I wish I had said that

Sunday night at book club, we realized that only 2 or 3 of us would be able to attend our June meeting. So, we decided to skip a month and read a longer book: Shadow Country by Peter Mathiessen, 892 pages.

I don't know about you, but I have to read all the blurbs on a book before I can begin reading a book. I knew that Shadow Country won the National Book Award last year; and, I wasn't surprised that the blurbs were all raves. However, I was surprised by the sheer number of them and by the high level of the praise. If this book lives up to its blurbs, I will be in book club heaven--two great books in a row!

My favorite blurb:

"The book took my sleeve and like the ancient mariner would not let go."--Los Angeles Times

Man, I really wish I could think of things like that to say about the books that I read. Actually, I wish more books that I read enthralled me like the mariner's story does the wedding guest. Here's hoping Shadow Country does not disappoint.

Since I last blogged

Geez, I can't believe how long it has been since I posted here. It's not like I haven't had anything to post about. Valerie and I moved to a new apartment--much smaller but much, much nicer. I requested a transfer to a high school library--still angry that someone who didn't want the transfer is being forced to take the position instead of giving it to one of the two of us who did want it. I started Twitter-ing. I have read some really good YA books and one really great book club book.

First the book club book: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - I really loved this book. It is obviously reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger in that Balram, the main character, is confessing to and rationalizing a murder that he has gotten away with committing. However, I don't remember The Stranger as being the least bit funny. Adiga's book, on the other hand, made me laugh out loud more than once. Here are two of my favorite passages:

• "These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid, cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about things they have no say in." - Isn't that the perfect description for our election years, perhaps for any country's election years?
  
• Balram asks a bookseller, "So how do you sell books without knowing English?" To which the bookseller replies, "I know which book is what from the cover...I know this one is Harry Potter...I know this one is James Hadley Chase...This is Kahlil Gibran--this is Adolf Hitler--Desmond Bagley--The Joy of Sex. One time the publishers changed the Hitler cover so it looked like Harry Potter, and life was for a week after that." - I'm sure that someone who bought what they thought was Harry Potter would be outraged to have recieved a Hitler book instead, but I thought this idea was terrifically funny.

The effects of rampant illiteracy is one of the big ideas in this book, so I wasn't surprised to find some good book quotes. I'm always on the lookout for those. Balram tells the bookseller, "I just want to stand around the books. I had a book once. When I was a boy." I know some people do not have books and some do not want books, but the thought of someone wanting books and not having them is one of the saddest things I can think of. Another book quote that I liked is this one: "Strange thoughts brew in your heart when you spend too much time with old books." This quote makes me think of Frankenstein's reading of his father's outdated science books and deciding to build a human, and we all know (even those of us who never read the book) the horrible outcome of that reading. For one more book quote, check out my right sidebar.

The three great YA books that I read recently are Ash by Malinda Lo, which doesn't come out until September, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I will post reviews of these at my work blog as soon as possible and will either link to them from here or post them here too.

Now, I need to get off here and get moving. Valerie and I want to finish hanging things today and do our grocery shopping before going to book club tonight. Enjoy your Sunday!

Spring Break Reading

I finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson on Saturday. It's not a perfect mystery/thriller, but I found it to be very engaging. I'm a slow reader, but if I had been able to just sit and read without interruptions, I could probably have read the book in just a few days, maybe even one or two. There were a few places where I thought the story dragged, but most of those places consisted of background information about the Vanger family or the Swedish financial markets/economy. The mystery involves the niece of an elderly Swedish industrialist, retired from heading his family's business. Harriet Vanger went missing when she was sixteen, and her uncle Henrik convinces a convicted libelist to make one last ditch effort to find out what happened to her before Henrik dies. Eventually, the journalist Mikael Blomqvist hooks up (in more ways than one) with Lisbeth Salander, a hacker who had done a background check on him for Henrik Vanger. She ends up helping him solve the mystery and saving his life along the way.

In addition to being a mystery, this novel is also trying to make a statement about the number of women who are violently abused in Sweden. Each section of the book is introduced with a statistic about the subject. In the end, I'm not sure the novel does anything more than make the reader aware of how horribly women can and are abused in Sweden.

