver. The third novel in the trilogy, Forever, is due out next July. Linger finds Grace and Sam struggling to acclimate to their new lives, unable to escape the feeling that nothing good lasts forever.

Sabriel by Garth Nix
Sabriel’s father, Abhorsen, is missing. She knows something is terribly wrong because he sent a very weak shadow hand to bring her his magically-enhanced sword and the bandolier of seven bells he used to bind and defeat the dead. Sabriel refuses to believe he is truly dead so she must leave boarding school, cross the Wall back in to the Old Kindgom, and find her father immediately. Something dark is brewing, the dead are rising, the dead creatures that rise with them becoming even more vicious, and only Abhorsen can do anything about it. With the help of the magical creature Mogget, he only *looks* like a small white cat, Sabriel must journey to death and beyond to find her father before it’s too late.

How Did You Get This Number? By Sloane Crosley
Humerous essays by the author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Not quite as ascerbic as David Sedaris, but definitely funny!

Vampirates: Empire of Night by Justin Somber
The fifth and most current volume of the continuing adventures of twins Grace and Conner. The twins have learned of their true history and nothing will ever be the same. Hard choices must be made, sides chosen, battles fought…I love this series!

Shadow Fall by Erin Kellison
Sequel to Shadow Bound. Adam and the banshee Talia show up in this book as well, but it focuses on Adam's friend Custo. He has made an unhealthy trade with an adversary he really shouldn't have pissed off but he has to help Adam at all costs. Something is free of the Shadowlands, hunting an innocent young woman, and it's his doing that the creature made the leap into life from the Shadows.

103, and counting!

Sidewalk Film Festival

2010-09-27T16:47:00.005-05:00

This was my first time to attend Sidewalk and I am officially a lifelong fan! I had such a great time! I saw 12 showings total: 7 documentaries, 4 narrative features, and a block of 9 short films. I love movies and it was the perfect day, just running from one venue to another seeing lots of different viewpoints on the world. I did a lot of walking and a fair amount of stair climbing and didn't eat any crap. I stuffed my purse full both days with an apple, a banana, almonds, cheese, and crackers. Lots of water fountains for my water bottle. It was the best weekend I've had in quite some time!

Pretty crappy to come home to a freon-leaking a/c unit and a damp spot on the ceiling. Repairmen are inbound bright and ugly tomorrow morning and I may be shopping around for a loan.

Has anyone else seen any of these films?

Documentary Films

Teenage Paparazzo

The Entourage's Adrian Grenier decides to turn the tables on a 14 year-old member of the paparazzi by following him around.

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film

"The incredible true story of how the greatest graffiti film of all time was never made..."

NY Export: Opus Jazz
Shot on location in New York City and starring an ensemble cast of New York City Ballet dancers, NY Export: Opus Jazz takes Jerome Robbins‘ 1958 “ballet in sneakers” and reimagines it for a new generation in this scripted adaptation.

Until the Light Takes Us

Until the Light Takes Us is a 2009 feature documentary about Norwegian black metal, from directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell. The film features interviews with the originators of black metal, includingVarg Vikernes who is interviewed in prison, where he was incarcerated for killing a bandmate. The film attempts to unravel the truth behind the church burnings and murders committed by a group of young musicians the media called "Satanists", but who, in reality, had far different motives. The film focuses mainly on the events surrounding the genesis, rise, and continuation of the genre and the people that created it. Before the documentary, we saw a short 2 minute film, Delmer Builds a Machine, about a little boy who builds a God-killing machine.

Ready, Set, Bag!

Follows a group of hopefuls to the National Grocer's Association Best Baggers Competition in Las Vegas. Before R, S, B!, we saw an 11 minute short feature, In Brilliant, about two high school seniors in Brilliant, Alabama with different world views and ambitions.

Barbershop Punk

Keeping the independent/punk spirit alive, barbershop quartet fan Robb Topolski takes on the nation’s largest cable company, only to find himself at the center of a federal investigation, inspiring a larger story of censorship, individual voice and access.

and Cleanflix

Dozens of Utah DVD retailers attracted unwanted attention from Hollywood heavyweights when, in the name of conservative family values, they began sanitizing films of sex, nudity, profanity, and violence. Outraged over the unauthorized editing of their work, prominent filmmakers began to speak out, thrusting the two groups into an intense legal, theoretical,
and moral battle that would last six years before coming to a shocking conclusion.

Narrative Features

Dogtooth

A hyper-stylized mixture of physical violence and verbal comedy, Dogtooth is a darkly funny look at three teenagers confined to their parents’s isolated country estate and kept under strict rule and regimen — an inscrutable scenario that suggests a warped experiment in social conditioning and control. Terrorized into submission by their father, the children spend their days devising their own games and learning an invented vocabulary (a salt shaker is a “telephone,” an armchair is “the sea”) — until a trusted outsider, brought in to satisfy the son’s libidinal urges, starts offering forbidden VHS tapes in return for sexual favors.

Human Centipede

During a stopover in Germany in the middle of a carefree roadtrip through Europe, two American girls find themselves alone at night when their car breaks down in the woods. Searching for help at a nearby villa, they are wooed into the clutches of a deranged retired surgeon who explains his mad scientific vision to his captives’ utter horror. They are to be the subjects of his sick lifetime fantasy: to be the first to connect people, one to the next, via their gastric system, and in doing so bring to life 'the human centipede'.

Mars

A new space race is born between NASA and the ESA when Charlie Brownsville, Hank Morrison, and Dr. Casey Cook compete against an artificially intelligent robot to find out what's up there on the red planet. 'Mars' follows these three astronauts on the first manned mission to our galactic neighbor. On the way they experience life threatening accidents, self doubts, obnoxious reporters, and the boredom of extended space travel.

This romantic comedy is told in the playful style of a graphic novel- using a unique animation process that director Geoff Marslett developed specifically for the film. Underneath the silliness Mars is also an exploration of exploration. Why do we want to know what is out there? How do we react to what we find? Is it really that important? And where does love fit into the whole thing?

Evil Things
On January 9th 2009, 5 college students left New York City for a weekend in the country. 48 hours later, all 5 students simply vanished without a trace. There were no leads and no evidence...until now. Before Evil Things, we saw The Tub, a 12 minute short film. A man accidentally impregnates his tub. Morbidly funny.

Short Films

The Thing About Being an Assassin
An intimate and impressionistic look at a super-sly assassin working in the realm of the ultra-business class.

Detour
Jason and Christine were a couple in love. But things begin to turn one-sided when communication breaks down.

A Dread of Red
In order to spend eternity with her vampire fiance, Trina must first deal with his blood phobia.

Fertile
An infertile breast pump salesperson deals with having to choose a sperm donor.

Girl in the Box
A creepy box, an evil man and a girl in a scary situation. We love the silly, scary, gory slasher flicks of the 1980's. Our inspiration came from the horror films that we rented as kids based solely on the video box art (such as 'Happy Birthday To Me.' 'April Fool's Day' and 'Sleepaway Camp') that always had trailers for equally campy movies that revealed the entire plot - ending and all - that we were too lazy to fast forward through.

Lucy in Lala
Lucy lives in her own world. She likes to jog on Saturdays. She has an awful imagination. She has a warped sense of humor. She just can’t seem to make it work. Lucy will do whatever she can to relieve herself of a crappy life.
The Lost Interviews
a series of job interviews highlighting the poor state of the corporate job market.

Overreacting
Brian (Clifton Lewis) is dumped by his girlfriend Claire (Jennifer Leonard). After the breakup, Brian is talking to his friends John (Marc Patterson) and Derrick (Clark Andrews) about why he loves Claire. Brian retraces the steps of his relationship, struggling to remember the day he and Claire first met. When confronted with the question 'Why do you love her?', Brian doesn't have an answer. That is, until his memories help him rediscover the small things in life and 'Claire-ify' what's worth fighting for.

A Face in the Woods
A young man runs out of gas on his way to his mother’s funeral in this haunting yet spiritual look at the grieving process.

wee, wee, wee..all the way home, illustrated

2010-09-17T21:15:00.001-05:00

Here he is, in all his dirty, hoggy glory while I avoid him to get back in the car!

A motorcycle almost hit him...would have been fatal for man and pig alike no doubt.

The white siding on the house is level with my, shall we say, bust line...and that is a 96 gallon garbage can to his left. Maybe "giant pig" was a leeetle bit strong, but he was big enough.

wee, wee, wee...all the way home

2010-09-14T14:37:00.004-05:00

Let me preface by saying I do have a few photos which I will upload later. Alas, they are only of the pig by himself as I was too busy later to take action shots. I will forever regret that...

It's been a month or more since this happened and I have absolutely no excuse for dragging my feet on blogging about it other than I am sometimes a lazy slob in a to-do list sort of way, not a clean-house kind of way.

Anyway, about a month ago I got home just at dusk. I have to walk across the road to check the mail box so I park in my drive way and walk across the road. When I turn to come back, I see a HUGE pig, nay, a hog coming from the woods toward my car. I jumped in the car just as it arrived and started sniffing all around the car. It was not a wild boar or anything, but it was big enough to look in the car window at me and it had tusks as long as my fingers. He sniffed around the car a few times then wandered into the back yard so I drove up to the front door. He then popped back around the house and sniffed all around the car again. I sat in the car and watched him. I wasn't getting out under any circumstances until he was not around. When he again wandered into the back yard, I grabbed all my stuff and fled into the house.

Of course, the first thing I absolutely had to do was call KT. Her 7 year old daughter answered the phone:

Essie - Hello?

ME - Hey, Essie! It's Aunt Holley!

Essie - Hey, Aunt Holley! What are you doing?

ME - I'm standing at my front door, looking a GIANT PIG in my yard!

Essie - .......what?

ME - *I repeat what I said*

Essie (yelling) - Momma, Aunt Holley says there's a giant pig in her yard!

KT (at a distance) - ...wait, what? Let me talk to Aunt Holley!

So KT gets on the phone and I tell her about the pig. He is now wandering in the road and it is nearly dark. He is almost hit by several cars and one motorcycle. One car stops in the middle of the road, next to the pig. The passenger rolls down the window and says "Hey buddy!" then the car travels on. KT and I decide I need to call the police (no animal control in my rural area) so I tell her I'll call her later. I look in the phone book for the number of the nearest police...not listed. I go to the section for the next town over....the number I get out of the BLUE GOVERNMENT SECTION OF THE PHONEBOOK says it has been disconnected. So, at this point, I make my greatest mistake...I call my father.

I called him originally to see if he had a different number for the police. I did not feel this was a 911 moment, but it was a danger to drivers. Dad did not have a number but he was REAL INTERESTED in coming to get the pig.

Dad - I've got half a mind to come get that pig. Is it wild? Do you think I could catch it?

ME - He's just roaming around the yard, doesn't appear aggressive. But he has tusks and it HUGE!

Dad - But do you think I could catch it? I'd love to have some bacon!

ME - I was just going to call the police and have them come get it. Several cars have almost hit it!

Dad - I think I can catch it!

ME - Dad, if you want the pig, come get it. But if you come over here, you better bring several people to help and it isn't gonna be me OR my stepmother!

Dad - Okay! I'm headed that way!

Oh dear. What have I done.

It is now a bit after 8pm. Full dark, I haven't had time to eat dinner, I'm tired from work, and my father drives up in their nice new car with my stepmother and their tiny, yippy dog. Yep. Did you think it would happen any other way? My dad, multiple rotator cuff surgery and double knee replacement survivor, gets out of his nice new car with a rope.

Dad - I wish I had some corn!

ME - I've got breakfast cereal.

Dad - Go get some!

ME - Wait on me!

I go get the cereal. Almost immediately, the loudest most disturbing squealing and grunting come from outside. Let me tell you, no film studio YET has perfected the pig-in-distress sound. It is louder and more guttural than can be imagined. I ran to the door and what I basically see is my father waterskiing across my front yard behind a rampaging pig. Then he loses his balance, falls, and the pig drags him down the side of my car then along the side of the house. He was just about to be dragged underneath the deck when I was finally able to close my mouth and spring to action. I grabbed the end of the rope and wrapped it around the leg of the deck as the pig darted under the deck. Of course, OF COURSE, my dad had his hand wrapped in the rope so when the pig hit the end of his slack, he AND my dad are now both making a good deal of noise. I get him untangled and he is covered in grass, mud, and other suspicious substances and is panting like a steam engine.

Dad - I caught it! N said I wouldn't be able to but did you see me lasso it?! I caught it!

ME - Dad, I don't think we're at a 100% success rate right now...what are you going to do with it now?

Dad - I going to get some bacon!

ME - I understand that, but what are we going to do with it now?

Dad - I told you, I've got a friend at a place that processes deer meat. He said he could process the pig tonight!

ME - Dad, I understand that you want bacon, but what are we going to take it IN?

Dad -...........................I'm going to have to go for help.

ME - (yelling) I TOLD YOU TO BRING HELP TO BEGIN WITH!!!

Dad - I thought it'd be smaller.

