Title: Twelve Sharp
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages/Edition: 310/HB
Original Publication: 2006
Reading completed: June 30

My Thoughts
I am a total book whore. I sat in Books-A-Million and read the first half of this novel, then I picked up raesstienway at her house, went to Barnes&Noble, and read the second half.

This one is, as you may or may not have heard, a bit different than the others. It isn't the usual 'Steph gets a tough case, gets chased by psychos, lets Grandma Mazur wreak havoc on the funeral home, and can't decide between Joe and Ranger'.

I mean, there are those elements, of course, but this book is just really different, main plot-wise. I never thought we'd get such a long, intimate look into Ranger's life. And I love that everybody seems to be growing up.

And Ranger's daughter is so cool. Definitely got some good genes from R. :)

Title: Eleven On Top
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages/Edition: 310/HB
Original Publication: 2005
Reading completed: June 29

My Thoughts
This being the eleventh installment of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, there's very little that an Plum fan hasn't seen before.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion.

Stephanie is still the Calamity Jane of Trenton; Morelli is still very sexy and very horny; Ranger is still very sexy and very Batman-esque; Grandma Mazur is still batshit crazy; and various cars and buildings keep blowing up as a result of being occupied by Stephanie.

But even though we've seen all these elements before, Evanovich still makes it feel fresh and so much fun OMG! I was laughing so hard that I didn't even mind that I knew what was coming, and I still found myself with 20 pages to go, wishing it would go on for another 200+.

Title: To Have and Have Not
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Pages/Edition: 262/PB/Scribner's Library Edition
Original Publication: 1934
Reading completed: June 28

My Thoughts
Um, definitely not as fun as The Gun Seller was.

This book is classic Hemingway: Manly, macho main character doing manly, macho activities (in this particular case, drinking, deep-sea fishing, and rum-running between Cuba and the Florida Keys), strong, lively (even mouthy) female characters, and lots and lots of hopelessness.

I enjoyed very much getting to know Harry Morgan through the first three-fourths of the novel, and even the action climax was interesting. I did find the end rather dissatisfying: Hemingway seems to attempt (it's not really apparent what he was actually doing) to show how all the various characters' lives are interconnected, but it just comes off as clumsy and disjointed.

Not an altogether terrible read, but not the greatest Hemingway ever achieved. The basic point of the book is from the mind of its main character: "No matter how a man alone ain't got no bloody fucking chance." That's it in a nutshell.

Have you signed up for Kat with a K's blog-based Summer Reading Program yet?

You haven't??

...

C'mon. Click the button. Reading is sexy.

My specific goals have changed a bit since my last post:
1. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (by Dick Winters, obviously)
2. Seven Famous Greek Plays (by Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes)
I tried to read this, but it killed my brain. Too heavy. Not the right moment. I'm replacing this one with Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
3. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
4. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (thanks to issyadore, who deserves to be showered in affection and lip gloss)FINISHED IT! LOVED IT! REVIEWED IT!
5. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway (halfway finished with this one)
6. Natasha's Dance (a cultural history of Imperial Russia) by Orlando Figes
7. Scar Tissue, an autobio/memoir by Anthony Kiedis, frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers
And, while I'm being ambitious, I will add a bonus: 8. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (because as many classics as I have read, this isn't one. *is shamed*)

Title: The Gun Seller
Author: Hugh Laurie
Pages/Edition: 339/HB
Original Publication: 1996
Reading completed: June 19

My Thoughts
Fun.

This book was pure fun, from page 1 to page 339. The story is narrated in first-person by Thomas Lang, whom you can't help picturing as Mr. Laurie himself, which is excellent fun, because Laurie's humour comes through rather beautifully.

The characters are all wonderfully lively, except for the ones who are meant to be flat and 2-dimensional. The plot is quite involved, very intelligent and multi-layered. The language is wonderful, and everything -- even horrible, traumatic things -- are told in a way that will make you chuckle at worst, and at best you'll be laughing out loud.

All in all, it's an excellent light read.

This is my first review for Kat With A K's Summer Reading Program, a blog-based program designed to help us all with our summer reading goals.

I even have a button.



OMG, buttons. :D

So, yes. Reading is sexy, so go sign up. Maybe a cute boy (or girl)(or possibly your spouse) will see you reading in the park and want to snog you silly. :)

Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
Pages/Edition: 304/HB/Barnes&Noble Collector's Library Edition
Original Publication: 1818
Reading completed: June 1 (maybe June 2)

My Thoughts
Jane Austen is magnificent, of course, and this novel is no different, though it's magnificent in a more subdued way (does that even make sense?!). While the main conflicts of Austen's better-known works are mostly due to external forces and circumstances out of the control of the main characters, Persuasion is more of an internal novel: The whole of the narration is from the limited perspective of Miss Anne Elliot, and indeed much of the "action" is her internal dialogue.

