Book 20

I am SO behind on this....

I'm on book 20 - The Secret of Lost Things - and there have been some really fun things, but I'm not going to go back and discuss 19 books unless 50 people ask me to, and fewer than that have even HEARD of this blog. So there.

The Secret of Lost Things starts with the funeral of the narrator's mother, so that's fun. It's a very different tone from the detective novels I've been reading and enjoying. Several were by Jon Talton, who wrote Concrete Desert. I like the series, but I've run through it now. Sad. OH - I just remembered there's a prequel. Happy! (I really did just remember - I'm not THAT cute, I swear).

We all know not to judge a book by its cover, but SLT has a picture of a stack of beautifully bound old books as its cover, so I already love it. I am a shallow, terrible person. The end.

Book 9

I finished Concrete Desert today, the first in a detective series by Jon Talton. I liked it - reminded me of Robert B. Parker a bit, who reminds me of Raymond Chandler (actually, Chandler reminded me of Parker when I read him, but chronologically I guess it should be the other way around).

I stopped at my favorite mystery bookstore today and poked around the used books corner. Paperbacks for $1 = love. I got a Robert B. Parker that's a standalone, All Our Yesterday's, and one of the Archie McNally mysteries. I need something that will take me two days to read, but not more than two days, since I leave for Japan soon! Would be kinda pointless to take a whole fourth book just so I could finish the last 50 pages. Not that I wouldn't give up clothes space for book, but when they start to fight with shoe space... I'm such a girl sometimes! :) I think I'll read the Archie McNally first, since it's short and I still have pack and do last minute errands, etc.

I love summer. Reading a novel in the middle of the day is the best feeling.

Book 8

Finished The Big Sleep after painting my nails blue. Choosing a book and a nail polish color are my biggest concerns this week. Lovely. Raymond Chandler was very fond of similes.

Next up is Concrete Desert, by Jon Talton. My parents know the author, which is cool. It's sort, so I should be able to finish it by Wednesday / before I leave for Japan.

I'm going with my family to see my Japanese relatives, whom I've never met, and to take my grandmother's ashes back. I'm sad that she's gone, but she was so sick at the end, it's also a release. It was clearly her time.

Japan also presents the issue of which books to take - several long flights to get there and back, and then about 10 days of the actual trip - not that I think I will have much time to read when I'm not airborne. I think I'm going to take A Game of Thrones, Sara's Key, and The Book of Air and Shadows. I also have some free things I downloaded to the Kindle app on my phone. Should last me a couple weeks ;)

Book 7

Finished The Darkest Road. Epic end to epic trilogy was epic. So much awesome I am incoherent.

I'm going on to The Big Sleep for book 7, because I think that's about as different as I can get in tone, and I need to settle after the glory that was Fionavar and the grandeur that was the trilogy.

;)

DONE

...with 2/3 years of law school! WOOOOOO!

Read an entire novel yesterday afternoon - it was great :) Dead in the Family

Still need to finish the Fionavar tapestry trilogy, but that was a little too heavy for the day after finals. After Fionavar, I may move on to The Ghost Orchid, which I bought yesterday with 33% off coupon from Borders as a present for myself for surviving the year.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!!

Supposed To

I am really supposed to be working a final paper for class. Really.

I am really supposed to be reading Darkest Road so I can finally move on in the 52 books project.

I am really supposed to be doing some sort of WORK right now.

Instead, I am blogging, sitting in a coffee shop with a friend with a stack of papers next to me (that I am hoping will spontaneously generate a memo for class). I have also been reading This Time I Dance! which I got from my aunt at Xmas. I was, I admit, pretty skeptical at first, since my strong, over-indulged inner cynic does NOT do self-help books, but I'm actually enjoying it. I skim the parts that get a little too...gush, but the story - Harvard Law grad / corporate lawyer turned writer and creativity guru - is reassuring and exactly what I need to hear (or read - let's be picky) right now.

I would like to use my JD (assuming I get it) to pursue some sort of community activism / grassroots movement / advocacy. Possibly in the Pacific Northwest. And write fiction. And sleep well, through the night, and wake up not exhausted.

So. I'm putting that out there.

And, having admitted that (and having locked my cynic in a broom closet while ignoring her strident protestations), I do feel better :)

Questions and Sun

I was asked today what feminism means to me. I will forgo a discussion about how unfair this question is, given that academics who spend their careers on this discussion have yet to come to a consensus. I think it means having a choice and being a given a chance, regardless of any labels whatsoever. Can you do this? Can you think about this? Are you capable?

I didn't read today, although I meant to. It was a beautiful day. I sat outside and talked with a friend, but I didn't read for school for for 52 books or anything else. The world is becoming beautiful again, and I love it. It does, however, make it difficult to concentrate or focus on anything other than the fact of sun on my face and wind playing with my dress. I wouldn't change a thing.