ME - (yelling) YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU ANYTHING!!!

I give dad my car keys, since one of the pig's hind feet is now tied to the trailer hitch of his car. While he's gone, the pig is going berserk and manages to pull his car several feet backward across the grass. Finally, after about 20 minutes, he gets back.

Dad - How did it get so much slack in the rope?

ME - He pulled your car across the grass. You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Dad - *laughs uproariously* JP is coming to help!

Imagine my surprise and consternation when JP arrives in an even smaller car, with his wife. They alight from their vehicle with cigarettes and beers in coozies. JP has a pistol in the waistband of his jeans. It's now 9:30 and apparently the party is about to get started.

While dad was gone, N has remembered that someone she knows lives nearby and owns pigs. She tells my dad and now he doesn't want THIS particular bacon since it might possibly belong to someone else. I am SO tired, grumpy, hungry and sweaty that I just want the f*%king pig gone ASAP. Now, JP decides he will just go to the possible owners house (since he's not answering the phone) and get him. JP and wife leave.

JP and wife come back, followed by a diesel duely pulling a horse trailer. Thank goodness! Now I have a yard FULL of men who know JUST what to do. JP and wife have either had several more beers (in addition to the ones still in coozies and being inbibed), a toke or two, or both, but they are rockin'. The men collecting the pig put another rope on the pig's free hind leg, two each take a rope, dad takes the rope around his head, and they head backward towards the horse trailer. Dad didn't know they were going to run, which he has not been able to do in years, and he goes down in the grass again. JP runs forward to grab the now free rope and the pistol falls out of his pants to the ground. His wife staggers to the pistol, picks it up, and begins waving it around. She has a beer in a coozie and a cellphone in one hand, a cigarette and, NOW, a loaded pistol in the other. She is screaming, "I've got the gun! I'ma gone shoot the pig if it gets loose! Should I shoot it now?! I'ma gone shoot it if it gets loose!" JP is yelling, "Get back, woman!" repeatedly.

The pig is finally loaded and, for the last act, my dad decides it is his favorite rope and he has to have it back and no one else can retrieve it for him. He must enter the trailer and beard the pig in its portable den. Refreshingly, nothing happens. He goes in and gets the rope and gets back out. Everyone leaves. I have some scuffed grass and several fragrant piles of pigsh!t. I can still smell the pigsh!t.

The pig has not been back, nor have I heard anything about it. I did see my dad last week and he said where ever he goes around our small little town, someone always tells him they heard a rumor he'd taken up pig wrastlin'. He always gets all the glory.

What have you been wrastlin' with lately?

your horrible blogging friend, Holley

2010-09-11T16:53:00.002-05:00

So, I was managing my subscriptions in Google Reader and was getting annoyed at the blogs I subscribed to that never update...then realized that I'm one of them.

:-(

If you're still hanging in there, I'm about to turn over a new leaf!

...and I have a wonderful pig story to tell you!

August reads

2010-09-07T18:19:00.007-05:00

Somehow, SOMEHOW, I managed to read 20 books in August! I did have a week's staycation and that helped a lot. All I did was sleep and read, it was great! I have spent a considerable amount of time, reading and listening both, on catching up on some young adult books. I've just run out of the store of good suggestions I built up during my grad school YA Lit class. Now I've just got to find some titles that aren't terribly popular since those are never on the shelf when anyone asks. I REALLY want to take a speed reading class!

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
Second in the Uglies trilogy. Talley gave herself up so that David's mother could test the cure on her, but she remembers nothing until a shadowy figure confronts her at a party. If she can follow the clues, she may just find her way back to the memories the Pretty surgery has taken away.

Specials by Scott Westerfeld
The last in the Uglies trilogy and SO, SO good. Talley finds a place for herself in the world, but it is not a clean journey and hearts are broken, probably beyond repair, along the way.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld
The is a spin off tale from Westerfelds Uglies trilogy. Not as good as the trilogy, but entertaining and I was very glad to see Talley Youngblood again!

Beastly by Alex Flinn
Modern retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story...movie coming out next year!

Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
Fourteen year old twins, Grace and Conner Tempest, are adrift, literally and figuratively, after their father dies. They are being pursued by the greedy bank owner and the equally greedy orphanage manager when they decide to take their father's boat and leave. They are separated when a violent storm sinks their boat. Conner is rescued by a pirate ship, The Diablo, while Grace gets picked up by a mysterious ship with black, tattered sails like wings. This ship, The Nocturne, is crewed by vampirates (vampire pirates). Conner mourns his sister but settles in to the pirate life while Grace knows her brother is alive but is fighting some unruly members of the Nocturne crew to stay that way herself. She has unexpected allies in the vampirate Captain and Midshipman Lorcan Furey.

Vampirates: Tide of Terror by Justin Somper
The continuing adventures of 14 year-old twins, Grace and Conner Tempest. In the first book, the twins were separated after a shipwreck in a violent storm. Conner was rescued by a pirate ship and Grace by the vampirate ship. They reunited, but Grace takes a dislike to the type of pirate lifestyle aboard The Diablo and tries to get Conner to go to the Pirate Academy to head off what she sees as a wasted, violent life. Meanwhile, the vampirate captain is suffering from horrifying problems of his own and one of Grace's friends aboard the ship desperately needs her help.

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Lawrence and Temeraire race back to Africa in search of a possible cure for the awful sickness decimating Britain's dragons.

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Napoleon brings down all he has to bear on the British troops, including the other Celestial dragon. Lawrence is arrested for treasonous activity and Temeraire is shipped off to the breeding grounds.

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
For me, this was worth the wait! I love this series real hard. The Napoleonic Wars, with dragons! It might sound silly, but it isn't. This is historical fiction or alternate history, what ever you want to call it, at it's very, very best! Lawrence and Temeraire have been shipped off to Australia since they can't be killed or controlled.

Her Hero in Hiding by Rachael Lee
Harlequin paperback, light and entertaining. Bruised and battered woman jumps out of an abusive ex-boyfriend's car and takes off into the woods. Hunky man finds battered woman running down the isolated road to his home. Chaos insues.

Stay by Allie Larkin
I couldn't stand it, I bought this book because I wanted it to be at my fingertips WHEN i wanted to read it..no lines, no waiting. Van (Savannah) Leone is heartbroken when the love of her life falls in love with and marries her very best friend. After the wedding, and in a drunken haze, she sort of accidentally buys a "puppy" online...off of a foreign website...for an absurd amount of money. Enter the cute, available, hurt-before-therefore-gun shy veterinarian. There are no new characters here and it's predictable, but I laughed so hard I cried and I cried a bit too. Loved it!

Antiques Roadkill by Barbara Allen
Divorced and bitter, the daughter returns home to her manic depressive mother after a shady antiques dealer takes advantage of her mother's fragile condition to clean out the house of its priceless family heirlooms for a steal, literally. After a very public showdown between the daughter and the dealer, her mother runs over him in his yard. Thankfully, he was already dead, but if her mother didn't do it, who did? Funny and fast moving, though the authors' use of parenthetical asides is a bit overdone.

Dragon America by Mike Resnick
I found this in my search for something to fill the Temeraire gap after my quick devouring of the latest in the series...alas, vastly inferior effort. Horribly characters, worse dialogue, and awful, flat, useless dragons. Boo...hiss! Davy Crockett is searching for a legendary breed of giant, fire breathing dragons to help George Washington during the American Revolution. None of the local dragons are big or dangerous enough to be of use, so he must venture out into the uncharted territory of the American West in search of crappy dialogue and fruitless attempts at arousing tension.

Weddings Can Be Murder by Christie Craig
Romantic suspense...ex-cop PI gets a call from a wedding planner who says her brides are being killed. Bride-to-be meets ex-cop PI at the wedding planner's house when he arrives just as the wedding planner is shot and the bride-to-be is fleeing through a conveniently enormous old mansion. Again, light and entertaining.

Divorced, Desperate, and Delicious by Christie Craig
Romantic suspense...falsely accused detective on the run from his renegade partner meets sexy, single (and divorced!) greeting card photographer who lives, conveniently, alone and isolated except for her house full of quirky animals. It was light and entertaining.

Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan
EXCELLENT fantasy short story anthology...read it for the library story (naturally!) if for nothing else!

All Tied Up by Cathryn Fox
Short novella, light on plot, heavy on naughtiness.

Cry Sanctuary by Moira Rogers
Short, sexy werewolf story. Entertaining if not terribly compelling.

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
OMG! This books is so good it'll make you hurt. This author describes cold that makes your joints ache, poverty that you can hardly imagine, and a brutal, vindictive world outside any boundaries my own personal reality could come up with. Ree's father, a meth cook, has skipped bail but if he doesn't show up for his court date, the county will take everything they own leaving Ree, her two young brothers, and their mentally unstable mother homeless in the coming winter. The movie is out in limited release here in Birmingham Sept 10th, supposedly at the Vestavia Rave though showtimes are not available online yet.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Last in the Hunger Games trilogy and I loved it! Reviews are decidedly mixed on this one, but mine is resoundingly positive! The Hunger Games universe is a post apocalyptic United States where there exists 12 districts and a Capitol. Every year, to remind the districts of their place, the Capitol requires 2 Tributes from each district, a boy and a girl between the ages (I believe) of 12 and 16, to battle to the death in an artificially created arena. The winner lives a life of luxury and their entire district gets extra food and supplies. Sixteen year old Katniss's story begins when her 12 year old sister Prim is selected from District 12 and Katniss volunteers to take her place. Get 'em, read 'em: Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.

July Reads

2010-08-02T10:25:00.003-05:00

I didn't quite match last month's blazing 13 book streak, but I managed to read a very respectable 9 books, thanks in part to both a compulsion to read through Naomi Novik's books again in celebration of the new one and to be sucked into the Uglies vortex.

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Written in verse. I read the first book in this devastating trilogy last month. Christine became addicted to meth in Crank and slides further down a very scary and depressing slope in this follow up. The final book, Fallout, is due out next month. It is considered YA, but I would definitely only consider it feasible for mature readers.

Identical by Ellen Hopkins

Written in verse. Um, yeah. Another devastating YA tale...again, only for mature readers. (read: high school and up) Identical twin teens Kaeleigh and Raeanne share a very unique bond, outside of their appearance. The bond of dark and terrible family secrets. Their father is a judge and their mother is running for Congress and all is not as it appears on the glossy, sunny surface.

The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings

I am so obsessed with this man, and devastated that he is dead so I can't write him endless fan letters, tasteful not stalkerish of course. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors of all time!

God is in the Pancakes by Robin Epstein

You'll no doubt have noticed a lot of YA in my reading lately. I haven't done any serious reading in this area since my YA lit class in grad school and my suggestions to my teen patrons reflect that. ("Yes Holley, I read that AGES ago!") So, I'm attempting to beef up my repertoire. So far, so good. This was good, but stretched the limits of both belief and discomfort. Fifteen year-old Grace Manning is working her first job, a candy striper at the local nursing home. Her favorite patient (sneaking him out to the movies, he lets her give him a faux-hawk with hair gel, teaches her how to play poker) is Mr. Sands, an ALS sufferer. Mr. Sands has a request for Grace; he wants her to help him die. Sounds depressing, no? The author takes a decidedly lighthearted bent with this that I found somewhat discomforting, but the story was entertaining and the characters lovable.

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

Another YA tale of bad decisions and eventual redemption. Quiet, shy Ruby McQueen is having an unusually exciting junior year of high school. A broken tail bone, with the requisite donut cushion, made her junior high years nearly unbearable and miserable so now she does her best to go about invisible. When the rich boy down the block, Travis, notices her, and her hidden fearlessness, her boundaries get pushed to the limit. Bad boys are generally very bad for you. Her mother, the local librarian, makes her start attending the bookgroup (the Casserole Queens) to stay away from Travis and Ruby learns valuable lessons about youth, decisions, and life in general. Very enjoyable and I LOVED the Casserole Queens!

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade

Black Powder War

If you haven't tried the Temeraire series by Novik, you have done yourself a disservice. This is the Napoleonic Wars, reimagined with each country having an air force of dragons. I am re-reading the series before moving on to the newest volume, Tongues of Serpents, just published July 13th and awaiting me on my Nook! British Royal Navy Captain Will Laurence chases down a French ship on which the crew is obviously weak and starving, yet they fight far harder than they should. After his crew boards the ship, he finds out why. They are carrying a dragon egg, obviously bound for France though severely off course and undersupplied. The egg is near to hatching and they are weeks away from land so someone must be chosen to be put to the egg, for the dragonette will go feral if not harnessed immediately after hatching. Captain Laurence's officers draw lots and wait. However, upon hatching, the little dragon makes his own choice and changes Captain Laurence's life forever. SO GOOD, I can hardly begin to describe how much!