That doesn't mean to imply that the novel is dull, but it does move slowly, which made it difficult to get involved in the story. Still, Persuasion is worth the effort (though I quietly curse the Georgian propriety that kept her from giving us the juicy details *g*).

melora98 posted about Kat with a K's Summer Reading Program: a blog-based community of sorts, helping people meet their summer reading goals. You should sign up. I did.

C'mon. Reading is sexy, after all. *nods*

ETA: My specific goals for the summer (well, reading goals, anyway):
1. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters (by Dick Winters, obviously)
2. Seven Famous Greek Plays (by Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes)
3. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
4. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (thanks to issyadore, who deserves to be showered in affection and lip gloss)
5. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
6. Natasha's Dance (a cultural history of Imperial Russia) by Orlando Figes
7. ... I'm open to suggestions here. Got any?

Happy Birthday,  bar_bar_ella !!!

I lifted this from this website in your honour.

I plan to spend this evening grading papers, then staying up way too late answering everyone's "Letter from Character X" memes. OMGFUN.

So here is mine: Leave a list of fictional characters in your journal that you would love to get a message from. It is your friend-list's mission, should they choose to accept it, to write you an in-character "letter" from a character on that list. Then they post their own list in their journal and the process continues!

( My List )

I've never done a birthday gift in honor of a character, but it's Sev's birthday (he hates it when I call him that) today, and so. Yeah. Happy birthday, love.

( A Birthday Drabble for Severus )

Hey, everyone! I have just started a new community for those of us who intend to shape up and slim down this year.

It's called fluffy_fangirls (but we allow fluffy fanboys, too, and fluffy unspecified-gender members) and is open for new members now! I think it'll be a good way for us to encourage each other to treat our bodies better. *hopes*

Anyway, if you want in on the fun, join up. :)

I guess I could have edited this onto my last post, the one from 2.3 minutes ago, but.... pfft. I don't wanna. :P

First, a ficsearch: Anybody got any good Severus Snape/Bill Weasley stories? I have looked everywhere, and most of what's out there is just pointless. Some of it is really bad and pointless. I have read a couple gems, but I want more. Got some recs???


This weekend, I have to compile final exams for English 1 and English 3. That's it. All my other time can be spent cleaning my house, perving, writing, etc.

My Weekend To-Do List
1. Do the dishes ('cause, omg, every bowl and spoon I own is dirty, stacked next to the sink, mocking me.)
2. Do the laundry (but not until after Greggie gets home. *misses him*)
3. Learn the Christmas music for the church choir performance (omg. I'm so behind on this. EEeep!)
4. Pay the gas bill online (I could be doing that instead of this, but meh. It'll make me feel good to cross it off the list.)
5. Organize/clean up files on the polluted PC
6. Find the top of my desk
7. Finish the Snarry fic (which I don't really wanna finish. It was a great idea, but then I got stuck on the end and can't seem to get my Muse back.)
8. Work on an outline for the Severus/Bill fic idea I got this week (hugs and loves to captainjames)
9. Work on an outline for my post-war fic for hp_remnants (If you haven't signed up yet, OMG GO DO IT NOW.)
10. Read some fic. Lots of fic.

OMG. Go check out my brother's band's website.
*huggles big bro* (Bro is the frontman, Richie)

It's 8:19 am, and yet I am not at school.

:D

There was a bit of a winter storm yesterday, and the roads are slippery right now. We're set to start classes at 10:00 instead. So, too bad that I have to go at all, but at least I get to check the f-list, have some tea, and snog my soon-to-be-traveling hubby a little bit.

He'll be gone from this morning until Saturday night. I hate it when he goes away, but I'm actually looking forward to it as well. Not the sleeping/eating alone parts, but the omg-unlimited-online-time parts. *dork*

So. Anyway. Just thought I'd share my glee. Now I'm off to have a cuppa before I convulse.

ETA: OMGSQUEEEE!!!!!!!! *bounces*
I just got cards from accioslash and clen3k!!!!!!!! *does happy dance*

And now I'm off to school. Bah. :P

Hello. Still have loads to say to the Good Ole F-List, but still no time to make a real entry.

So many of you seem to be having trauma/sadness/anger/etc., and I'm sorry that so many of my friends are feeling down. *feels helpless*

For now, let me just say, "Chin up." I love you all.