The novel was written before the author passed away in 2004, but Larsson seems to have predicted some of the current economic events that we have been witnessing for the last couple of years. Late in the novel, after a major financial player has been exposed as a fraud, Blomqvist discusses the Swedish economy, but he could be discussing the American economy or any other economy that is market driven:

"You have to distinguish between two things--the Swedish economy and the Swedish stock market. The Swedish economy is the sum of all the goods and services that are produced in this country every day. There are telephones from Ericsson, cars from Volvo, chickens from Scan, and shipments from Kiruna to Skovde. That's the Swedish economy, and it's just as strong or weak today as it was a week ago...The Swedish Exchange is something very different. There is no economy and no production of goods and services. There are only fantasies in which people from one hour to the next decide that this or that company is worth so many billions, more or less. It doesn't have a thing to do with reality or with the Swedish economy."

If only the latter didn't affect the former so much these days, we would all probably be much better off.

Something about this book made me think of the Sidney Sheldon books that I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, as a teenager and young adult. It's been too long for me to remember enough details to make a real comparison, but I recall that there was some kind of mystery/crime to be solved. If I remember correctly, though, the main female characters usually ended up happier than the Salander does in this novel. Still, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes crime novels.

More Spring Break Reading

• On Sunday, I read Mary Oliver's introduction to The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. (I like the Modern Library Classics editions.) I don't know if I read something about this book recently, but I have been wanting to read it ever since I finished War & Peace. Before I purchased the book and read the introduction, I had forgotten that one of my favorite Advanced Placement essays required an analysis of a passage from this novel. Maybe I will post about the passage when I get to it in the novel.
• I started The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean yesterday and read a bit more early this morning. It's my book club's current selection, and I think it will be a quick read. So far, it's interesting, but I'm not completely hooked. The story is about a Russian emigre with Alzheimer's. She clearly remembers evacuating the art from the Hermitage in Leningrad during World War II, but she can't remember much present information from one moment to the next.
• This morning, after I read more of The Madonnas of Leningrad, I read the introduction to George Eliot's Middlemarch, another Modern Library Classics edition. The introduction was written by A.S. Byatt. I have wanted to read Middlemarch for a long time, but I am such a slow reader that I often postpone starting such long books, 799 pages in this copy. However, after reading Byatt's introduction, I don't think I can put it off much longer.
• Finally, this morning, I read "The Sisters," the first story in James Joyce's Dubliners, which I have never read. I have read the story "Araby" and maybe "The Dead" before, but I don't think I have read any of the other stories before today. I have a Vintage International edition, which doesn't have an introduction, so I just jumped right in to the first story.
• This afternoon, UPS delivered my latest LibraryThing Early Reviewers book, Easter Parade by Richard Yates, which brings to three the number of books that I have from this program waiting to be read and reviewed. I still need to read Etta by Gerald Kolpan, which just came out today, and Rocket Man by William Elliot Hazelgrove.
  

I had actually thought that April would be my read and review month, but now, I'm all excited about reading some classics and Valerie and I are moving to a new apartment in a few weeks. Oh well, I'm sure I will figure something out. Now, I'm going to read for a while before I go to bed.

Sunday Morning Reader Reading

I am enjoying this Sunday morning, sitting on the patio (which I will probably not have much longer but that's a story for another post), getting caught up on my Google Reader reading. In a post from March 2 (I really am behind on my Reader reading), Malinda Lo wrote about Daily Routines, a blog that she recently discovered. According to it's tagline, the blog is about "How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days." I haven't read through much of the blog yet, but Lo's post included a her favorite description, which is from Toni Morrison, my favorite author:

“Recently I was talking to a writer who described something she did whenever she moved to her writing table. I don’t remember exactly what the gesture was–there is something on her desk that she touches before she hits the computer keyboard–but we began to talk about little rituals that one goes through before beginning to write. I, at first, thought I didn’t have a ritual, but then I remembered that I always get up and make a cup of coffee and watch the light come. And she said, Well, that’s a ritual. And I realized that for me this ritual comprises my preparation to enter a space I can only call nonsecular… Writers all devise ways to approach that place where they expect to make the contact, where they become the conduit, or where they engage in this mysterious process. For me, light is the signal in the transaction. It’s not being in the light, it’s being there before it arrives. It enables me, in some sense."

Beautifully said! Morrison never ceases to impress me. I just had to share that very quickly. Now, back to my Reader reading.