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I can't believe how long it's taken me to start these books. This is the first in a trilogy +1, which is what happens when you tack a related book onto the end of a trilogy ;-) So, in this work, you are an Ugly until your 16th birthday, after which you get an operation to become a Pretty. All Pretties are made to look similar (height, weight, hair color, eye color, etc) since the long ago Rusties proved that difference led to war. All Talley Youngblood has every wanted was to turn Pretty and have fun all day and party all night...that is, until she meets a mysterious stranger outside the confines of the city who knows something about the operation, and what it does to the Uglies, that makes Talley rethink her decision. Exciting, interesting, and very, very thought-provoking!

explosions, weird noises, and gas masks, oh my!

2010-07-24T09:59:00.002-05:00

I love me some monster movies and this makes my Cloverfield senses tingle!!!

Aunt Holley

2010-07-15T17:09:00.003-05:00

I love being an aunt.

In fact, I can hardly imagine anything better. It suits my personality down to the ground and, no offense to all the great parents I know, it is the ideal way of life for me rather than having any of my own.

I babysat my honorary nieces on Tuesday night and am a little chagrined at exactly how much fun I had playing hide-n-seek. The girls are at the PERFECT age, before h-n-s becomes so brutally competitive. We were all content to just hide until found, no running for base, no arguments about who's it because they don't want to chase people. We just hid and tried not to giggle. The only draw back? They are young enough that they want to hide in your hiding place with you...and they giggle, A LOT! Not very stealthy, but it does the heart good :-)

This afternoon my brother called to say my niece and nephew are spending the night at his mother's house so I surprised them with a call for the movies. We're going to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which RottenTomatoes said was "less than spellbinding" for all but the "least demanding viewers" and that describes me to a T so I'm sure I'll love it.

It's a movie, not a literature class. Lighten up.

What are you watching?

the most awesome awesomess of awesomedom

2010-07-14T14:23:00.000-05:00

money pit

2010-07-06T21:53:00.002-05:00

no...not really, and I do love that movie.

So, between tires, an axle, and the potential cost of my increasingly poorly functioning refrigerator, I'm feeling more than a little broke. I hate, hate, hate asking my mom for money but it's better than getting behind on something I suppose.

Of course, the fridge problem couldn't happen at any time during my vacation days. It has to happen now. I know it needs to be unplugged but that will have to wait until I can bring home some ice for the cooler for what little is in there. It just wasn't something I was prepared to do tonight. So, a flotilla of towels are stuffed under the front to mop up the steady drip of water. I don't know when I'll be able to call someone, much less how I'll pay for the sh!t. It's at times like these that I sometimes wish I rented, that way it would be someone else's problem...wouldn't it?

I wonder if I could get my dad or stepmom to come over and wait on a repair person...might be worth thinking about.

As usual, nothing much going on here. I do think my knee is going to be fine without drastic help, hopefully. The brace and the rehab exercises seem to be doing the trick although I had to lay off the anti-inflammatories as they were causing some indescribable intestinal distress despite taking them with food. In the interests of keeping what few readers I may have, I'll leave it at that.

On a more pleasant note, I am reading the new book The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham and totally falling in love with someone who not only died in 1965, but was also of a homosexual persuasion though he never turned a blind eye to an exceptionally pretty lady either. I can feel a challenge coming on...to read, watch, and own everything he's ever written that I can get my hands/eyes on. I like it. I shall make it so.

What are you in love with lately?

June reads

2010-07-02T20:26:00.003-05:00

Read it and weep, ya'll! Thirteen books last month! Thanks in no small part to finally finishing the epic-ly bad 28 CD audiobook Anathem, after which I need to listen to short, sweet, AND GOOD audiobooks to get the bad taste out of my ears. I'm not changing that. Also, my new, much beloved Nook, which accompanies me where ever I may go. Mucho helpful for all the time spent waiting in doctors' offices lately.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth is back and badder than ever, and getting into more trouble than ever! The ever lovable and somewhat bumbling Mikael Blomkvist must race to save her. Seriously people, download it, check it out of the library, buy it, steal it, borrow it, BUT READ THIS TRILOGY!

Anathem by Neal Stephenson

My personal hell, long hand. People who like math, all living together, doing math for fun and talking about nerve gas farting pink spotted dragons. AVOID THIS BOOK AT ALL COSTS! If it hadn't been for a book group (and you don't get to vote if you don't read it and I'm depressingly honest at times and I want to give it a smashing bad grade), I would have accidentally dropped this in the pool. I may hate this book more than Catcher in the Rye...I'll have to ponder that awhile.

Troubles by J. G. Farrell

Due to a rule change in 1968, there was no Man Booker Prize awarded in 1970. In January this year, the Man Booker judges perused a pool of 22 books published in 1970 and awarded the Lost Man Booker and Troubles won! My book group was discussing Booker prize winners so I chose this one for fun. Very odd, and profits those most who have some background knowledge of the "troubles" of Irish history. Major Archer returns from war to seek out a woman to whom he seems to be engaged, based on her letters. Her family owns the Majestic Hotel, but it's anything but majestic when he gets there. In fact, things are quite batty indeed. Farcical, yet sad commentary on the decline of the gentry. I'm all for the decline of the gentry, but it was a bit sad at the same time. First in a trilogy which I may indeed finish one day.

Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

Tregillis is part of G.R.R.M.'s Wild Card writers group and gets an endorsement from the big man himself right on the front cover! Alternate history of WWI. The German's human experiments result in a small, but deadly, superhuman force. Crazy good, and magnificently written for a first novel!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The last in the trilogy and the title could not be more apt. I lost sleep, skipped meals, and was absent-minded at work in my drive to finish this book! See GWPlayed with Fire above.

Dog Blood by David Moody

Um, yeah. This is not for everyone, I'm not even sure who I'd recommend it to but I'm addicted to these books. This is the second in what I hope will be a trilogy. Any more than that and it starts to get Left Behind-ish...minus anything to do with religion. Just plain old too much for too long. In the first book, a random change begins to occur in the population and some become Haters (the title of the first book). They see the rest of humanity as dangers to themselves and must kill them on sight. Apocalypse ensues. Book two follows one of the Haters, Danny, as he searches for the daughter he discovered was just like him right before his wife and children flee after he goes postal. VERY violent, VERY gory. See my review of Haters.

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

This is a YA novel, but for older, mature readers only! Christina goes to visit her father (parents divorced for many years) and falls in with the meth crowd. A heartbreaking journey down the rat hole. I listened to the audio so I didn't realize that the novel is written in verse. One of the Amazon one-star customer reviewers titled her review, "Unless your kids are already knocked up and hooked on drugs, they probably shouldn't be reading this." and I feel a certain amount of chagrin to kind of agree with her.

The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry

Barry's first book, The Lace Reader, blew me away! This, not so much. I loved it and I'm glad I read it (on my Nook!) but for me it missed the punch and the magic of that first book. Zee, a psychologist, has just lost her first patient to suicide. The woman reminds her so much of her own mother, and that suicide, that she is having real trouble dealing with it. Throw in her father's decline from Parkinson's and her own misgivings about her upcoming wedding and disaster is not hard to predict.

Willow by Julie Hoban

I'm not real sure why I'm on the Lifetime movie track of teen audiobooks. In this outing, Willow is a 17 year old girl who is a cutter. The previous winter, her parents asked her to drive them home after they had a little too much to drink at dinner. In the horrendous storm that night, she lost control of the car and her parents were killed in the wreck. Now living with her college professor brother, his wife, and their new baby, Willow can't deal with the runaway pain of her grief, but there is a pain she can control...the razor. Enter the knight in shining armor, Guy. Can the love of the right person help her past her grief?

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller

A book group selection, though I was intrigued because it is asked for at the library ALL THE TIME. *sigh* I just don't get it. I found this tedious, silly, and way too self-righteous, even though the author mentions on SEVERAL OCCASIONS how unselfrighteous he is. Um, I think that cancels it out.

Hawkmoon: The Jewel In the Skull by Michael Moorcock

A not-bad fantasy novel, but not riveting either. This is for the sci-fi/fant book group I'm in. A deposed prince is captured and gang pressed into spying on the last stronghold in the kingdom. The motivation is the obsidian jewel they magically implant in his forehead to record the proceedings. Luckily for him, the leader of that stronghold is friendly and has a few tricks up his sleeve for dealing with their dark magic...and a beautiful daughter.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Okay, technically this is a short story, but the edition I read was a stand alone movie tie-in published shortly before the movie came out. I haven't seen the movie yet but look forward to it to see what changes were made. In short, a person (played by the now tiresomely handsome Brad Pitt) is born an old man and ages backward. It was kind of silly in the beginning with the father dressing a grown man in specially made babies clothes, making him play with rattles, and the kid sneaking down to smoke his father's cigars when he wasn't around, but it got more serious and thought provoking as the story moved towards its conclusion. Where does he end up when newborn is as young as you can get?

The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe

This slim novel is translated, from Dutch or German, I don't remember exactly, and was made into a film several years ago. I'll be watching it soon. A man and his girlfriend stop at a gas station. He fills up the car, she goes in for drinks and disappears. Eight years and uncounted police searches and newspaper reports later, an meeting with an oddly unemotional man may yield the answers he's been searching for, but at what cost. I noticed in the front flap text that the movie does not include the ending in the book because it was considered too shocking. I've been reading too many books like Haters and Dog Blood, not to mention my raging horror movie habit, to have found it shocking, but I give him many kudos for not even considering the hopeful ending, much less a happy one.

What are YOU reading?

shame on me!

2010-06-27T06:52:00.003-05:00

I have no excuse for not showing up here more and just phoning it in with my books-read once a month. No excuse at all.

I'm petsitting again, but hey! At least they have wi-fi! I don't recall mentioning here that in May I sent a letter out to all my clients letting them know I was getting out of the business and they have until the end of August to find a new petsitter. I am done with this...or, at least, I will be September 1st. It's no fun anymore, I don't make THAT much extra money, and Binky is 14 years old and I'd rather not leave her alone all the time anymore. My last extended period of petsitting in March, my septic tank dried up because I wasn't home to use it. Let me tell you how fun and exciting that was. No, I'll let you guess. AND I got home once and smelled something dead when I opened the storm door and lost. my. mind. I thought Bink had died while I was gone. In hindsight, it wasn't QUITE stinky enough to be a large cat (it was a mouse) but for a minute there....

Moving on. My doctor and I have decided to take a somewhat more aggressive approach to my weight loss so I'm trying an appetite suppressant. Things seem to be going well so far. A little trouble sleeping is all and the doctor recommended cutting back on my dosage. That seems to be working. I really, really want to succeed this time and I'm committed to doing that. I keep a food and exercise journal, though of course, at this exact time I develop some sort of knee problem and can't exercise as I'm accustomed to. I got a steroid shot under my kneecap but that only worked for a few days so I have a referral to an orthopedic office mid-July. That's a long time to wait and limp around, but if it will get something done it'll be worth it. I was accustomed to taking the stairs, walking frequently during the week, and just getting around fairly speedily in general and this is more maddening than the discomfort of it all. The elevator at the library is ssssssllllllllllloooooooowwwwwww.

I did another of my epic batch cooking marathons two weeks ago. $163 worth of groceries cooked up to 111 portioned and frozen entrees. I made turkey sausage and corn chowder, chicken and dumplings, taco soup, curried chicken and rice, turkey meatloaf, pot roast, chicken enchilada casserole, and vegetarian lasagna. On the more processed side, I got some turkey sliced at the deli for sandwiches, hot dogs, soy burgers, and a Kashi thin crust veggie pizza. Both freezers are filled to bursting and I just have to get lettuce, fruit, cheese, and soymilk as needed. I feel like I'm doing alright in that arena.

What's up with you?

the movie with the girl with the dragon tattoo

2010-06-05T10:18:00.002-05:00

KT and I went to the Capri Theater in Montgomery last night to see the Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (adapted from the book of the same name) and IT. WAS. AWESOME! Hollywood is remaking it right now and I have to be honest...at this moment, I'm terribly unenthusiastic about seeing it. The director did an excellent job of condensing the lengthy book into a manageable film that doesn't seem too forced and hasn't sacrificed too much to keep the forward motion going. All the way home we discussed what was included that we especially enjoyed and what we were disappointed was left out and both heartily agreed that enjoyment easily won out over disappointment. I thought the actress playing Lisbeth was PERFECT!

I read some of the less favorably reviews on Rotten Tomatoes just to see what the critics didn't enjoy and for the most part it was the violence and I thought to myself, "Did they even KNOW this was adapted from a book?" and if so, "Did they even bother to read it?". The screenwriters (Arcel and Heisterberg) cut a lot of the violence but left everything that was central to both the plot and the course of the trilogy as well. I look forward to seeing what Sweden does with the other two books in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

May Reads!

2010-06-04T16:03:00.002-05:00

May was a colossal month for me and I have no idea how I managed to read 10 books in with all the other crazy stuff, but I did! Ten books and only one dud. I'm kinda ashamed that I finished it. Oh well.

