Bit by Bit

I’ve typed and deleted more than a handful of first sentences. It’s been one of those days in a string of the same, and my concentration is way off; right now, the only place that seems remotely comforting is dark and cold from being under a rock. Life keeps happening, as it is wont to do, and I try to keep pace with it, but that leads me to abandoned books, unarticulated thoughts, and the strong desire to just stop.

After getting the avalanche of library books last week, I’ve attempted to read four of them and found that I couldn’t. Not the right book for the time, I guess, but it’s a blow; I usually fall so easily into stories, my judgment isn’t usually so off when I select something to read. And I’ve done something even more odd: I’ve returned them. Without a second chance.

Right now I’m reading The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard, mostly because I have to; it’s a review book for a group I belong to and I’ve got a deadline. For once I’m not getting anything out of the reading experience.

Because it’s been so hard for me to buckle down and concentrate, I’m going to try something else I rarely do: read in increments. I’ve had a book for months now - highly recommended by my boss - that has been a bit too chunky to attempt in one sitting. So I figure I’ll put it on my nightstand and try to read at least one chapter a night; it might get my mind off things so that, finally, I can get solid sleep. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stick to it - I tend to be a read straight through kind of girl - but this may be just the thing to get my reading rhythm back. Anyway, the book is Sara Donati’s Into the Wilderness. There’s a connection to Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans though I’m not sure how much it relies on the classic story.

And, of course, three more titles came in for me at the library. Mostly urban fantasy, I’m hoping that even one can prompt me to read past the first few chapters.

This and That

I’m going nuts waiting for Graceling {an October YA release by Kristin Cashore.} Why? Because every time I run across the title it’s being discussed by someone who has read and loved it. The latest blog that has me tipping into must-have-Graceling-insanity is Bookshelves of Doom. Her post on the novel sent me into a Google spiral that turned up this: “Po is now vying alongside Marcus Flutie and Jacob Black for best boyfriend in YA fiction” {via Hip Librarians Book Blog.} Seriously? ‘Cause my love for Jacob Black is pretty well-known ’round here, and if Po even marginally compares, well…Someone give me this book now!!!

The weekend was filled with work {work/work and housework,} but my husband and I snagged a few moments to rewatch Hitman and caught this season’s first episode of Psych. Can I just say again that I love the way the score in Hitman compliments the action? It didn’t have the same pulse that it did in the theater, but with our home surround sound system it was still adrenaline pumping; Ave Maria continues to haunt me, as well, and watching the opening credits is never a chore. Last season set the standard for Psych, and Shawn and Gus continue to be incredibly entertaining. It never hurts to sit and relax for an hour with a fake psychic and his best friend, right?

My boss was telling me about an area library’s upcoming program on Steampunk art. He forwarded the email to me and I immediately went to the website mentioned - The Steampunk Workshop. If, like me, you find this stuff fascinating you may want to head over there.

I’ve discovered Canada Dry’s Ginger Ale Green Tea. There’s no going back now.

Batman - The Dark Knight

Last night, in a theater buzzing with anticipation, my small group grabbed a rare seat to catch the new Batman movie. And when the theater let out, after a round of applause, we were all silent. Trust me: That was a good thing.

Batman has always been a complicated character, right? And his intensity ratcheted up in the Dark Knight. So, I’ll start there, with Batman and Bale. Prior to seeing the film, I read a review in which the point of view was that Bale’s Batman was too dark, too brooding; I sat shaking my head as I read that. Let me just admit upfront that I’ve loved Bale since he starred in Newsies; to me he was something special even back then, and his rise with his latest roles has only proven his talent, skill, and dedication. To me - and I know that there are those who would argue with this, but - there is no other Batman. I’ve seen all the others: Keaton, Kilmer, Clooney - and not one can compare. But Bale’s performance in Dark Knight was stunning, and considering that he takes a back seat in many ways to some of the others, he brilliantly presented a complicated hero who suffered in his decisions and struggled with his actions. This film gave me a whole new appreciation for Batman.

