Hectic Week?!?!?

I have sent my family off this morning so this afternoon (now that I am done with work) I am settling down to a much deserved bubble bath and I am going to finish Every Which Way But Dead. So far, it has been highly entertaining, but there is so much crammed into this book, I am having a hard time keeping it straight. My sister has organized my bookshelfs, now in alphabetical order. I even have a spot in the hardbacks with a note indicating it is reserved for Harry Potter #6. Now I'm off to get a snack and get back to that book!

Cool down in Texas heat with...

Ever thought about reading a "winter" mystery during the hot, hot blaze of a Texas summer? Well, I didn't until M. brought a new book to my attention. It's a novel idea, don't you think? What better way to cool down then to think SNOW. Like the old movie, Holiday Inn, I'm singing off-key in my head "snow, snow, snow..." but I'm not getting any cooler.

In the fifth installment of the Emma Fielding series the archaeologist-turned-sleuth (isn't that an interesting career shift?) finds herself knee deep in snow and trouble during an archaeological conference when her esteemed colleague. Professor Garrison, is found dead on the iced-over lake at the New Hampshire hotel. Did she kill off her boss or did someone else have a grudge against her peer?

You'll have to read MORE BITTER THAN DEATH to find out.

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

This says it all. Comments?

HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE :: Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Holiday Weekend with the family or not too much time for reading...

You know, sometimes you just don't have a subtitle for a day's topic and today my problem is I haven't anything really exciting to share.

Memorial Day weekend was spent with the family -- I went to a funeral during the rain on Saturday, very appropriate weather I guess. It wasn't bad because I never met the woman and it seems odd to meet at a funeral, but, it was important to go, so we went. Enough said, although I've never heard so much Willie Nelson before. So my reading for this part of the day consisted of finding the funeral home, reading the mapquest instructions and road signs. We did make it safely and in time for the event and didn't get lost leaving. Two big pluses in my book.

Then we traveled through a heavy North Texas down pour from Arlington to Richardson to meet the kiddos at the VW dealer. G wants a car by the end of summer, so she needed some impetus to save the money. Very interesting shopping for a car in a torrential rainstorm. I did get to read the marketing brochures for Jettas and Passats so didn't totally waste my time. Another plus, the salesman had tootsie rolls, I'm a pushover for a tootsie roll.

Off to get some supplies for Memorial Day celebrations -- we found humongous (not a word I'm sure) hamburger patties at Sam's Club and some vegetarian treats (very large mushrooms which the men called by a not-so-nice name) for our little veggie. Sunday was the big grill day. Since it was still raining and T had to go into the office, we ate out and I read 1)the menu, 2)the signage, and 3)other people's t-shirts. What can I say, I'm compulsive.

Later that night (Saturday) I did get a chance after moaning over the loss of my server and sending frantic email messages to support, a calming book. I chose -- Mennonite Community Cookbook. For some reason, the family insists I make potato salad the old fashion way, with mayonnaise from scratch. So I lost myself in "the book." I have two copies of "the book," one my grandmother gave me in 1970 for my sixteenth birthday -- see you figure out the math -- and one I purchased in the 80s after Gwen was born. I knew I'd have to have one for each child. This is the ONLY cookbook I need to survive. And the recipe for potato salad with dressing is the very very best. Actually, I combine it with the one for macaroni salad since we like it a little sweet but with lots of mustard. The other problem is as with all the recipes in "the book" you can't cut it down and it is for a family of eight, so we'll be eating potato salad all week.

Moving on, so this isn't a terribly long ordeal, we saw Star Wars Episode III on Sunday, watched the final episodes of Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, Lost and the latest Good Eats. What can I say, we're slow and we love our TiVo. The Star Wars wasn't the best in my opinion, I really didn't feel the motivation for Anakin to go bad, or Padma to just give up life. It was really nothing more than flashy special effects. I did like rewatching Episode IV and V, better character and story development. I am glad I didn't see it with the BIG crowds on opening weekend, it was full enough in a smallish theatre on a Sunday afternoon.


I finally had a chance to re-read Goodnight, Sweetheart by Suzanne Simmons on Monday night. I needed something soothing and romantic after watching the remake of Texas Chainsaw massacre complete with commentary from Miss G late Sunday night. I knew there was a reason I really didn't like slasher movies and I don't really care if the original was a ground breaking production, or what props and features were from the original or how the effects were done. It was just over the top and I can understand why it's banned in the UK. On the other hand, Eric and Sydney's story of finding love in a small town in Indiana and uncovering a romantic old secret was a soothing read that settled me into a sound sleep.

So, there you have it, boring but true -- Memorial Weekend 2005.

Weekly reading update

Well in electronic format, I'm a little more then halfway through Loki's Sin by Saje Williams. This book is really intriguing and I'm wishing I could just sit and read non stop till I finish it. LOL

In audio I finished up Face the Fire by Nora Roberts and am about 3 or 4 tapes in to Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati. It's still early on, but I'm not enjoying this one as much as I liked the first one. And the author sure seems to like quests through the wilderness as both books have had those. There were a couple big journeys in the first one and so far two big ones in this book. It gets kinda old after a while.

In paper I finished The Moon Witch by Linda Winstead Jones, the second in her Fyne Sisters trilogy. I had seen several reviews that said they found this book boring compared tot he first one but I liked it better... probably because of the shape shifter aspect in the plot here. There were several plots left hanging though that I'm sure hoping are tied up nicely in the third book that is due out in December I think.

I'm presently reading Carved in Stone by Vickie Taylor and it's a new plot line. It's a about a shapeshifter, but the difference here is he is a gargoyle. A race of immortals cursed 2000 years ago to protect the innocent from evil as "guardians" to humans. The guardian aspect of their personality is the gargoyle, and they are all different types of gargoyles (I.e.. cat, bird, hog, serpent, etc) It looks like from the plot so far that one of their own, or more, have gone rogue and are causing all kinds of problems for the humans and gargoyles alike. But it's still too soon to tell if that's the case. I'm enjoying it though for its differences.

working no time for reading?

We're in the middle (or hopefully) the end of upgrading our server. The processor never seems to be as straightforward as advertised, so instead of reading good fiction, I've been reading manuals, FAQs, and other not-quite-so-interesting technical briefs.