The Pilo Family Circus by Will Elliott

A young man is abducted by demon clowns and taken down an elevator shaft in a port-a-potty to the "circus" where people's souls are drained while they watch violent and disturbing acts that they don't remember afterward. This was the dud. I thought it would be creepy and edgy but it was silly and gratuitous instead.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Academics called Historians spend years specializing in historical eras, then are sent back in time to those eras to study lifestyles, customs, etc. However, Kivrin's drop in the year 1320 was doomed from the start. Loved, loved, loved it! And this despite some tediously repetitive story lines. For me, the whole story overcame those small details to be a standout for the month. I definitely will read her other works dealing with "historians".

Claiming Ground: A Memoir by Laura Bell

Laura Bell graduated from college in 1977 and was a loose ends with what to do with her life. A fateful summer trip to Wyoming led her to seek a job on a sheep farm there as a herder. For months on end it was Laura on a mountaintop with 1,000 sheep, two dogs, a horse, and her own company. Beautiful vistas, contemplative introspection, gorgeous writing! This is the most beautifully written book I've encountered in recent memory. I sent an email to the publisher to tell them they should consider submitting it for the National Book Award (because, you know, my lofty opinion is so highly valued...seriously though, I HAD to!). I got a response from them saying that it was definitely on their shortlist!

Monkeyluv: And Other Essays On Our Lives As Animals by Robert Sapolsky

Biology lite. Entertaining, but sometimes dry. I enjoyed Jonah Lehrer's books much more.

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

James Stark somehow manages to escape Hell, still alive after an 11-year stint as a gladiator-turned-demon assassin in Hellian society. He's back in L.A. and looking for revenge on the group of Magicians who sent him "downtown". Now THIS is what I thought the earlier book would be. Unapologetically irreverent and dripping with sarcasm, Stark hammers his way to the truth of why his friends betrayed him and how he managed to stay alive in Hell.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Narrated by Death, this wonderful book chronicles the early life of Liesel Meminger. Liesel's mother, sensing that her own Communist leanings would be her downfall in Nazi Germany, sends Liesel to live with a foster family in Molching. Hans and Rosa Huberman, her foster parents, are merely going through the motions of Nazi patriotism and teach Liesel how to do this also. Late one night, Hans Huberman's past catches up with him when the son of a long lost friend shows up seeking asylum. Now, having learned to read, Liesel now learns how to keep a secret...there is a Jew being hidden in her basement.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I mean really, what person who considers themselves a reader doesn't know about this? If you've just now emerged from under a rock, this is the first in a Swedish crime trilogy. A journalist, wrongly sentenced to prison for libel, digs to uncover the truth behind a 30 year-old murder. A mysterious young girl with seeming magical computer hacking skills is the only one who can help him. Family secrets, depraved killers, suspenseful investigation. This book has it all. It is translated from the Swedish and it is immediately apparent but give it 100 pages or so and you won't even want to go to sleep!

The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow

Zaslow got the idea for this book from a piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal on women's friendships. I found this book about a group of 10 women who've been friends since they were young girls to be delightful, insightful, AND made me want to call all my friends and get together.

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A highly philosophical, prose driven (VERY little dialogue) short novella about an embittered man who has retired away form what he considers the tedium of civilization and its people. Alone and preferring it that way, he thinks back on the wrongs he imagines done to him and how foolish and shallow society is. I don't know quite why I like things like this, but I loved it. Reminded me a lot of Beckett's Genesis and Twain's What is Man?

The Golden Globe by John Varley

A Shakespearean actor out in the far reaches of the galaxy, on the run from the law due to a 70 year-old crime. Modern science kept him 8 years old for 20 years while he was on a kid's show but his life spiraled out of control after he chose to grow up. He committed the crime and has been running for the past 70 years. All the parts of this book in present tense are funny and adventurous. The huge portion that is flashbacks and, ridiculously, corporate memos and tv reviews of the man's former kid show, should have been cut. It was like slogging through mud in a straightjacket. I did like the genetically engineered Bichon Frise, Toby!

my (non)favorite time of year...

2010-05-26T16:55:00.003-05:00

...is when the library descends into madness while the local junior and senior high schools have exams.

When did this trend of not having to go to school while exams are on start? I remember that in college, but not in high school...maybe my high school was just too rural. Who knows?

All I do know is that I've been snickered at by the loud kids and yelled at by the grumpy adults annoyed by the loud kids over which I have no authority to bring about a semblance of quietness. Not that I couldn't bully them into being quieter if I could, but we are not allowed. These are the children of our donors, library foundation members, and board members.

Thank you, child. May I have another?

hair of the dog

2010-05-13T18:11:00.003-05:00

Not for me, you understand. My days of overindulgence are as over as I can make them.

My across-the-street neighbor has a big, unneutered pitbull (possibly a mix) and he runs over to my car and barks at me when I get home. Lately, he's been getting closer and closer. When a dog that big and nervous gets near you, it's disquieting to say the least. On the other hand, if someone other than myself comes in the yard, I kind of like the thought of the dog being big, noisy, and aggressive. I just don't want him barking at me.

So, the other evening when I got in, I went in the house and got a piece of cheese. The dog is still outside barking at my front door so I go out and offer him the cheese.

No dice.

He backs up when I hold my hand out. So, I bite off a piece and make an appreciative sound. His barking cuts off with a squeak and he's now zeroed in on my hand and is drooling and licking his chops.

He's mine, to a point.

I throw a piece out in the yard and he picks it up, lies down, and chews and chews and chews. I take some stuff from my car into the house and come back out. He's lying about 15 feet away, looking. That's better. This time I offer him the cheese in my hand, refusing to drop it. Not the best idea with a skittish dog but hey, you only live once. He creeps up, delicately takes it from my hand, and backs off to settle to the grass and chew once again.

When I get everything put away in the house, I peek out the window and he's lying in the grass, head on paws, staring at the door. Not a bad start!

happy today

2010-05-10T20:05:00.003-05:00

I read on some blog or other, it may have been about a book on the topic, that you have to be more proactive about your happiness these days so it's a good idea to keep a happiness journal. At the end of every day, you write about your happiest moment.

So, here goes!

My happiest moment today was fairly subtle I think and, as usually happens, early on in the day. I had a cup of good French roast coffee, the sun shining in my office window, and a list of easily accomplished tasks set out before me. I got them all done, or nearly so. That led to my second happiest moment, leaving all that work completed at the end of the day, not to be bothered with on the morrow :-)

of course, when I got home, the heat pump had two inches of ice on it.

so it goes!

of movies, morons, and maniacally good cheese

2010-05-09T16:05:00.002-05:00

Okay, the cheese first. I'm a big fan of goat cheese but until know I've only had the soft, almost whipped variety. Drunken Goat comes in a wedge and has a lovely purple/brown (I believe this color is called puce) rind. It is magical with a glass of merlot and that was with the cheese on a saltine. I can't even imagine what it will be like with a decent cracker. Do yourself a favor, check out your local higher end market and see if they have a brand of the stuff.

On to the morons! Last week, a coworker and I observed one of our more loathed patrons, whom I've never witnessed exhibiting signs of a disability (and I know this doesn't mean he doesn't have one), parked in the handicapped spot at the library DETAILING HIS CAR. Now, he looks like a member of the BeeGees, I mean back in the day-not contemporary, and wears these really stupid aviator sunglasses and is bent over with a spray bottle and a rag wiping his car down in the middle of the blazing 93 degree day when the parking lot is packed and people are circling looking for a place to park. I thought that was pretty tasteless. This morning, he was in the same spot, doing the same thing. This time, he was squatting in front of the car cleaning the grill. I find this EXTREMELY annoying. If you can stand out in the blazing sun squatting and cleaning a car, I'd be real curious as to why you have that placard.

Moving on! Last week I finally saw How To Train Your Dragon and fell in love with Toothless and Hiccup. Last night I saw Iron Man 2 with the Movie Meetup Group and had THE. BEST. TIME! Robert Downey, Jr. was born to play Tony Stark and I thought Mickey Rourke did a really good job as well. He and that well-worn mug make a good villain. The summer movie season is my very favorite and I'm all aflutter about most of the movies coming out. Check out my sidebar item if you care to keep tabs on me!

April Reads

2010-05-06T13:45:00.002-05:00

Only six books read in April, a truly pitiful effort, BUT one of them was a tough cookie and it was a very busy month.

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert
I loved Eat, Pray, Love and I loved this one as well. I am not married and have no plans to ever be but I love it for the chapter on the wonderful world of childless aunts if for nothing else! Gilbert explores her own feelings on marriage after the love of her life is deported. She and Felip both are very gun-shy towards marriage to reconciling themselves to it is a journey like no other.

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
This is not a sequel to Life As We Knew It. It is the same apocalyptic event from another viewpoint. I absolutely adored LAWKI but this was a miserable disappointment. Basically, a Left Behind novel for the Catholic set and the misogynistic tone of the novel was nearly unbearable. I'll read the third in the trilogy because I'm terribly interested in this world, but I dearly hope it is a better read.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Another disappointing follow-up effort. This is billed as a "companion read" to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Too much star-crossed love, not enough zombies.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The buzz surrounding this is that it is supposed to be the next big YA trilogy juggernaut. I really enjoyed it. It was some outstanding world building. However, Hunger Games it is not.

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
This hefty tome is not for the faint of heart but it is SO much better than Catcher in the Rye! Philip Carey actually has some real world problems to rail against rather than the rather flimsy "phoneys". I have been telling everyone that this novel contains what is, to me, the MOST UNPLEASANT character I ever remember reading in literature. Her name is Mildred and that has now entered my vocabulary as a descriptor.

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
A very plot-driven novel about the children of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. It is very evocative of place with lots of great historical detail and I loved the author's note at the back telling what became of the characters in real life. Not what I'd call literary, but very, very enjoyable.

I'm reading 3 or 4 books and listening to 1 in the car so hopefully I can get a better count for May!

What are YOU reading?

fun weekend

2010-04-11T21:24:00.004-05:00

I think Shelby and I may have startled Conner a bit with our enthusiasm! In the next one Dave took, Conner was happy but Shelby was not :-) How fickle the whims of the photography gods...

Today is my niece's 14th birthday AND yesterday was the last game of the season for the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team. What do these two things have in common? She follows the Penguins and that's who the Thrashers were playing so we all piled in the car and headed that way!

Before the game, we visited the World of Coca Cola Museum's tasting room where I tried many nasty variations of Coca Cola from around the world. There were some I liked but my overall experience was of flavors to which I could never see my palate becoming accustomed. The most nasty? The Beverly, from Italy...ick! On the bright side, perhaps I'll have some small inoculation against malaria for a while.

My favorites were a beverage from the Latin American station called Inca Kola (Peru, of course) and one from the African station called Bibo Candy Coco-Pine (South Africa). I was VERY surprised by the Inca Kola because it smelled so strongly like banana and I don't normally enjoy banana flavored food (though I do like actual bananas). It did not taste like bananas though and was very light and VERY bubbly, kind of like Alka seltzer but with a good fruity flavor. The Bibo tasted like a pineapple lifesaver in liquid form. I shudder to think of what the sugar content on an actual can of this stuff is, but it was quite yummy! The Smart Apple from China was also good in a very sugary, fruity kind of way.

After a whirlwind tour around the Coca Cola museum, we sprinted over for a quick dinner at McCormick and Schmicks then hoofed it on over to Philips Arena for the game. I was wearing my Birmingham Bulls jersey and 4 or 5 people commented (positively) about it! :-)

It was a great game and I had outstanding company! I only wish the season wasn't over so I wouldn't have to wait until next season to do it again!

omg. Omg. OMG!

2010-04-07T15:06:00.001-05:00

facial sore

a hole

pus running down his face

I am GROSSED OUT!!! I am TRAUMATIZED!!!

March reads!

2010-04-05T13:14:00.002-05:00

It got extraordinarily busy in March and I was only able to get in 8 books but in going over my list on Shelfari, I realized that there was one I left off my blog sidebar! I don't know if it made it over to J. Kaye's Book Blog in January when I finished it, but it counts towards my total number for sure so I'm mentioning it!

I have been away from home since March 10th and haven't had a whole lot of unfettered access to the internet outside of work so blog pickin's have been fairly slim. My site visit stats reflect that and I'm going to work to be more active here! Anyway, here is my reading report from March!

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

I picked this up in search of readalikes for The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelley and was stunned by how much I hated it. It has all 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon but I did not have that reading experience. For me, it was dull, repetitive, and dry. All the exact opposite of Kelley's EoCT and I will not be mentioning it despite the Darwin connection.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Tahir Shah

My book group was reading travel writing last month and I picked this one up, I admit, simply because I liked the cover. It features an Indian (as in the country of India, not a Native American) mystic dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali. An unusual childhood encounter with magic and conjuring "miracles" leads author Shah on a quest to study under the most celebrated practitioner of magic in India, Hakim Feroze. This is not the usual tourist fare, and it is not for the faint of heart or stomach.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

This compulsively readable tale is based on the author's grandfather's stories of surviving WWII in Russia. Lev Beniov is placed in the undesirable position of having to find a dozen eggs for the wedding cake of a colonel's daughter in a city full of people starving in the face of German advancement. If that sounds lighthearted, don't be fooled. Another book not for the faint of heart or stomach.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Kostova's second novel after The Historian showcases what I believe to be a phenomenal budding talent! This story ranges across decades from 19th century France to modern day Washington D.C. Murder, art, love, obsession, hate, and joy. The pace is leisurely and the wording beautiful, though the ending may be too abrupt for some.

Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal

I read this in January but it slipped by me, as far as I can tell, in terms of putting it on my sidebar list and posting to J. Kaye's site. If you want gossipy, not terribly politically correct dirt on many Republican scandals...this is the book for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Impact by Douglas Preston

Douglas, Douglas, Douglas...where did the books like Relic and Blasphemy go? I gutted this one out because I've always liked this author in the past but this was a complete dud. Waitress spots unusual comet on her new telescope. Scientist spots something unusual in images being returned from the Mars mission. Scientist later found decapitated by concertina wire garrot, which the police rule as a home invasion and burglary. Weird found in Cambodia, out of which radioactive gemstones are being mined. New scientist takes dead scientist's job and finds something unusual in images being returned from the Mars mission. Chaos ensues.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

This is the April book for my sci-fi/fan bookgroup and I can hardly wait for the discussion. Excellent writing! Cayce Pollard is a cool hunter (read: freelance advertising consultant) with the unique ability to sense what will be the next hot thing, just by looking. Unfortunately, she has some "allergies" to certain logos, chief among them the Michelin Man. She wears/uses nothing with logos on them, removing them whenever possible. The hot new thing lately is a series of short videos being uploaded to the web anonymously, around which a cult following has developed. She is hired by a corporate bigwig to discover the identity and whereabouts of the footage's mysterious creator. Loved it!

Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

I downloaded this mainly because it was only about 5 hours long and I figured I could finish it on the plane ride to Portland (motion sickness + reading printed matter = not usually possible). The narrator was good and the premise as well, pretty hilarious really. Average dorky high schooler Jeremy Heere gets word of a little pill you can swallow that contains a quantum supercomputer which will then do all in its power to make you cool. Several nefarious deeds result in him raising the $500 necessary for the device. He has to learn the hard way, as do we all, that you'd best be careful what you wish for. Cursing, graphic sexual discussion, and teen drinking abound. Just so you know.

The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

I picked up this ARC at the PLA conference in Portland, Oregon and took enough Dramamine so that I could read it on the plane on the way back! :-) This is the excellent, dark, Gothic tale of the mental deterioration of nature poet John Clare, who entered the care of Dr. Matthew Allen's High Beach asylum. Alfred Tennyson, along with his brother Septimus, also under the care of D. Allen, makes an appearance at High Beach as well. This is a short book but not a light one by any means. All the stories ever told of the depravity of 18th and 19th century insane asylums show up here. This book will be published in June here in the U.S. and was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize in Britain.

What are you reading?

Holley

Portland, the highlights!

2010-03-29T11:13:00.000-06:00

Ironically, my favorite doughnut here did not have a hole. If you ever get the chance to go, get a bacon maple bar...you will not regret it! And, if possible, go late at night as they are open until 3am :-)

Yes we did! The Twilight prom scene was filmed at this inn. I took a million pictures!

Multnomah Falls is gorgeous! Portland is gorgeous! Oregon is gorgeous!

We went to the Saturday market, bought street food, drank beer, listened to live music, and bought lots of hand crafted items!

more later!

excitement! adventure! tattoos!

2010-03-16T17:53:00.007-06:00

okay, only one tattoo for me, but I did go with a friend to provide experienced support as she got her first work done. She got a hippocampus (mythology, not part of the brain!) and what Kele did with it is truly glorious!

I will be getting an image of Geoffrey Chaucer (as a pilgrim from the Ellesmere manuscript) on my left forearm next week when we go to Portland, OR for the library conference. I will be going to the Sea Tramp Tattoo Co., the oldest shop in Portland, which I found through the recently published book by a co-owner of the business. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson was also just nominated for an Alex Award by the Young Adult Library Services Association of the American Library Association. I left a comment on the author's blog congratulating him and asking if I could get my own copy of the book signed while I was in town and he emailed me back to say he'd be glad to do it! Yay!

While in Portland, we'll be going on a variety of fun adventures including a tour of Mt. Hood, a Portland Highlights tour, and I'm dragging KT to a Cherie Priest booksigning at a bookstore in nearby Beaverton. So I'll be taking 5 books with me at the outset: Tattoo Machine, Boneshaker, and Chelsea Cain's Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series (Heartsick, Sweatheart, and Evil at Heart).

Basically, I am too excited for words!

I may never drink a soda again..

2010-03-04T14:38:00.002-06:00

..okay, I probably will, but this will be running through my head the entire time. For the record, since I watched King Corn I have had maybe 10 sodas a year...maybe

February reads!

2010-03-01T15:21:00.003-06:00

Continuing my good habits of the previous month, I finished 11 books in February!

Four Short Stories: A Great Storyteller at His Best, with Drawings by Henri Matisse by W. Somerset Maugham - I have come to love, love, love W. Somerset Maugham! Fair warning, there is little to smile about in his work....murder, suicide, adultery, alcoholism, it's all there. Maugham puts the dirty laundry of humanity on display.

Once a Spy by Keith Thomson - Mr. Thomson is a patron at my library and he asked me to read a bit of this in manuscript form. I liked the chapter I read and like the book even more! If you loved the film Spies Like Us, you'll love Once a Spy! You'll find it in bookstores March 9th!

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose - Roose, a student at Brown University, takes a semester off to covertly attend Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. A clashing culture story to rival any in the realm of travel literature and a fascinating glimpse inside conservative, born-again Christianity. Also, Roose ended up getting Falwell's last print interview before Falwell died during Roose's semester at Liberty.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin - Benjamin's research into the life of the man who became Lewis Carroll and his young muse, Alice Liddell, is immediately apparent. The plot tends to drag a bit, but overall an interesting look through the looking glass at the germination of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I can hardly wait for the movie on March 5th!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly - I loved this delightful YA book! When Calpurnia Virginia Tate begins to observe the world around her, questions inevitably arise. Why is this grasshopper different from that? How many birds live in the surrounding woods? Why do these plants grow here and not there? Why is a girl's life restricted to boring needlework and tedious cooking? Will she have to give up her exciting observations to shoulder the mantle of "womanhood"? Questions for the ages...

Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy - an interesting photographic journey into the heart of the Midwest as America's Manifest Destiny spirals into the abyss. Focuses on the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin between 1890 and 1900, which was home to a regional newspaper AND a photographer with the added bonus of having an insane asylum not too far off. All institutions poised to deal the deteriorating behavior of the population. The documentary film (of the same title) inspired by the book is also quite good!

Jim the Boy by Tony Earley - a boy raised by his mom and three uncles after his father dies shortly before his birth. It's a pretty straightforward, heartwarming coming-of-age tale.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier - This book ranked right up there with her best for me. Makes a three-point crown with Girl With a Pearl Earring and The Virgin Blue. Sharp-tongued spinster Elizabeth Philpot makes an unlikely friend in commoner Mary Anning as they search the beaches of Lyme Regis for fossil specimens during a time when these items were looked on as evil and women were not welcomed to the scientific table.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout - This book won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A novel in stories of a small Maine town. Olive Kitteridge is mean, bitter, grumpy, and unforgettable.

Altar of Eden by James Rollins - Classic adventure fiction with quite a bit of genetic experimentation and a whole lot of gore thrown in. Don't listen to the audio, the narrator's attempt at the accents is HoRrIbLe and detract from an exciting and uncomplicated story.

The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn - Elizabeth I isn't just fighting Spain and Lord Walsingham has something other than spies to deal with. There is the Enemy, otherwise known as the Fair Folk. Some gross details of death, the filthiness of Elizabethan London, and torture. Entertaining but unremarkable.

working fun

2010-02-22T11:44:00.007-06:00

The other day I participated in a live chat paranormal romance/urban fantasy roundtable author panel over at Suvudu.com. The participants included Kelley Armstrong, Jenna Black, Carolyn Crane, Alex Prentiss, Diana Rowland, and Lucy Snyder. You can see a replay/transcript on Suvudu's website.

Anyway, I jotted down some comments I wanted to remember and you deserve them too!

In talking about the explosion in the popularity of vampire/werewolf romances and the metaphorical importance of literature in general: "If it's not a metaphor, a vampire becomes just a large tick" - Alex Prentiss

A discussion arose about the differences between and among science fiction, fantasy (urban vs. traditional), romance, romantic suspense, etc. and how those already fuzzy lines are becoming increasingly indistinct: "It's nice to be able to write what the book needs, rather than what the genre dictates." -Lucy Snyder

I experienced this first hand during the discussion of Cherie Priest's Boneshaker at my sci-fi/fant bookgroup meeting last week. The question was, "Is this science fiction, fantasy, or horror?" A somewhat ~~cutthroat~~ lively discussion ensued. I am a relative newcomer to the group and I shamefully chickened out, but what I wanted to say was, "Does it matter?".

I don't have a clear memory as to what this pertains to exactly, but I liked it nonetheless: "I prefer to think of it as "result-oriented," not evil." -Alex Prentiss

here comes the sun

2010-02-21T11:23:00.002-06:00

I tell you, ever since I've played Beatles Rock Band with my niece, nephew, and brother, I REALLY would like to get the soundtrack to that game. Is such a thing even possible? I don't want to collect everything, just those. Anyway, the sun is out and it makes the days so much more pleasant. A whole lot of things seem to be going pretty well for me lately. I got my taxes done, we're getting geared up for the library conference in Oregon next month, I've picked up a few petsitting jobs between now and then so I'll have a little spending money, I've been exercising AND making fairly decent food choices every day for the past week, I've had lots of social activity (for me anyway), and I have a wonderful group of friends!

On Friday night, KT invited me over for dinner so I grabbed one of the library's Scrabble games (used for teen game day programs), stopped by the store for some wine, and headed over there. KT's family has given up TV for Lent so I thought a rousing game of Scrabble after dinner would be just the thing and boy, was it! We played the longest game ever helped along by three bottles of wine and a 7, 6, and 3 year old...it was EPIC :-) By midnight, KT had beat Doug and I by a mile and we had laughed and told a million ridiculous (but true) stories. It was one of the best evenings I've had in a long time! For those keeping score, the kids went to bed around 9:30 and, of course, did not partake of any spirits :-)

Last night I went to a friend's quite rowdy birthday party and had a fantastic time except that a lot of the festivities went on in the smoking area out in the garage and I don't do well in smoky environments. I contented myself with the relatively small group of people who also don't like cigarette smoke but this also led me to overindulge in party food. I got home around 1am this morning but I did get up and exercise as usual this morning so I'm putting the party food incident behind me.

After all of KT and my wailing and gnashing of teeth over how long it took The Road to get here and then having to go to an somewhat out of the way theater to see it, The Road has just shown up at the local $1 theater. Now, I'm not bitter and am glad I supported the film at full cost AND I'm pretty impressed that the $1 theater, where Paul Blart: Mall Cop showed for an astounding amount of time considering how absolutely moronic it was, has chosen to pick it up. KT and I are planning to have dinner and go see it again tonight!

How was your weekend?

Birthday fun!

2010-02-12T12:06:00.000-06:00

I blogged earlier about my nephew's birthday a couple of weeks ago so here are some pics from the best weekend evah! Conner plays on an Upward Bound team. Shelby's pic is from the trip to the late Laserland and this is when we were loading up the two arcade games afterward. I fondly remember the days when I could still ride around in a grocery cart...of course, my friend Kevin accidently pushed me into a display of barbecue sauce in glass jars. We fled the grocery store quickly. It was a weekend and the store was within walking distance of the house so we wisely refrained from (a) being caught by the store employees who could not catch our youthful selves and (b) telling our parents about it. Of course, we shopped there so often that I don't know how they failed to either recognize us then or later but those who argue with the fates or luck are foolish indeed.

An evening with the author!

2010-02-12T11:58:00.001-06:00

My friend Polly and I had SUCH a good time at this fundraiser dinner featuring not only one of our favorite teachers from the U of AL School of Library and Information Studies, Dr. Joan Atkinson, but also YA author extraordinaire Richard Peck! He is one of the best speakers I have heard EVER! If he ever visits your town, go and see him!

things about which I'm excited

2010-02-09T19:48:00.003-06:00

1. the picture I got my friend Polly to take of author Richard Peck and I two weeks ago at a fund raising dinner for a local middle school

2. the cardboard display a local grocery store let me have featuring your favorite chicken and mine!

3. the loaf of kalamata olive/feta cheese/roasted garlic stuffed bread brought to me by a coworker earlier today (see #2 for an excellent accompaniment to this bread)

4. the Mardi Gras party I have been invited to this weekend

5. the Decadent Dessert party we are having at work next tuesday...I'm making madeleines since I got a pan for christmas

6. going home after petsitting all week!