Quick Early Morning Post

I finished War & Peace on Sunday, and I have things to say about it but no time now. I will probably post something later this week or this weekend. Yesterday, I finished my book club's current selection, Towelhead, but I will wait to post about it until after our meeting on Sunday. I'm really curious to see how other members reacted to this book. At work yesterday, I started reading a YA book called Boy Minus Girl. I actually checked this on out at the public library to see if it's appropriate for junior high students.

Last night, I started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I was tired and didn't read very much, the prologue and part of the first chapter. Valerie will be out of town Thursday and Friday, so I will probably do a bunch of reading then. I will read unless I get sucked into watching Olberman and Maddow and/or playing mindless computer games, which I have a tendency to do sometimes even when she is here.

Now, it's time to go to work.

Reading Now

If you look at my right sidebar, you will see that three books are tagged as "Currently Reading" in my LibraryThing catalog, but I am really only reading one book right now. I have set February 28 as my deadline for finishing (finally!) War and Peace. I am currently just past page 800, which means that I have just over 400 pages left to go. I will meet this deadline!

The past two days and tomorrow at work students are taking TAKS practice tests, and my duty in the mornings is relief hall monitor--I have to relieve the hall monitors who make sure only one student goes into the bathroom at a time. In the afternoon, my duty is to monitor testers who did not finish the test in the morning. Both duties lend themselves to getting a bit of reading done, and I have taken advantage of the opportunity. I will meet this deadline!

Another factor: Valerie is going out of town next Wednesday and won't return until Sunday, so I will be able to concentrate on reading for the last four days of the month. She is such a distraction when she is here. ;-)

I will meet the deadline! And then I will immediately begin Towelhead, the current book club selection. I read the first few pages after I bought the book, and I think it will be a fast read. I hope so, since I am leaving myself just two week to get that read. After that, I have decided that I am going to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am in the mood for a mystery.

And about that other "currently reading" book, The Warrior Queens, I will work it in here and there and will eventually finish it.

Hemingway is finshed

My boredom with For Whom the Bell Tolls didn't last long. I read for a long time yesterday and finished this morning. I'm still not sure if I "liked" the book, but I do feel like I read something important, something very good. The last 50-100 pages were surprisingly very intense too. I definitely think this is a much better book than Garden of Eden, which I read last summer and didn't like very much. Reading For Whom the Bell Tolls made me want to read A Farewell to Arms or read (actually I have listened to it on tape) The Sun Also Rises, so that I could make some kind of comparison.

Classics are supposed to be works that remain relevant, and this book is no exceptions. Passages like this one speak to today's world as much as it speaks about the Spanish Civil War: "To kill them teaches nothing...You cannot exterminate them because from their seed comes more with greater hatred. Prison is nothing. Prison only makes hatred." -- This statement explains why I am not the least bit surprised that so many ex-cons end up back in jail or that someone released from a place like Guantanamo would return to fight against America.

I don't generally read biographies, but I think I might like to read about Hemingway, especially his attitude toward war. I feel like this book shows that he was rather cynical about war. Of course, he was part of the "lost generation" so his disillusionment shouldn't come as a surprise to me. Still, I might like to read some of his letters or a good biography.

Okay, that's enough for tonight. I'm going to watch some TV now. Later.

The Hemingway excitement wanes

Last month, when we chose For Whom the Bell Tolls for our next book club read, I was very excited because I like classics and this was one that I had never read but always meant to. Plus, despite occasional classic options, our book club hadn't selected one in its year and a half of existence. Most of the members who were present at the meeting seemed genuinely excited about reading a classic.

For the first 50-100 pages of the novel, I was still excited to read this book. I was drawn into the story and anxious to see what would happen next. Now, however, I have become bored with the story. Hopefully, it's just a short slump--I'm only on page 137--I'm going to spend some concentrated time reading today, and I plan to not watch very much TV this week. The book is almost 500 pages and with my slow reading, I will need all week to finish unless the pace picks back up and stays on a fast-moving course.

In other reading news, I still need to read the last half of War & Peace and can't wait to find time to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and 2666, which are both chunky books. I'm going to start one of them as soon as I finish Hemingway, regardless of what the next book club selections is.

Now, though, I am going to read for at least an hour, until time to head out to a Super Bowl party.

A Great Day for America

I think that I have smiled almost non-stop today. It was a very exciting day at work. As soon as I got there, I started trying to get our school TV system set up to show live coverage of the inauguration. I was absolutely elated when I finally made it work with less than an hour to go before the oath and speech. I really felt like all students should be able to see this historic event as it happened. I know this may sound corny, but I felt like it was my duty to try to make it happen for the students at my school. And I loved all the talk from teachers and students about it.

