Books finished (3)
Anansi Boys - I finally made it through a Neil Gaiman book. Enjoyed it, but there were definite rough patches. Loved the first 3/4, got bogged down a bit around page 200. I think I liked the idea more than the actual story. Was surprised by the humor, though, I laughed out loud many, many times.
Heat - A good, but slow, read. I think it should have kept my attention more than it did, considering it was about cooking, and all.
Am about to start The Memory Keeper's Daughter for book club. The description sounds vaugely Oprah-esque, so I can't say I'm realllly looking forward to it, but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.
I am reading slowly this year.
Books finished (1)
Finished The Call of the Wild. I guess it's one of those books I should have read years ago, but somehow never did. For whatever reason, I find that I get more emotionally involved with animal characters in books that I ever do with human characters. So when, after being used and abused and beaten and bruised, Buck finds true love in John Thornton...I wanted to get out of chair and cheer. (Never mind John Thornton's eventual fate, I hadn't gotten that far yet.)
"But love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse. This man had saved his life, which was something; but, further, he was the ideal master....He had a way of taking Buck's head roughly between his hands, and resting his own head upon Buck's, of shaking him back and forth, the while calling him ill names that to Buck were love names. Buck knew no greater joy than that rough embrace and the sound of murmured oaths, and at each jerk back and forth it seemed that his heart would be shaken out of his body so great was his ecstasy."
I circled that passage while I was reading the book...and now it doesn't seem as powerful as it did when I read it. But when I was in the midst of the story, it almost made me cry. It just reminded me of that unconditional love that pets have for their owners, and why animals are so freaking awesome.
I'm still thinking of reading White Fang next, but first I have to do a quick re-read/scan of In Cold Blood. I read it years ago (Truman Capote is one of my all-time favorite writers, although In Cold Blood is not my favorite of his writings)...but it's the book my book club chose this month. Nothing says Happy New Year like a book about a multiple murder.
Ok, so I'm going to do my best to keep track of what I'm reading this year. I'm one of those readers who starts a million books but only finishes a portion of them, and I wish I wasn't like that, at least not quite as much as I am. So I'm sort of hoping that by listing what I'm reading here, it will give me a little impetus to actually get through the books. I'm going to number them, too, because I'm a Virgo.
1) Earthly Joys, Philippa Gregory - I mooched this book on Bookmooch. Yay for mooching! I just started it a couple of nights ago...go through the first couple of chapters, and then got distracted (by book number 2). However, the first couple of chapters were good, in that mindless, historical fiction kind of way. I really enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, so I will definitely go back to reading this one.
2) The Call of the Wild, Jack London - Saw it sitting on my shelf yesterday morning, and thought it would be a great book to read in the middle of January. Loving it so far, but I'm finding it a little emotionally wretching. I love animals, and the fact that some of these dogs die heartbreaking deaths is a little tough to read. But it's a great book, I can barely put it down. My volume includes White Fang, too, and I may read that next.
So I emailed the president this morning.
While I know that the chances that Dubya reads his emails are slim (well...actually the chances that he reads are slim) there's something very cathartic about putting down in writing what I actually think he's done to this country and sending it to him. To be honest, I never really knew that I could do that before.
Meanwhile, I can't get enough of Samhain 2005 lately. Which is a huge surprise since Samhain 2004 smelled like menthol coughdrops on me. Then again, I'm convinced that my skin chemistry has undergone a monumental change in the past few months...since the scents that I never used to be drawn to at all are all I want to wear lately. I'm constantly reaching for something "pretty". Ack.
ETA: Hmm. I think one of the cats deleted a bunch of emails from my Inbox. I should know better than to leave my Inbox open on my desktop.
ETA again: I love parsley. Recipe for a heavenly salad: baby greens, parsley & dill, chopped & mixed...and then tossed with lemon juice, freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
If I ever find myself independently wealthy I want to open a ranch like this:
Rolling Dog Ranch
And I want to spend my vacations renting properties like these:
Private Properties Abroad
Oh, and I've just finished reading a trashy 1940's novel called "Dragonwyck" and I'm trying to decide whether to go to bed tonight with John Steinbeck or Carl Jung. Carl Jung might be more fun, because he comes as a package with Joseph Campbell.
So, yeah...I can't figure out how to comment on blog entries. I am a simpleton.
I know people are writing interesting things in blogs all accross BPAL-land, and I can't reply to them.
So if some kind soul (who knows how to comment) could point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it.
Also - what's a trackback?
Scent of the day: Beltane (wishful thinking)
clover - proving yet again why the extent of her help during the forum downtime was "positive vibes!".
No work today, so I've been trying on a handful of scents.
Spent most of the day slathered in White Musk...so soft and gentle and sweet. It's like being hugged by my BPAL all day.
Then, about half an hour ago I decided I need to amp it up a bit - so I put on some Jolly Roger. Why do I love this scent so much? It would normally be everything I don't like in a scent - salty, aquatic, slightly masculine. And yet, I love it.
I wonder if it's because in the back of my mind I realllly want to like it so that I can get one of those cool skull-and-crossbones bottles?
A test post!
Dang, I need to think of a clever title. I just realized that clever looks a lot like clover.
Twilight Alchemy Lab click'n'ship - 3/21
Black Phoenix Trading Post click'n'ship - 3/22
Woohoo! Presumably the t.p. cns is for an ebay purchase.
Scent of the day: Dorian
Gotta go to work!