7. the Reader's Advisory Roundtable meeting in the morning...I lurve my job!

I'll think of some more as soon as this is posted, I'm sure!

january reads

2010-02-01T13:17:00.002-06:00

I started off the year, and the 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, with a bang by reading 9 books! Check it out!

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - I hated it with a deep purple passion, blech!

2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke - I cannot BELIEVE I've never read him before! Exciting! Now I've got to read the first and watch the movies!

The Hours by Michael Cunningham - A very somber book exploring issues of suicide but the writing is SO beautiful! Another movie to add to my Netflix queue!

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize. Dense, complex, and totally worth your time if you have any interest in the time period surrounding Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - A bit of a slow mover, but haunting and very well done for a first novel. I read it in advance of seeing the movie and, as usual, the book is much, much better!

Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson - A rollicking, hilarious, crude, irreverent good time from tattoo artist and co-owner of the oldest tattoo shop in Portland, Oregon, the Sea Tramp Tattoo Company.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - A new angle on the teenage werewolf. Dark, poignant, and perfect for the Team Jacob fan you know!

Believe Me by Nina Killham - Not exactly Christian fiction but deals heavily in themes of conflict between fundamentalist Christians and atheists as viewed through the eyes of 13-year-old Nick.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - Zombies, dirigibles, poisonous gas, oh my! This steampunk adventure will have you on the edge of your seat as Briar enters the walled off, poisoned, zombie-ridden city in search of her son. Bonus: the type is set in brown ink!

Hopefully February will be just as productive!

to the nines

2010-01-31T21:37:00.002-06:00

so, my nephew's ninth birthday was yesterday and I've invaded my brother's house for the weekend...with his happy blessings of course :-)

yesterday I watched him play basketball then we traveled over to this little town's laser tag facility where he and about a million other boys his age proceeded to go absolutely insane. It wasn't to much different from a summer reading program at the library so I had no problem with it. Pizza and one very superb birthday cake were had by all. We learned that this was that business's last day of business and the next thing I know we are loading a Galaga/Ms. Pacman and Deerhunter arcade games into the back of his truck and heading home.

The boys who came back to the house for the sleepover were OVER THE MOON. I'm sure you can imagine. Dave and I stayed up until midnight playing the infernal machines.

Today it was roller skating. I had a firm talk with myself as to not chickening out on skating. I did chicken out over the ice skating but in my mind that was a win since ice is a hell of a lot slippier than rink floor. Especially this rink floor which was concrete. I can assure you of that, as can my right knee. I have a glorious bruise right on the kneecap where I mananged to land both times I fell. It doesn't hurt to walk on, bend, or twist so I'm 99.9% sure it's simply the bruise it appears to be. I have already taken the maximum dose of Aleve in hopes of averting any other ill effects. I'll have to let you know on that one.

We've been playing more Galaga, Ms. Pacman, Deerhunter, Beetles Rock Band, and Metallica Guitar Hero this evening. My niece, dear readers, KICKS ASS! She plays expert on guitar and bass and rarely makes a mistake. It is a sight to behold for sure.

I like to play the drums...on easy :-)

! ! ! this just in ! ! !

2010-01-27T16:22:00.001-06:00

Patron to me: I learned how to use Google. I've learned to narrow down my sophistication.

Yes, yes you have.

that is all.

The Road, finally!!!

2010-01-24T15:11:00.004-06:00

KT and I have waited so patiently since November 25th...SO PATIENTLY!

The Road is finally in Birmingham at Lee Branch and we are going to see it after work today! This movie is based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same title. Other of McCarthy's titles that have been made into movies include No Country For Old Men and All the Pretty Horses.

I saw The Lovely Bones (also based on a book) last night and it was visually beautiful but lacked the heart and soul of the book. They took the events of almost ten years and condensed them down into about 2 and, unfortunately, it showed.

What movies have you seen lately? Theater or home, doesn't matter!

march will be here before I know it

2010-01-18T20:22:00.002-06:00

and it will once again be time for my biannual tattoo!

I like to get them in the cities where we go to winter conferences though I don't wish to speak about the cluster f*&k that was Minneapolis. Although with the drama going on in that shop, I'm kinda glad the tattoo didn't happen. It's still in my file with half a dozen other things that will make it on me over the years. I'd been looking online at different shops in Portland, Oregon when serendipity raised her head once again.

We got a cart of new books in and on that cart was Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink by Jeff Johnson. He works at the Sea Tramp Tattoo Company, the oldest tattoo shop in Portland...ding! I have fallen in love with this book! I'm trying to pick an image so I can get in touch with them to try desperately to get an appointment.

Check out this short documentary!

remember

2010-01-18T19:44:00.001-06:00

binky is not amused

2010-01-07T18:22:00.002-06:00

but i am!

Bink would have shredded the paper...then me.

movies in 2009: the list

2010-01-07T12:36:00.002-06:00

I'm gearing up for my 2010 movie viewing season and I'm pretty excited about it as I have joined a movie fan meetup group. The first January meeting is this saturday and the poll so far is leaning towards The Lovely Bones but rest assured, I'll let you know!

HOLLEY GOES TO THE MOVIES - 2009

woodstock or bust!

2010-01-07T12:18:00.001-06:00

We just drove through really on our way to the sledding hill but it was quite a picturesque little town capitalizing heavily off of its name and reputation. All those little shops! I would love to go back and see what fun things I can seek out there.

fun signs in and around kingston

2010-01-07T11:55:00.001-06:00

Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses! HousES - plural! How on earth did I not know this existed?! They say "family oriented" but I have to say that I really like their idea of that! I am now officially JONESING to go here.

This ranks right up there with Chicago's Wow Bao Hot Asian Buns

;-)

real snow days

2010-01-07T11:16:00.001-06:00

As we prepare for the massive 1 inch of accumulation expected here in Birmingham, Alabama, I believe it's the perfect time to reflect on my time in the snow up north. Granted, it's 40 degrees here and the real problem will be with ice since we have no real infrastructure in place for any cold weather type problems. Let's face it, the only real snow I remember here was in 1993. Anyway, moving on!

Here we are outside our hotel. I have no recollection where we were going, but we were geared up for just about anything!

Me, my brother David, my sister-in-law Karen, neice Shelby and nephew Conner posing for the camera. We walked from s-i-l's sister's house down to a little zoo in a park near the house. A guy had a gas-powered little snow shovel thing getting the walkways clear and we went right in. This is also right next to the hill where we held the late night New Year's Eve sledding I mentioned in a previous post.

On New Year's Eve we had dinner at a wonderful French restaurant called Le Cancard Enchaine. Their website is not was I'd call robust, but there's a nice picture. It was a very comfortable place and the food was beyond anything I've had before (other customer reviews/comments). I did sample some of Dave's escargo (cooked in butter and garlic..is there any other way?!) and sincerely wished I'd gotten some for myself but I did have an absolutely decadent goat cheese salad. Around the table we had steak, beef bourguignon, rack of lamb, and grilled salmon. We shared food, conversation, laughter and had wine (the kids did not of course) all the while and it was one of the best New Year's Eves in my memory! We did not go into the city (apprx 200 miles from where we were) but instead sledded at the park of course then watched all the celebrations on tv and munched on all the snacks we picked up at the grocery store when we bought our sleds.

We went to this almost 200 year old ski resort, Mohonk Mountain House, where Dave, Karen, and the kids went ice skating! It was so beautiful and I took about a million pictures but this is one of my favorites. Visit their website to see the whole complex. Anyway, the wind was blowing pretty fiercely on top of this hill and the snow was coming off the roof in waves but it was a little too dark for that to show up like I'd hoped in this photo but the sunset's pretty so I'll take it. The ice rink open-sided and it was COLD up there but I loved every minute of it! I did not ice skate as that is not one of my talents and I had no wish to injure myself the day before we let but loved watching everyone else. There was a huge fireplace, easily the size a bathroom or walkin closet, and I spent most of my time there.

run, forrest, run

2010-01-04T09:07:00.003-06:00

....which is what the Southwest flight attendant said to those of us making tight connections in Chicago yesterday. He listed the flights that were being held (mechanical troubles kept us on the tarmac for what felt like forever in Albany. It was snowing very hard on the way to the airport yesterday morning and the plows were not out yet so it was a nerve racking ride to the airport since we were running late anyway. We ran to the plane, only to have that mechanical trouble and have to sit forevah) and then said, "for the rest of you, run forrest run." I thought that was pretty funny.

Our flight was not mentioned as one being held but we ran for it anyway despite that it had been scheduled to leave 10 minutes earlier and lo and behold, they'd held it. Then they held it longer for the luggage to make it. Dave said he didn't think it be there come Birmingham, but I told him hope springs eternal and you know what? We had luggage when we got home. You rock, Southwest!

I had the grumpiest young lady sitting next to me the whole way...just really rude and annoying. I was pretty glad that she put her head down and either slept or pretended to the whole way back to Birmingham because I don't know if I could have stood her exasperated sighs too much longer. Also, the flight attendant had to tell her about 6 times to turn off her iPod and on the last go around just stood there to make sure she followed his request. I mean, is it really all that hard to wait 10 or 15 minutes to get above 10,000 feet?

I finally got to have a meal at about 2pm yesterday and I was starving! Other than that I'd been running on adrenaline and the 12 peanuts and 3 oz of liquid you get on board the airplane. I was on two airplanes so I guess technically I had 24 peanuts and 6oz of ginger ale. Turbulence...ick! I was home by 3, in pj's by 3:05, and dozing in the recliner not long after. I gave up and went to bed at 5:30pm and woke up a little before 8 this morning.

The only casualties of the trip, I suppose, are that I have some windburn on my face and a snotty nose. Oddly enough, it's not too much warmer here in Birmingham, Alabama that it was in Albany, New York.

I'm going to undecorate the house today and then go grocery shopping with my left over Christmas money. I have a ton of book group reading that MUST GET DONE this week while I'm on vacation. The only problem with being in three bookgroups is that I have to dovetail the reading I have to do with that which I want to do and sometimes those two agendas are more like arguing siblings than a single cohesive vision...right now it is like arguing siblings on a 600 mile car ride in a subcompact vehicle.

that is all.

dashing through the snow...

2010-01-01T21:43:00.002-06:00

...on a cheap, thin, foam flat sled!

Yes my friends, the winter wonderland here in Kingston, New York has firmly brought out my inner 8 year old...except for the fact that I'm currently drinking a beer after an extended sit in the hotel's hot tub. Which I needed since my inner 8 year old could not quite reconcile itself with my 32-year old body.

We bought these cheap-@$$ sleds at a local grocery store then snuck into a nearby park for some late night New Year's Eve sledding. I completely forgot that we'd just eaten dinner at a swanky French restaurant, Le Canard something something, AND that I still had on nice clothes and my best sweater. My clothes were so full of snow when we got done that I had to take off some layers and leave them in the trunk of the car for the ride back to the hotel!

Today we went up to a great sledding hill in Woodstock..yes, THAT Woodstock :-) Lots of little hippy-ish shops and this one outstanding sledding hill. It was tall but quite packed down and icy and it was KiLlEr on the spine and tailbone. We visited Pine Hill (BeAuTiFuL!!!!!) then spied the supremo sledding hill of all time in some random person's yard. My brother, being the completely unfazed creature that he is, simply walked up and asked if we could obliterate their yard with sleds. Oh yeah, they were up for it :-)

Their little 10 year old boy got all his cool sleds and snow boards out and we made an evening of it! This was a totally epic hill for small, cheap sleds. I don't know his exact title, but he is my sister-in-law's sister's husband. Anyway, Victor took a turn on the hill and totally FLEW down, almost straddling a powerpole guide wire. I ran into a tree twice and my nephew Conner caught some sweet air off of a great jump. I have no idea if it was manmade or naturally occuring but he enjoyed it either way! Shelby was working her side of the mountain and nearly slid of into the street several times! Too much fun...not really, I could have had a little more :-)

We sledded and sweated for almost 2 hours before retiring to a little Mexican restaurant with THE best salsa evah! Three potent margaritas and one seafood burrito later, we were back at the hotel in the hot tub, soaking out the soreness and snacking on endless unhealthy items. Playing in the snow always makes you hungry :-) Just to keep things lively, Dave and I ran out into the snow (in our bathing suits), made a snow angel each then ran back in and jumped in the hot tub. Not quite the polar bear club, but not far off!

Tomorrow is our last day for fun activities as our flight leaves at 8am on Sunday morning. I have had an absolute BLAST and have been burning up the digital camera! Who knows when I'll see snow again after all? If I don't get another chance at blogging before I get back home, see ya on the flip side!

silliness

2009-12-28T20:52:00.003-06:00

You'd think, by the way I'm dragging my feet on this, that I've never before, IN MY LIFE, packed a suitcase. Now, admittedly, it's pretty damn cold where I'm going and I've had to purchase a whole new set of clothes for this adventure, but still. Pack the damn suitcase Holley!