Heath Ledger. All of the buzz his performance got? Absolutely deserved. At times it was hard to separate the actor from the character; he slipped into the Joker’s skin entirely which resulted in an insanely maniacal performance that walked an odd line between gruesome and hilarious. And it was subtle. I wasn’t prepared for that. I won’t say more though {and I want to, trust me, but there’s no way I’m spoiling certain aspects of his performance for those who’ve yet to see the film.}

I was really impressed with Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent, and the “supporting” cast of Caine, Oldman, and Freeman were equally and respectively wonderful, as well.

The other thing about the Dark Knight was that, despite the fact that it’s shot a bit more in the light than Batman Begins, it comes across as a grittier film. So many questions, so many arguments regarding morality and ethics, and they all spill across the Gotham city landscape; Nolan really asks us to question whether the light is truly any better, any safer, than the dark.

I guess to end this post it bears repeating: This film gave me a whole new appreciation for Batman.

Flower for the Day

I was reading Nothing of Importance and saw her mention of Lens Day; the theme for the week is flowers, and I had one that I thought I’d put up here. I took it on my honeymoon {during the Charleston half of the trip.} Click to enlarge.

Tribute ~ Nora Roberts

Cilla McGowan was a talented child star living in the shadow of her famous grandmother, Janet Hardy. That, however, was long ago, and Cilla is looking forward to putting it even farther in her past. She wants to start fresh and she sees rehabbing her grandmother’s “Little Farm” as the means to do just that. Little does she know that showing up in town means inflaming old grudges and resentments, and that threats and violence will dog her every move.

Very rarely do I feel the need to defend my reading selections, but Nora, despite the fact that she’s become a comfort author for me, provokes that response. {I can trace the reason why back to when I first began working at my library. A co-worker saw one of Roberts’ books sitting on the hold shelf for me, and presumed it was a mistake. She thought I only read “high-brow” stuff. It bugged me, that thought, and immediately put my back up. Obviously I’ve never forgotten the remark and apparently I’ll forever get defensive when I’ve got a Nora Roberts novel tucked securely in my hands.} This time, though, I had to laugh; the feathers were smoothed a bit by a completely random blurb on the back:

“Nora Roberts is cool.” - Stephen King

Does King somehow legitimize her work by saying she’s cool? {Not that she needs it, mind you.} I don’t know, but it made me chuckle, and for whatever reason it soothed ruffled feathers.

And you’ve got to give Roberts credit - even when she doesn’t have the best plot, she still pulls it off. This time around the story itself wasn’t quite up to the standard set by some of her others; the pacing was a bit slow, the longer page count made it seem like there should have been a bit more depth or even suspense, and it just didn’t have the feel of some of her other novels. All that said, I still loved the characters, especially Ford. Ford Sawyer, love interest and graphic novelist, had laid-back Southern charm down to a science. The chemistry between him and Cilla may not have sparked like a live wire off the page the way Eve and Roarke’s does, but it was a solid, believable relationship, one you wanted to see resolve happily. And, yeah, I liked all of the graphic novel/comic talk; there were a ton of references in there that made me smile.

I’m plugging Tribute into the What an Animal Challenge because of Spock, an adorable dog of indecipherable breed that becomes quite the hero. He’s in nearly every scene being all cute and going to war with imaginary cats; how can you not love a dog that has to “shake” with every new person he meets?

So this one can now be returned to the library to begin fulfilling those 100-something holds and I can check it off my list. It got me out of a bit of a rut {even if I’ve since fallen back into it} and the hours spent reading it were well spent.