I'll be back after dinner with a song!spam post, and maybe some other stuff to spread some positive vibes around.

♥
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Warning: I'm sick, therefore this entry sounds like shit. I'll be poetic when I feel better. :)

Thanksgiving was nice. I hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday. I'll spend tonight catching up on my f-list, if my head stops aching quite so much.

Greg and I went to dinner at our friends' house (raesstienway and her hubby) and Rae's parents were there, and another of our friends from college. It was really nice, except that I was trying to freaking die.

Well, okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. But I'd had a dreadful headache/sore throat/hacking cough/dizziness/exhaustion since Monday, so I was pretty miserable. Especially after I spent all morning yesterday cooking. I love cooking, but when you're sick, it just steals the fun out of it. So after we ate and sat around for all the afternoon snacking on leftovers and talking, I decided I needed medical intervention before I passed out on the floor.

Rae and I went to the urgent care center (we sent the boys out to play for a while). Dr. D was really cute. Soft hands, great hair. Nice voice, too. And he gave me cough syrup and antibiotics, so now I totally ♥ him. :) Then we drove around the city for an hour before finding an open pharmacy OMG, then we went rented Pulp Fiction (which Rae had never seen) and season 5 of Sex and the City.

OMG. That might be the second greatest show EVAR.

Anyway... now it's the Day After Thanksgiving!! That means 2 things: great leftovers to eat, and putting up the Christmas decorations!! YAY!!! I'm going to dope myself up on cough syrup and pain pills, and if my head will stop trying to squeeze my eyeballs out, I'll do some decorating! :)

See you all tonight for f-list catch up and responding to comments. *huggles everybody*

[ETA] I've got several of you added on Yahoo!Messenger, but some of you have Yahoo IDs that I don't know. If you have one and aren't afraid of being stalked by me opposed to giving it out, add me! I'm 'mercy_72476' on Y!M. ♥!♥!♥

I have quite a lot I'd like to talk about, but I can't be bothered to think right now. So hi. This post is pointless. :)

I've been feeling really fat lately. Mostly because I've gotten a bit fatter lately. Now my "fat pants" are getting tight. Dammit.

So, starting tomorrow, I'm going off sugar for two weeks. The diet books all say it takes two weeks for your body to get itself together after being overloaded on sugar for a long time. Like, say, the last 20 years or so. :)

No sugar. *cringes* I have no idea how I'm going to live. I may hurt someone. But I'm tired of feeling like shit all the time. And being too fat for my fat clothes. And being so out of shape I can't walk 50 feet without being out of breath. And weighing the same as my husband. And having a double chin. And weighing more than my father-in-law OMG.

So I walked today, put on my athletic shorts and everything. Just for about 20 minutes, but it was good. Then I did some other exercises. Tomorrow I'll start sit-ups/crunches/other horrid painful things to make my tummy not so flabby and gross.

Right. All done now; time to go and do something constructive, like write for NaNo. Or do the dishes. Or something else of the thousand things I ought to do besides sit here in front of my computer and vegetate. :)

And please don't think that I'm comment-whoring, here, trying to get you to comment and tell me you don't think I'm fat/gross/ugly/whatever. That's not what I mean. I mean that I feel gross, and I want to do something about it. Don't feel you have to stroke my ego. Not on this particular subject, anyway. :)

The Two Things Meme, nicked from ivan_designer:
( Click for fun and a bit of TMI )

I have returned.

*bows to the crowd*

The NASCAR race experience (read: lots of fast cars, loud engines, obnoxious beer-drinking fans, and coronary-disease-inducing food) was freaking awesome omg.

The family visiting was great, too, but in less spectacular, more meaningful ways.

~*~

I survived my day at school, even though for some unknown reason, I was so tired I wanted to take a nap on my desk.

I didn't. :D

Now I'm home, after spending the day getting lessons/plans/things ready for my substitute tomorrow and Thursday. I'll be at a workshop for the next two days, so I'll be missing classes again. OMGYAY!! :)

Then Friday will come and go, and it'll be the weekend again. I'm hoping to get some work done on my novel for NaNoWriMo, since I slacked off last week due to all the excitement.

And next week is my last full week of classes. The week after is just 2 partial days where we are doing some state level testing, so those days will fly, and then it's 3 days off for Thanksgiving.
*tosses confetti*

After that is just three weeks to Christmas.

Ever feel like your life is going by at terminal velocity? Me, too. :)

Anyway, it's lovely to see you all. *smooches*