I watched the speech live and again this afternoon on a special report from Channel One. Actually, I also heard some of it two more times while I did a little library work this afternoon--yes, today was not a very productive day for me. Tonight, Valerie and I are watching the coverage on MSNBC and plan to watch The Daily Show later, and I plan to watch Colbert Report too. It's like election night and the night after all over again. :-)

Speaking of Obama's speech, I thought it was awesome!!! Here are a few of my favorite passages:

• On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
• The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
  
• At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

I also enjoyed Elizabeth Alexander's poem and Joseph Lowery's benediction. Maybe I'll write about them later. All in all, I feel like I don't have to be so cynical and pessimistic about our government anymore. I truly feel more hopeful!

Books vs. Music

I have very specific and sophisticated taste in books. I can easily spend a $25.00 bookstore gift card. My biggest problem in a book store is deciding what not to buy as opposed to what to buy. I would never feel insecure about talking about the books I read. Actually, I can be rather superior about my taste in books, and it is sometimes difficult for me to refrain from showing my scorn about books that I feel are trash.

Music is another story completely. I have never felt that I had good taste in music. I spent my teenage years and early twenties listening to New Wave, pop, and rock--MTV years--and my thirties listening to hip hop and R&B. Now, I listen to a lot of the music from those earlier decades of my life and a few newer people that I have discovered from various sources, such as from Valerie, from the Houston Women's Festival music lineup, from iTunes commercials, and from TV/movie soundtracks.

Before my birthday, I had an old iPod 1G Nano that holds just over 200 songs as long as nothing else is on it. I had to make tough choices about what to put on it and take off of it when I got bored with my playlist or bought new music. I no longer have that problem.

For my birthday, Valerie gave me a new 8G iPod Nano, a bright orange one. It was a great surprise! I never expected her to give me an iPod for my birthday. And now, I can put so much more music on it and put things other than music on it. As a matter of fact, I put all the music from my iTunes library on it, and it isn't even half full--obviously, I have a very small library. I haven't had time yet to add much to my library to see how much it will hold either.

For Christmas, my older sister gave me a $25.00 iTunes gift card, and I had a lot of trouble today deciding what to buy with it. Well, actually, I had an easy time deciding on one album. I have been wanting a Nina Simone album for a while now, so I knew I was going to get one. The second album presented a much harder decision. I wanted to buy something "good." After looking at some best of 2008 lists and listening to some snippets of some songs, I settled on Coldplay's Vida La Vida. I already had the one song that had been on the iTunes commericial. Hopefully, I will like both of these albums.

Now, I need to get ready for New Year's Eve festivities. Later.

Healthier Thoughts

Last Monday, I turned 45. For a couple of months leading up to my birthday, I had been thinking about how unhealthy I am and how I would like to be much healthier when I turn 50. Yes, I know that's five years away, which gives me time to procrastinate, something I am very accomplished at doing, but I wasn't thinking about putting it off. I was thinking that I need to make changes now to be healthier in the near future as well as five years from now. And, I'm not just talking about losing weight, which I definitely need to do. I generally don't do new year's resolutions, and I'm not making this a resolution. I'm not sure why I have suddenly decided that I can't put my health needs off any longer, but I kind of feel desperate about it.

I've also been thinking a lot about menopause, which I feel very ignorant about, but I resist becoming intelligent about because it is an undeniable indicator of aging. I have a real problem with the idea of myself becoming an old woman. Also, I don't have any close friends near my age that I feel like I can talk to about it. Today, Allison Bechdel blogged about The Wisdom of Menopause, a book that she is reading. She's about three years older than me, so I was very interested in what she had to say about the book. She gave high praises to the book, so I looked at the reviews on Amazon. However, I can't decide if I would/should read this book or not. I'm not at all into New Age-y kinds of things and several reviewers complained about that aspect of the book. I do feel like I need to be more informed though, so maybe I will check it out from the library.

For now, I should be get my lazy butt up off the couch and do something active today. Later.

Bad Baking

I have been talking about baking pumpkin muffins for a couple of weeks. I decided last night that tonight was the night. I made sure that I had all the necessary ingredients, or so I thought. After adding the dry ingredients to the batter, I noticed that it was more watery than usual. I have made these muffins many times before, so I knew something wasn't quite right. The batter tasted okay, but it didn't thicken like it should have. I went back over the recipe to see if I missed something or if I had put in too much of something, but I didn't. I thought I would cook them for the required amount of time and see what happened, but I wasn't optimistic.