What an Animal Challenge

Hosted by Passion for the Page, the What an Animal challenge is one animal challenge I think I can manage! {I’ll easily fess up to the fact that usually books that revolve around animals make me cry like a baby; because they unsettle me so I tend to avoid them. (I’m pretty sure Where the Red Fern Grows left permanent scars.)} But since this one includes imaginary animals in the rules, well, I’m all set. So…

The rules are simple:
1. Read at least 6 books that have any of these requirements:
a. an animal in the title of the book
b. an animal on the cover of the book
c. an animal that plays a major role in the book
d. a main character that is or turns into an animal (define that however you’d like ;>)).
2. The animal can be any type of animal (real or fictitious)–dog, cat, monkey, wolf, snake, insect, hedgehog, aardvark…dragons, mermaids, centaurs, fairies, vampires…you get the idea…
3. Challenge runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. You can still sign up after July 1st as long as you can get 6 books read by June 30th ;>).
4. Books can be fiction or nonfiction.
5. You may make a list of books at the beginning of the challenge or just list them as you find them.
6. Books may be swapped out at anytime (assuming you made a list to begin with).
7. Crossover books with other challenges is permitted and encouraged.

I’m not going to make a list up - when do I ever stick to it, anyway? - but I’ll plug in six titles as I go along.

When It Rains…

It most definitely pours. Books, that is. Library ones to be even more specific.

With the house still being a work in progress finding time to read has been more than a challenge. In fact, any and all reading pursuits have come to a halt. {It took me far too long - way longer than it normally would have - to read Nightlife, and I’ve not picked up a book since. Well, at least not one that wasn’t heading in to or out of a box.} So wouldn’t it just figure that today I had seven books on my desk when I got to work this morning. And there’s not one in the bunch that I haven’t been really looking forward to reading. Here’s what I’ve got:

• Poison Ink {Christopher Golden}
• Eternal {V.K. Forrest}
• Tribute {Nora Roberts}
• The Explosionist {Jenny Davidson}
• The Otherworldlies {Jennifer Anne Kogler}
• The Summoning {Kelley Armstrong}
• Death Angel {Linda Howard}

And, of course, what makes it worse is that the majority of these titles have hold lists. Tribute, for instance, has 125 holds on it, and because of that fact it will most likely be the first book to get read. When you have no down time to speak of seven books suddenly becomes daunting {normally I’d relish having so many to look forward to.} Looks like I’m going to have to get up early and go to bed late to get even a couple read.

I need a day off.

Weekly Geek & Feeding my SPN Addiction

“This week’s Weekly Geeks theme is to talk about the magazines we read.” This is the first time I’ve participated in any of Dewey’s Weekly Geek weeks, but it provided me with an opportunity to talk about my withdrawal, so…

1. Name of magazine.
Supernatural Magazine

2. Do you subscribe or just buy it now and then?
Subscribe {if I missed an issue I would be soooo mad!} And besides, what kind of fan girl would I be if I didn’t subscribe?

3. What’s your favorite regular feature in the magazine?
Besides the pictures? Well, I love reading Erik’s column; as creator of the show, he takes questions and often provides hints about what’s to come in his answers. Also, there’s a part at the back - Ask the Winchesters, or something like that - that always manages to crack me up.

4. What do you think your interest in this magazine says about you?
Ah, that I’m totally obsessed?

5. How long have you been reading this magazine?
Since the first issue was released last year.

6. Is there any unique or quirky aspect to the magazine that keeps you reading?
I’d keep reading no matter what, really. This show makes me happy on a level that’s hard to explain; as a by-product, stuff like this can pick me up when I’m not feeling so great.

I read a few other magazines, as well, though I don’t subscribe to them: Somerset Studio {Iliana got me hooked on this one!} and PiQ. Oh, and Carl has me searching out copies of Hi-Fructose {so far I’ve only run across one store in my area that sporadically carries this magazine.} My husband and I pick up a bunch of magazines whenever we travel and on occasion you’ll find a Lucky or InStyle in the mix, but they’re more for mindless browsing, you know?