So, I'm going to New York on Wednesday! I've never been before and am pretty excited about it. Chances at this point are slim that we'll go into actual NYC, but it's a state I've not yet been to so I'll take whatever part of it they want to show me. We are going to Kingston and, consulting the website, we are both at a very similar temperature right now. That's pretty funny considering this is Alabama :-)

Geography has never been one of my strengths but my big brother tells me that it is in upstate NY. Looking at a map it seems to me to be more in the bottom right hand corner near Connecticut, but maybe they label things differently up there...like the upper Nile or something. We will be closer to Woodstock than to NYC and the town of Kingston itself dates back to the arrival of the Dutch in the late 1600's. The town has a historical district so maybe I can wander around and get into some trouble...at least as much as I'm capable of anyway.

Alright, enough dawdling! I'm packing my suitcase now, night ya'll!

out of the frying pan...

2009-12-27T16:11:00.003-06:00

...and in to the 2010 100+ Reading Challenge over at J. Kaye's Book Blog!

I had a devil of a time keeping up with my reviews this past year and initially decided not to do the challenge again because of that but J. Kaye informs me that reviewing every book is OpTiOnAl!

So, I'm in! I have no problem keeping up with what I read, just finding time to blog it all so this time around I'll just be keeping a list and blogging what resonates. I'm not quite sure how I'll work that this time around but I'm pretty quick at figuring things out so I'll just wing it!

curiousities

2009-12-23T14:38:00.002-06:00

I am behind a lexus with the tag LSU TT. I can't help thinking titty...

throwing in the towel

2009-12-23T10:31:00.005-06:00

***UPDATE*** In re-linking this list, I discovered 2 books that I reviewed but did not add to the list! I don't know if they made it over to J. Kaye's blog or not but that makes 107!!! The two books were Jo Graham's Hand of Isis and Max Brooks' World War Z!***END OF UPDATE***

I just don't believe I'll be able to squeeze another book in before December 31st so I'm stopping because, after all, I am ahead! I read 105 books this year for J. Kaye's Book Blog 100+ Reading Challenge! And I should say that I'm not stopping reading, merely wrapping up this challenge. I probably read this much every year anyway, if not a little more, but I don't normally blog each and every thing I read...just the stuff I either really love, or really hate :-) Here's to getting back to normal and here's my completed list!

105. Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

104. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

103. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

102. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

101. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

100. Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

99. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

98. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

97. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

96. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

95. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

94. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

93. With the Lightnings by David Drake

92. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

91. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

90. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

89. Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

88. Orphan's Destiny by Robert Buettner

87. Eat the Dark by Joe Schreiber

86. Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber

85. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

84. The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe

83. Blood of Ambrose by James Enge

82. Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

81. Dramarama by E. Lockhart

80. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

79. Alabama Moon by Watt Key

78. A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans

77. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

76. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

75. The Seance by John Harwood

74. Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts by Laura Benedict

73. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

72. Abandon by Blake Crouch

71. One Jump Ahead by Mark L. Van Name

70. Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

69. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

68. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

67. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

66. Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners by Alan Emmins

65. The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess by Andrei Codrescu

64. A Bride In the Bargain by Deeanne Gist

63. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

62. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

61. The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

60. Old Man's War by John Scalzi

59. Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One by Elliott Gorn by

58. Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett

57. The Orphanage by Robert Buettner

56. The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

55. Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster

54. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

53. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

52. The Taking by Dean Koontz

51. (secret Harlequin title for review)

50. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

49. The Well and The Mine by Gin Phillips

48. Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

47. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler, MD

46. Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire by Margot Berwin

45. 1601, and Is Shakespeare Dead? / Mark Twain

44. What is Man? / Mark Twain

43. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side / Beth Fantaskey

42. Nicholas and Alexandra / Robert Massie

41. Suite Scarlett / Maureen Johnson

40. Wintergirls / Laurie Halse Anderson

39. Fire Girl / Tony Abbott

38. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore / Walter J. Fraser Jr.

37. Genesis / Bernard Beckett

36. Blood and Ice / Robert Masello

35. The Master Harper of Pern / Anne McCaffrey

34. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

33. How We Decide / Jonah Lehrer

32. The Book of Unholy Mischief / Elle Newmark

31. The Host / Stephenie Meyer

30. My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt In Search of His Own Faith / Benyamin Cohen

29. One Thousand White Women / Jim Fergus

28. Watchmen / Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

27. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. / Sandra Gulland

26. Hater / David Moody

25. What I Did for Love / Susan Elizabeth Phillips

24. Coraline / Neil Gaiman

23. Run / Anne Patchett

22. Dragondrums / Anne McCaffrey

21. High Voltage Tattoo / Kat Von D

20. Dragonsinger / Anne McCaffrey

19. To Seduce a Texan / Georgina Gentry

18. Dragonsong / Anne McCaffrey

17. Theodore Roosevelt / Louis Auchincloss

16. Glitter Baby / Susan Elisabeth Phillips

15. Watermind / M.M. Buckner

14. The Widow's War / Sally Gunning

13. Dalí & I: The Surreal Story / Stan Lauryssens

12. The Widow of the South / Robert Hicks

11. The Chopin Manuscript / Jeffrey Deaver et al

10. (secret Harlequine title for review)

9. (secret Harlequin title for review)

8. Sea of Poppies / Amitav Ghosh

7. Confessions of a Shopaholic / Sophie Kinsella

6. The Door: Poems / Margaret Atwood

5. Damn Nation / Andrew Cosby and J. Alexander

4. The Walking Dead: Book 3 / Robert Kirkman et al

3. Under the Tuscan Sun / Frances Mayes

2. a mercy / Toni Morrison

1. The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation / Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell

The ides of the week before Christmas...

2009-12-15T18:34:00.002-06:00

...and all through the 'brary not a creature was stirring except 18 bazillion ill-behaved teenagers studying for exams and eating/drinking the 3 metric tons of soft drinks, potato chips, and cookies that we buy for them.

whose idea WAS this? anyone have a few xanex to spare?

Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-14T11:44:00.002-06:00

Sookie is once again up to her eyeballs in trouble, this time with a sniper taking shots at local shape shifters. This concerns her for very pressing reasons, not the least of which is the safety of her loyal boss, Sam. Her turn of luck goes from bad to worse when her house catches on fire, Sam is shot, and her friend Tara takes up with one very nasty vampire. Local Were politics, her awkward relationship with her now (ex)vampire boyfriend, and Eric's suspicion about what exactly went on between them while he had no memory combine to make life exhausting and confusing for the barmaid from Bon Temps.

I HAVE to read my sci-fi book and Catcher in the Rye for my bookgroups so Sookie will go on hold for the next little while.

*sad*

the stork

2009-12-13T21:15:00.002-06:00

My friend and coworker, the lovely and talented Book Diva, had her first baby not long ago (Dec 3rd I believe) so I went to visit and take lasagna once they were at home and somewhat settled.

Little Brooklyn is almost too cute to be believed and she napped in the crook of my arm quite comfortably! I just noticed that my hair is flipping up into little blond horns...how apropos.

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-10T17:53:00.002-06:00

Since Sookie is on the outs with her (now ex-) vampire boyfriend, she has done little except work, work, work. On the way home from a rough New Year's Eve working at Merlotte's, Sookie spots a most unclothed vampire running down the road and is amazed to find Eric, Bill's boss and owner of the vampire bar Fangtasia. Even more amazing to Sookie is that Eric has no idea who he is, who she is, or what he's running from. This uncertain, sweet side is SO not what her fragile emotions need at the moment, nor the trouble following close on his heels from a coven of witches bent on destruction.

Keep 'em comin!

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-08T18:48:00.002-06:00

When Sookie's vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton, is abducted while on a secret assignment for the queen vamp of Louisiana, Sookie is enlisted to help recover him. The information he is gathering is wanted by many in the supernatural community and they will do anything to get it. Sookie and Bill have gone through a rough patch personally, but when she discovers Bill's relationship with his abductor to be more of a sexual nature, the relationship just might be over all together.

On to number four!

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-08T18:40:00.003-06:00

Sookie is up to her eyeballs in trouble, this time in Dallas, Texas, when she attempts to find out who has abducted a vampire from a local nest. A local group, the Fellowship of the Sun, is suspected and it's Sookie's job to infiltrate the group and use her telepathy to find out anything she can.

Again, I'm loving these books but they are equivalent to a great big bag of pork skins. Would your doctor recommend them? Nope....but I do! :-)

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

2009-12-01T20:45:00.003-06:00

In anticipation of the New Moon movie, I reread all four books over Thanksgiving. I now need new glasses.

I'm not going to lay out four whole reviews of these books because, in all honesty, who doesn't know what these books are about? You know what? I love Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn! I love the movies! I love The Host!

Is she winning the Man Booker Prize? No.

A) She's not British.

B)This is a fantasy novel written to entertain the yungins and I for one believe she's done a fabulous job.

that is all.

oh, and this officially brings my total read for 2009 to 101! I met the challenge. December 31st, here I come!

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

2009-12-01T20:42:00.003-06:00

After his second rescue from a stretch of time in the not-so-loving hands of serial killer Gretchen Lowell, the Beauty Killer, Archie Sheridan has voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric hospital to deal with the ramifications his injuries, his sexual attraction to Lowell, and his addiction to Vicodin. Unfortunately for him, Gretchen is on the loose and people are starting to die in horrific ways again. The only problem is that the bodies are being dumped in previous murder sites and Gretchen Lowell may do many things but repeating herself is not one of them. The Beauty Killer seems to be hard at work again and the unit in charge of investigation wants Archie’s help in bringing her to justice but he is not sure Lowell is really behind the current mayhem.

Again, I love this series. It is gruesome, disturbing, and a very quick read. Is that a bad thing? If you loved Patricia Cornwell back in the day before she got so angsty, this is the series for you!

Heartsick
Sweetheart
Evil at Heart

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-01T20:39:00.002-06:00

So, I’ve finally gotten on the True Blood bandwagon which, of course, has led me to the books. I claim them as an extravagant guilty pleasure. Guilty in that the writing really isn’t that good, but, just like M&M’s, I’m devouring them at a high rate of speed AND enjoying myself immensely. Everyone needs to find books like these in their reading lives. I’m not speaking of the content of course, just the enjoyment level. Different content for different folks.

In Dead Until Dark, vampires have “come out of the coffin” and achieved some legal status (sounds AWFULLY familiar….cough, cough, Anita Blake, cough, cough) thanks to the Japanese perfecting synthetic blood to deal with their unique dietary requirements. The tiny Louisiana town of Bon Temps has been fairly isolated from the debate until vampire Bill Compton moves into town. Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at Merlotte’s and is quite excited by this turn of events. Not everyone in town is as gracious to the newcomer, but Sookie is determined to make him feel welcome. Unfortunately, women in the town start being killed and the police are quick to point the finger at Sookie’s new friend. Her unique ability to hear the thoughts of those around her provide the perfect opportunity to try to find out who is behind it before her Lothario of a brother gets the blame. The only one she can’t here is Bill and the relief behind that silence leads to some steamy romance. First in a series…nine books and counting!

happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T17:45:00.002-06:00

I will be without computer access for a few days so I am taking this opportunity to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving! If you are going out shopping on Friday, you are insane!

Love,

Holley

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

2009-11-23T10:53:00.003-06:00

Having read The Glass Castle and ReAlLy liking it (despite my doubts about its authenticity as a "memoir"), I was terribly excited to hear about Walls' first attempt at biographical fiction. Half Broke Horses is a fictionalized account of the life of her maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. Lily was raised on a ranch and became a rancher's wife. Along the way, she earned a college degree, taught in one-room schools, drove a hearse around to pickup the school kids, mended fences, branded cattle, learned how to fly an airplane, and just in general lived her life to the fullest. Proud of her dentures, concerned that her kids learn life's lessons, and eager to build a life of stability, Lily bulls her way nonstop through life's challenges.

I liked this novel very much but it is rather choppy. If you've read The Glass Castle, this will definitely make you want to read it again and if you haven't read it, it would be a great follow up to this. I don't envy you the job of whittling out fact from fiction but both books are incredibly engaging reads!

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

2009-11-23T10:28:00.003-06:00

In Her Fearful Symmetry, the twins have been estranged for over 20 years, Elspeth in London and Eddie flown off to Chicago with her twin's fiance. Now Elspeth has died and left her flat in London to Eddie's twin daughters, Julia and Valentina, under the conditions that they live in the flat for one year and that their parents never set foot in it. Eddie is NOT happy with the situation but sees no way out of it. The twins are desperately curious about what led to their mother and aunt's separation, but Eddie isn't telling.