When the timer went off, I pulled the pan out of the oven. What a mess! It looked like the batter had merely boiled in the pan. I think Valerie thought that I must have put too much water in the batter, but I reviewed the recipe and knew that I had measured all ingredients correctly. The only difference I could point out is that I now use eggs from cage-free hens but different eggs shouldn't affect the thickness of a batter. Then I had another thought: the only ingredient that I wasn't mine or bought recently was the flour . It was some that Valerie had in a plastic canister--needless to say, we don't do a lot of baking--at her old apartment, and we've been here for a year. Still, I doubted that the kind of flour could make a difference, but if it wasn't flour in the canister, it would make a big difference. I opened the flour and stuck my finger in it. It was sweet. I tasted it again, and I knew: it was powdered sugar! DAMN!

Of course, we didn't have any other flour either. Valerie offered to go to the store tonight, but I told her that I would bake the muffins tomorrow or Thursday night. I really wanted a muffin tonight, too. (Funny side note: I didn't get angry, which is surprising because I would have been a total bitch about the mix-up in my previous relationship. Valerie really does bring out the best in me.) The worst thing, though, is that now I have to clean up the kitchen, and I didn't even get a yummy muffin out of the work that created the mess.

What an amazing moment!

I am so happy with my fellow Americans tonight. Valerie, our CGF (closeted gay friend), and I watched the results at a GLBT watch party at a local. It was very exciting and a lot of fun.

I'm not sure that I ever believed that I would see anyone other than a white male be president in my lifetime. However, once the primaries were over, I did start to believe that America was on the brink of a historic moment of our own making. Even as late as this morning, I still resisted believing the polls were correct. I just didn't want to be disappointed this time.

Well, tonight, I was exhilarated by Obama's win. I texted some friends when CNN called it for him, and I was brought to tears by my African American friend Lois's text: "I can hardly believe it! I cried! Then I danced! A black man will be president! I never thought in my lifetime!" Then she texted this a few minutes ago, which made me laugh ruefully: "They didn't want to give us 40 acres and a mule so dammit we will take 50 states and a White House."

My African American friend Charles, whom I have known since junior high, only had this to say to my "OMG! We have a black president!": "Yes we do." I was very touched by Charles's reaction to Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. To think that at 44, you can finally believe that someone like you could actuall be president. How sad that it took so long, but how great that it finally happened. Almost all of my nieces and nephews are biracial, and now they can all know that someone like themselves is going to be president. This is truly a great day for America.

The negative for tonight/today is that all the same-sex marriage measures appear to be passing. I just don't understand why Americans are so stupid about same-sex marriage. Tonight, though, I can not dwell on the negative.

OBAMA!!!!!!

New addition

I have a very large extended family, and this is the newest member, my niece's daughter. Isn't she beautiful!

It's kind of funny that before she was born I really wasn't happy about this niece having a baby, but as soon as I saw her, I forgot about those feelings. I actually felt hopeful about my niece and her seemingly bad choice of a boyfriend. He was taking care of the baby at the hospital, changing diapers and feeding her, as much as my niece. I hope it's a good omen for their future.

A New Toni Morrison Novel!

Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors (Margaret Atwood is my other fav). I love Morrison's novels, especially The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Tonight, I was cleaning out my NPR Books feeds, and I was completely surprised to learn that Morrison has a new book coming out on November 11. I should have already known this since I listen to NPR almost every day on my way to work and back, but this week is the second week of the local NPR stations fundraising drive. I am a sustaining member, so I do believe in NPR and don't mind contributing, but the necessary fundraising talk during Morning Edition and All Things Considered is still annoying. So I have been listening to my iPod and, of course, talking when I carpool.

Back to Morrison's new work, it's called A Mercy, a slave narrative set in the late 17th century. It's too late now to expound on the things that Morrison says she was trying to do in this novel, but I am completed intrigued by the story that she presents. Listening to her read an excerpt, I was reminded of what a good reader she is. As a teacher, I used a small portion of an audio of her reading of Beloved so that students could hear how the book should sound in their brains, and I always enjoyed listening to her read even that small portion. I have downloaded the 4 excerpts available on NPR and will definitely spend some time tomorrow listening to it at work.