I certainly don’t want to rush the summer, but not only is Autumn my favorite season, it means that new episodes of Supernatural aren’t far away. And I’m going insane waiting on the new season. Several spoilers across the net have me completely worried about the change my favorite character {Dean} is going to have gone through; I’ve even read that his time in Hell will have seriously tampered with the bond he and Sam share, and that is beyond so not good. There are no words for how awful that would be.

But while I wait and worry, I’ll have to rely on the stack of episodes I have in iTunes {and all of season 3, which I refuse to erase from our DVR,} the books, and the release of season 3 on dvd to get my Winchester fix.

And speaking of the books…John Winchester’s Journal is being published! Not until February of 2009, mind you, but still! The Warner Bros. Supernatural website allows you to browse a few pages of Daddy Winchester’s journal, and, well, let me share one of my favorite passages: I haven’t let them out of my sight since the fire. Dean still hardly talks. I try to make small talk, or ask him if he wants to throw the baseball around. Anything to make him feel like a normal kid again. He never budges from my side - or from his brother. Every morning I wake up, Dean is inside the crib, arms wrapped around baby Sam. Like he’s trying to protect him from whatever is out there in the night.
It says so much about the brothers, about Dean’s insane need to protect Sam, and…You get the point.

Nightlife ~ Rob Thurman

Welcome to the Big Apple. There’s a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side-and that’s only the beginning. Of course, most humans are oblivious to the preternatural nightlife around them, but Cal Leandros is only half-human.

His father’s dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares-and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal. Why? Cal hasn’t exactly wanted to stick around long enough to find out.

He and his half-brother Niko have managed to stay a step ahead for three years, but now Cal’s dad has found them again. And Cal is about to learn why they want him, why they’ve always wanted him…for he is the key to unleashing their hell on earth. The fate of the human world will be decided in the fight of Cal’s life…

Cal and Nik Leandros have definitely joined the ranks of Sam/Dean and Harry/Thomas. As I said in a previous post, the devotion poured off early pages, and it just kept getting better and better; even if I wasn’t enamored of the story line – though I was, no mistake there – the brothers would have brought me back and kept me reading. And, for all that Cal wonders about his humanity, I think that he had some of the most compellingly human reactions to situations he found himself in. Cal’s voice was strong and developed; his personality was unshakable in a way in which you know the author knew who he was as she was writing.

Cal and Nik’s relationship was the draw for me, but there’s a lot to enjoy in this first outing: boggles, evil elves (auphes,) and Robin Goodfellow. There’s plenty of snark, a ton of action, and a whole lot of atmosphere. Plus, it’s graced with a Chris McGrath cover (though, admittedly, I like the one for Moonshine even better.)

I’ve got the next book in the series, Moonshine, waiting for me, but I’m not going to jump into it right away. I’ve been going through series too quickly this year. But I will return before too long to Cal and Nik’s New York, and I’ve no doubt I’ll enjoy it.

Nothing much…

Hope everyone had a wonderful fourth {and weekend!}

Mine wasn’t really conducive to reading, so I’m still {happily} chugging along in Nightlife {getting nearer to the end now.} My course is running major interference and more then a few hours this weekend were absorbed into my latest assignment. Plus, we had a birthday party to attend, and ran a crazy number of errands, gathering up stuff for the new house. And speaking of…

That’s where we planted ourselves Friday evening and most of Saturday. It’s actually starting to look as though someone is living in the space. My library/office is almost done; just about all of my books are on shelves, things are starting to go up on the walls, and my husband just made some additional shelves for me last night. {I found out that there is definitely a reason why safety goggles are rather firmly suggested, and that sawdust smells so burnt it has the power to set off smoke alarms. And all that aside, the shelves look so good and fancy, and I can’t wait for them to get painted and put up on the lovely brackets I found here and there.} Plus, I found the coolest light! Wait till you see! {Pictures forthcoming.}

If this assignment can get put to bed soon, I should be able to tuck into Nightlife tonight and finish it off. Which means a full report will be on its way tomorrow.