Julia and Valentina are mirror twins, meaning that while all Julia's insides are where they are supposed to be, Valentina's are just the opposite and there are some health consequences for her such as a heart murmur and asthma. Julia has always been her caretaker and protector and Valentina feels smothered. This sensation only increases once they move to London and Valentina becomes attracted to her aunt's bereaved lover, Robert. Robert lives in the same building in the flat below Elspeth's and their is an upstairs neighbor, Martin, who has troubles of his own since his wife left him because of his exhausting OCD habits. Robert is a tour guide at Highgate Cemetery, which neighbors the apartment building, while he finishes his doctoral thesis on a history of the cemetery and Victorian funerary practice. Meanwhile, Elspeth is still hanging around. She is determined to alert Robert and the twins to her presence and so the haunting begins.

If this sounds convoluted, that's because it is. Several weeks later and I still can't quite decide whether I liked this book or not. I like the historical bits about Highgate Cemetery and the Victorians (Niffenegger is a tour guide there and her love of it shows!) but the characters, with the exception of Martin and his wife, are just kind of icky and unlovable. The ending was a disappointment of epic proportions but with a solution like Valentina comes up with, I never imagined a tidy denouement. It just felt choppy and rushed...sort of tacked on at the end rather than really brought to a satisfying conclusion. The Time Traveler's Wife was not my favorite book either but the overall writing and character development were much tighter and more involving for me as a reader.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh...the freenssssh!

2009-11-23T10:24:00.001-06:00

Thanks Amanda!

Enter the spoof:

! ! ! this just in ! ! !

2009-11-18T11:51:00.001-06:00

KT has car trouble this morning so I swung by her house and picked up the whole gang! We were putting Toes' booster seat in my car and Scout had already climbed in when I heard her say, in an amazed tone of voice, "Ooooh, Aunt Holley! What is this right here?!" When I turned to see, she was pointed at the handle to roll down the window. I replied, "That's to roll down the window. Welcome to your ride in the past, Scout! It's almost like a covered wagon!"

On a similar note, at The World's Most Least Successful Yardsale this past weekend, KT's mom put out a typewriter. When the girls got there, of course they had to marvel at all the stuff they'd not noticed in their Nana's house that we were now attempting to get rid of. They crowded around the typewriter and said, "Oooh, look! A cash register!"

Out of the mouths of babes, indeed.

that is all.

luck is a lady

2009-11-13T12:13:00.002-06:00

and hopefully she looks favorably upon me :-)

Yesterday's adventures included going to Georgia for sinful lottery tickets, lunch in Anniston, and a look through an antique mall.

I've already looked at the GA lottery website today but the drawing for numbers hasn't taken place yet, that'll be tonight. The jackpot is 12 million. Here's hoping. I also played one of the little scratch off cards to no avail, but it was an intense 2 minutes of anticipation and fun :-)

I love antique malls. I don't go through them too often because I have a bit of the impulse shopper coursing through my veins and I am unable to control it very well in such places but I kept it to a dull roar yesterday. It was the Apple Barrell antique mall in Anniston if any of you know of it. There are a couple of other places I would have liked to look in, but we ran out of time so I'll have to go back another day. I bought a set of three pictures of wine grapes...I have that sort of themed thing going on in my kitchen. What is in there now are color copies of the backs of Cooks Illustrated magazines and some really crappy paintings of herbs straight from my own considerably untalented hands so these will fit in perfectly. i also got a 6 candle tiered stand to put in my fireplace since I don't lay actual fires there. I tried it out as soon as I got home and it was very nice and almost like a real fire IMHO.

Between the antique mall and trying my candle stand out, I had book group. Can I just say how much I love book group and the friends I've made there? If you aren't in one (and for librarians, outside of the one you may lead at work), you should definitely think hard about it. Great friends AND discussions!

Alright! I am LEAVING this house immediately or I will sit here all day!

I haven't done anything today except farm on Facebook. My staycation is rapidly drawing to a close and I have been loving it! Some friends are having a yard sale tomorrow so I'm taking a few things over and will help out some...if I can leave this house anytime soon :-)

staycation hump day

2009-11-11T10:33:00.005-06:00

I'm having a fabulous staycation so far and am about to get the dreaded house cleaning underway. My plans for the day fell through so I've decided it will not be a complete loss. I need to do some serious scrubbing and today is the day!

Monday Mom and I met for lunch and saw the new 3D Christmas Carol. It got sucky reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes but I loved it and would definitely see it again. Just a note for anyone with young children thinking that because it says Disney everything is okay, there are some dark and rather creepy bits...you better check it out first, I'm just saying. Otherwise you'll have a kid screaming in the middle of the night saying a ghost with a ripped off bottom jaw is dragging chains up the stairs and screaming in their face. You decide.

Yesterday, we again met for lunch then went the Birmingham Museum of Art to see the Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness exhibit from the Yale University Art Gallery. I had the great pleasure to take a group of library patrons to the exhibit last week where we had a special private tour of the exhibit from the head curator of American Art at the museum and it was FaBuLoUs! I tried to remember for Mom all of the inside stories he had to share about the artwork on display. The docents in the exhibit wear "Ask Me" buttons, but they don't wait to be asked. I really wanted to say, "Thank you but we had a private tour from Dr. B last week." Unfortunately, I'm not that brave so we were followed around and talked to most of the way. They were knowledgeable and polite, but I didn't really want the help and I sure didn't ask for it.

After we finished the exhibit, I took Mom around and showed her some of my favorite things from the permanent collections. We were in the pre-Colombian section when I heard the tale-tell sounds of a drip. In my previous manufactured home, affectionately referred to as the crack house, I developed severe roof leaks which have left me with a preternatural awareness of the sound of dripping water. I knew this was not a tick, but an actual in-the-room drip. I hunted the little bastard down and it was dripping directly on to the case for a 1000 year old (or somewhere thereabouts) Incan statue. I admit it, I lost it for a few seconds. 9-1-1 was very briefly considered before my rational brain took hold and I tracked down a museum employee. Before you could blink a veritable army of curators and custodians were wheeling the case aside, drying it off, then convening to stare in puzzlement at the ceiling. It did rain unceasingly yesterday and was very gusty as well.

My good deed for the day done (and, I admit, feeling quite proud of myself), Mom and I parted ways. She didn't want to drive home in dark AND rain and I had an invite to KT's for dinner. With a couple of hours to kill, I took myself to the movies and saw Law Abiding Citizen. It has a well-earned 23% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes but it's Gerard Butler so who cares. It could have been dubbed in Korean and I would barely have noticed and certainly not cared much. He'd better watch it though, and carefully consider the beleaguered career of Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Dinner at KT's was goat cheese, red wine, and ravioli. We drank and watched hilarious videos on youtube of Flight of the Conchords songs and people being stupid. I have included one for your viewing enjoyment!

Now, sadly, grown-up life intrudes and I must clean the house. It's beginning to look a little gross. Binky seems embarrassed.

With the Lightnings by David Drake

2009-11-11T10:14:00.003-06:00

*sigh* Disappointment. I do like military sci/fi, honest. Witness my near fangirl love for the Old Man's War universe and Robert Buettner's Orphanage series...but With the Lightnings, I just can not love. The characters are okay but there are way to many paragraphs that end with something along the lines of "it was a matter of honor and Daniel Leary was nothing without his honor!" I put quotations on it but it is not a direct quotation, or maybe it is..I don't remember. I noticed in the Pub Weekly review that his name is listed as Cassian Daniels but it's Daniel Leary in the book. I have no idea why there is a discrepancy.

The book is described as a space opera and I'll go one step further and say space soap opera. Just too many episodes of pat drama where I could imagine a tight close-up of a face twisted with confusion and self doubt, some music swelling in the background. I also notice in this PW review the phrase "crisply delineated space-age equipment." I found it just as coherent as one of Tristan Tzara's cutup poems. I blame my inability to understand complex math and science reasoning. I struggled to finish as this book just did not resonate with me.

I'll let Amazon take it from here via Publisher's Weekly since they seemed to enjoy it more than I did.

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran military SF author Drake (the Hammer's Slammers series) launches an unlikely pair of star warriors at the far-future and evil Alliance of Free Stars, which is locked in mortal combat with the Republic of Cinnabar over the wealthy trading world of Kostroma. Cheeky young Cinnabaran Lt. Cassian Daniels has quarreled with his powerful and merciless father, who has tossed him out and left him to his own slim devices. Spunky young librarian Adele Mundy is the sole survivor of her Cinnabar clan, which was wiped out in a conspiracy led by the elder Daniels. After some colorful initial posturing, Cassian and Adele pool their familial pride and anti-totalitarian views in Cassian's impromptu first command, a scratch crew trapped ashore in an Alliance coup. Together they outwit (Cassian's doing) and outshoot (Adele's forte) the bad guys. Updating dashing Horatio Hornblower tactics and vintage John Wayne heroics with crisply delineated space-age equipment, a convincing extraterrestrial setting and formidably battle-hardened female NCOs, Drake gives a familiar plot a full measure of appealing derring-do. This surely shouldn't, and probably won't, be Cassian and Adele's last adventure together.

satty

2009-11-07T16:35:00.002-06:00

...another Saturday at work nearly done and thankfully it's been pretty slow. I'm petsitting so I have a steady block of Dirty Jobs to watch last night and who even knows what I'll find on the telly this evening! I don't consult lists or anything because then it would be too much like work. I'll just roam around and find something that catches my fancy...several things more like. I'll be back home tomorrow evening and then....*sigh*, then a whole week's staycation! Whatever will I do with myself? As I posted on Facebook last week, sadness is watching the very last episode of True Blood that Netflix can send you :-(

Maybe I'll order them all over again and start over as I don't imagine that Season 2 will be here any time soon. I could just read the books of course, and I will, but that takes a little time as there are a few others interested in the series right now as well. I'm equally sad because these are not widely available on CD...my preferred mode of hammering out some quality reading since I'm in the car, uninterrupted, for at least 2 hours every day.

Anyway, I am sorry to be so absent except for book reviews but my life has been fairly monotonous of late. Work, sleep, rinse, repeat...that's pretty much it. Hopefully the next week, in which I spend copious amounts of time with my mom, will yield some simply fantastic blogging fodder. Mom is usually pretty good for that, even if she doesn't know it.

And hey! I need to share Halloween photos too! Me and the new laptop will get that figured out immediately.

Gotta go. Time to shut 'er down!

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

2009-11-07T09:52:00.002-06:00

This great, fun little adventure is a book of what I’d call biographical essays. David Sedaris is funny, wicked, irreverent, and heartbreakingly honest about the pros and cons of growing up in a (to me) large and somewhat unusual family. I have only recollections of my own family with which to compare and we were an unusual lot too, but Sedaris’ kin are just a little farther out there.

From therapy for a lisp and guitar lessons with a midget to the fastforward existence of a life lived on speed and crystal meth and the ultimate in total immersion French lessons, Sedaris has done it all. I laughed out loud regularly while reading this and am definitely interested in reading some of his other work. Another similar book that I heartily enjoyed (maybe even a little more than this one) is Jenny Lancaster’s Pretty in Plaid.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is another bookgroup selection. This is what happens when you are in three bookgroups; personal reading takes a back seat to required. It’s kind of like being in school except there are not really any tests and you frequently are provided with wine and other refreshments. That’s school I can deal with and I’m fairly certain Mr. Sedaris would agree.

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

2009-11-07T09:50:00.003-06:00

Kitty marries Walter Fane more out of a need to be wed before her dull and unattractive sister than from any great idealist love for the rather dour bacteriologist. When they journey to Hong Kong, Kitty rather quickly falls into an affair with a well to-do politician, Charles Townsend. Walter learns of the affair and offers her an ultimatum: travel with him to work in a cholera-ravaged village or he will pursue the public scandal of divorcing her for adultery.

When things with Townsend don’t go as she’d planned, Kitty is forced to travel with her husband to the afflicted village. Dealing with the specter of death and her husband’s cold disdain lead Kitty to many realizations about herself and her life.

My bookgroup at work is reading fiction set in an Asian country so I was thrilled with reading The Painted Veil because I loved, loved, loved the movie! Since the book is usually better than the movie, I picked it up with much anticipation. Just to top things off, the audiobook has a fantastic narrator!

Neither the book nor the movie has what I’d call a happy ending, but the movie ends on a much more positive note. I think, possibly, the book ends more realistically. TPV was published in the mid-1920’s so it has a sort of Great Gatsby feel to it, especially as Kitty relates her upbringing and how she came to marry Walter.

I waffled back and forth between liking and hating all of the characters at one time or another and I count that as a serious point in Maugham’s favor; to be able to make the characters so real and malleable. A spoiled, yet redeemable woman, an irreverent playboy, a rigidly reserved and complex man…such is the stuff of which good drama is made! I love this book and look forward to a re-read. I did listen to it but I do own a paperback copy as well and it is one classic I’ll be holding on to for future enjoyment.

for sure not in kansas anymore

2009-11-03T20:25:00.000-06:00

I LoVe indie horror! This is one making the festival circuit right now.

keeping Halloween just a little longer

2009-11-02T11:06:00.001-06:00

50 vintage horror movie posters

I would SO hang these in my home!

Halloween!!

2009-10-31T22:08:00.002-06:00

Is having the BEST time in a bar full of gay men!