Oddly, considering my
out of pocket status, a lot of things.
In the book department...
* a collection of 50 Poirot short stories by Agatha Christie. I had never read Poirot, and I like him, although I think AC's estate needs to sue the executive producer of
Monk forthwith.
*
Journey to the Center of the Earth. I had this book when I was a kid, but the picture on the cover scared the crap out of me and eventually it got lost. Good book, though. I need to read
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, since I somehow never got around to it...
*
We Need to Talk About Kevin. I bought this book purely for the title, as a former acquaintance of myself and
CDHSarah had the same name and, eventually, prompted the same comment. It's actually a novel-in-letters (I think there's another name for that, but don't recall what it is) from the mother of a kid who shot up his high school. Interesting, and clever, even if it was recommended by
Good Morning America.
*
Eleven On Top, the new Stephanie Plum novel from Janet Evanovich. I wasn't entirely certain how I felt about this book. On the one hand, taking the series in a somewhat different direction is interesting. On the other hand, I think she's let her universe get out of control. Only seeing Sally Sweet once in the lead-up to Valerie's wedding? Simply doesn't work for me. I'm still interested in this series, but I'm not looking forward to the next book with nearly as much abandon as I looked forward to this one when I read the last pages of
Ten Big Ones. Facts is facts.
*
False Prophet. Yet another Faye Kellerman. I like the Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker novels, but her need of an editor with a nuanced grasp of the English language needs to happen. The proliferation of homonym-based errors, particularly in idiom, in popular literature (even Evanovich, although she gets away with it because Stephanie Plum is the type of person who would make those little mistakes) is really starting to drive me bugshit. It's not a "lynch pin", it's a "linchpin". Seriously.
*
The Quality of Life Report by Meghan Daum. This book kicked ass. It reminded me of
Moo, still my favorite Jane Smiley. I like clever satire, and apparently I like the Midwest. Read it, it's good.
*
Steppenwolf. I'm having more trouble with this book than I did Hesse's
Siddhartha, but I've gotten past the prologue and into the body of the book and think it'll be pretty good once I fully settle into it.
*
120 Days of Sodom. I've been looking for this book for-freaking-ever, as I've never read de Sade. This edition has a foreword by Simone de Beauvoir, and I'm still working my way through it....my brain is too frazzled for really serious stuff.
*
The Chalice and the Blade. Same here. Toooooo tired to read about sexism in archaelogy and the peace-loving egalitarian cultures who made, among other things, the Willendorf Venus. The book is good, thus far anyway, and not too special-pleading, woe-is-the-lot-of-womynkind, but I just can't make myself read it with the attention it deserves, at least not right now.
*
Bonfire of the Vanities. I love Tom Wolfe and find John Updike unpalatable, and I loved
Bonfire and am even now kicking myself in the ass for having, yet again, left
The Right Stuff at the apartment. I've owned it for over a month and haven't read it yet only because I keep forgetting to take it with.
I'm sure there are a few others...oh yeah, the new David Sedaris, which I read in one sitting at Cafe O2...but I can't remember them right at the moment.
On other fronts, I have new clothes...a broomstick skirt, a blue MATH COUNTS t-shirt with which I fell instantly in love, and fifty-million other things salvaged from the summer rack at the boutique...a little print shirt-dress to wear over jeans that shows off the fact that I have, apparently, lost 10 pounds, a few cute t-shirts, some incredibly awesome zip-up mens' shirts with neat venting that I'm at a loss to describe. Also a pair of sunglasses, which I haven't owned in years, which have yellow lenses, and the most comfortable pair of pants currently extant in the United States, if not the world.
Losing 10 pounds is also new. People haven't seen much of me, online or off, in the past 2 1/2 weeks, and everyone appears to notice, so that's kind of nice. I weigh less now than I have in the last three, if not five, years. It won't last past the end of the job, I don't think, but it's nice. What isn't nice is the brand-new squeaky sound coming from my brakes, which is going to be expensive judging from purely auditory clues.
Listen to me, nattering on about my books and clothes and weight. Next thing you know, I'll be writing chick lit. At least I'd be writing something. In the interim, I'm writing to let you guys know I'm OK...because I am NOT DEAD, I SWEAR, whatever CDHSarah and LadyAlambil may be saying. ;)
I'll see y'all as soon as I have my life back. Promise. Call me later, 'kay?