Links to an audio interview, a video interview, and the four excerpts can be found here.

I never thought that I would say this but...

I might want to read a Stephen King novel. And not just any King novel, The Stand, an apocalyptic novel of over 1000 pages. What's the big deal? Well, I am truly not a horror fiction or horror movie fan. I don't do scary! However, after reading a Salon interview with King today, I decided that this is a book that I might like. It is an apocalyptic novel that the interviewer believes will resonate as much with today's readers as it did with it's original audience. I do like apocalyptic novels and movies, and if this novel has "Fundamentalist religion, biological weapons, monster viruses, nuclear destruction, ecological havoc, mistrust of government, the breakdown of democracy" and is well-written, I think I might like it. Plus I still haven't read The Road but plan to very soon, and interviewer seems to think The Road was influenced by The Stand.

The interview celebrates the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Stand. I read it at work between book fair customers and made some notes about some of the specific interview points, but I forgot to bring the notes home, so I can't say more now. Well, I could say more if I wasn't so tired and lazy. I could reread the interview online and remind myself of things that I wanted to say, but I am tired and lazy. Now, I think I'll get even lazier now and watch some DVR'd shows before I go to bed. Later.

Book club book and cake - Updated

A while back, I read about a blogger (can't remember the blog and am too lazy just now to search for it) who bakes an appropriate cake for each of the books read by her book club. I decided that since the next meeting for my book club was scheduled to meet at a member's home, which we don't do much, that I would offer to bring dessert instead of the easier option of a bottle of wine. So today I will bake a Coconut Cream Cake to go with our most recent book, Babylon Rolling. One of the characters makes a coconut cream cake early in the novel. I didn't enjoy the book much at all, so I hope the cake is good. I have never made this cake and found the recipe on the Internet. There were several variations on AllRecipes.com, and I found one by Emeril on the Food Network. I started to choose the one by Emeril because the book is set in New Orleans and that is where he is, right? However, I decided to go with one of the variations on AllRecipes.com because they weren't completely from scratch and seemed a bit less work intensive. I decided that, although I normally like to bake things from scratch, today I want to have some time to read and watch the Cowboys for a while this afternoon.

Okay, I'm off to the store now. When I get the cake made, I will snap a photo and post it. Hopefully, I will also be able to report that it was a success with the other book club members.

UPDATE - Here's a photo that I took with my phone. The cake doesn't look special, but it tastes so good.

A new fortune

I got this fortune a couple of nights ago: Character cannot be purchased, bargained for, inherited, rented or imported from afar.

This may be true, but I'm not sure character is very important to most people any more. In theory, I think most people would agree with this fortune. In reality, people without character get ahead all the time, and we accept it.

Book buying and an idea for the new year

This morning, Valerie and I went to one of our fave breakfast spots. She read the paper while I flipped through the latest issue of VOYA. As I perused the book reviews, I commented on some of them. At some point, Valerie said that I was making her want to go to the bookstore. I said that I had been thinking about going to Half-Priced Books to look for a book that I had not been able to find at Bookstop last week. The decision was made immediately; we would stop at Half-Priced on the way home. Being book addicted, we both purchased more than one book.

I bought three books:

• A $3.00 copy of Infinite Jest in paperback. I've never read any Wallace, but I have read much about his writing since his recent suicide, and I think that I will enjoy his work. For $3.00 I just couldn't pass this up.
  
• A like-new hardback of Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence. I really enjoyed Midnight's Children and Fury.
  
• A like-new Modern Library paperback of Middlemarch. After I finish W&P, I think this will be my next big read.
  

Valerie bought two biographies, John Adams and Einstein: His Life and Universe, which she has been lusting after for a long time now. She was so excited, and so cute in her excitement, when she found the Einstein book in hardback for only $8.00, showing barely any use. I'm excited too because I will learn so much when she reads these books. She loves to share, and I like it when she shares with me!

Now for the idea: I have a reading plan/resolution idea for the new year, but I will write about it later. Now, I think I will get off the computer and watch a show or two that we DVR'd this week. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

My Fortune

A while back I thought that I should blog my fortune cookie fortunes. I thought it would be fun to pontificate on their meaning or, most likely, lack of meaning.

I got this one tonight: You[r] critical insights can provide the stimulus for change.

I don't know about you, but I think that's a damn good fortune. It sounds like I should be something more powerful than a junior high school librarian. Any suggestions?