Decrepit

A milestone of sorts was reached this weekend when my goddaughter got married.
She was the world's most beautiful bride and she and her husband have such a wonderful relationship. I just hope it stays that way.
The wedding was perfect. The bride was perfect. It couldn't have gone any better.

But...I feel old. I skipped school the day she was born. I just had to be there when my best friend gave birth!
The thing is...she grew up and I didn't.
I still feel 18.

Does anyone ever feel their age?

Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer

Former journalist and novelist Mercer (High Times and Sweet Crimes) is broke and on the run. So he leaves Canada, ending up in Paris, where he takes refuge at Shakespeare & Co., a bookstore renowned for its literary history and promise to house writers free of charge in exchange for their work. The list of "so and so slept here" reads like a who's who of literature.  (from bn.com)


This book has been on my reading list for a long while.  I was looking to buy it but never could find it in the book stores.
I guess I could have ordered it but there is something about buying a book in an actual book store that is satisfying to me.
Anyway...I decided to request it via Interlibrary Loan.
I'm very glad I did.  Mercer didn't pull many punches in this book.  Living the literary bohemian lifestyle was a dirty business.  People were penniless, unwashed and very eccentric...but mostly it seemed real.

As much as I love a good hot shower and a clean bathroom...and as much as I fear germs and bedbugs, I sort of wanted to experience living in this strange bookstore in Paris.  Who wouldn't?

A full body mosquito net

Does anyone know where I can find one?
I was walking the dogs Saturday morning and I looked down to find about half a million mosquitoes swarming my legs.
I AM NOT JOKING!
My legs looked black and I wondered for a second if they had begun to rot during the night.
Oh, it's just mosquitoes.

At work, they swarm the doors so whenever anyone opens a door, about 10 of them slip in.
Now, I'm being attacked in the work place.
Not cool. Not cool at all.

Regarding Linda Howard

So, over the past week or so, I've read several Linda Howard books.  In a previous post I made fun of the repetitious formulas but for the most part, I was entertained and I'll explain why:
I read, Son of the Morning, Death Angel, Open Season, Kill and Tell, and All the Queen's Men.
The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that they all featured intelligent women on the run.  In most of them, something traumatic happened to the female lead and she had to depend on herself to stay alive.
Son of the Morning was the best example of this.  The main character witnessed her husband and brother's murder and she was framed for it.  So, she took off on foot with only her laptop and papers and got as far away from there as she could.  She was determined to find out why they were killed and sought revenge.
Being on the run wasn't pretty.  She was filthy and hungry, mistaken for a bag lady more than once, got a job washing dishes in shady restaurants, rented a room from a former hooker, etc.  It seemed more real to me....I mean not that I've ever been on the run from the law and psychopathic murderers but I can imagine!
I've often wondered what it would be like to just pick up and run away, start a new life and reinvent yourself.  I'd hate to do it all the while worrying about being killed but still...a girl can fantasize!
Anywho...as much bitching as I do about fluff fiction, I can find a lot of things to enjoy about it.

Surprise! More books!

I was planning on running to Jane Austen after I finished this last Linda Howard book but the very day I finished, I received two Interlibrary Loans I had requested; Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer and Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words by Jay Rubin.
I've had TWST on my reading list for a long time so I was excited to start that one and I'm a big fan of Murakami so this book looked interesting.
Jane will just have to wait a while!

Almost Done...

with Linda Howard.
I've read too much of this, which follows similar formulas.
Smart, shy woman.
Unbelievably gorgeous man.
He decides at first glance he wants her.
She is insanely attracted to him but resists for about 10 minutes.
They have the most amazing sex of their lives and in 24 hours, they know they will be married and live happily ever after...BUT FIRST...they must find out who is trying to kill her.
However, a few of her novels follow what I just referred to as "airheaded chick lit".
That, I cannot handle.

I've got this one book to finish, All the Queen's Men, and then I'm running back to Jane.  I've mentioned that it's annoying to me when the sex is so gratuitous and completely alien to the plot but I just saw a review on Barnes and Noble's website where someone complained:  "but the nookie was late in the book".
I guess it's just me. :)

Pride & Prejudice is next but I've read that one so I may skip down to Mansfield Park.

I'm coming, Jane...wait for me!

On a Break

I'm still on a Jane Austen break.  A friend gave me a book she thought I'd like.  Son of the Morning by Linda Howard.  I'm not sure WHY she thought I'd enjoy it, it's not really something I normally read.  But she gave it such a good recommendation that I took it home.  I finished at 2 am.  I really hate my friend.
It was one of those junk food books.  I like junk food.
So, then I went to the library the next day and checked out three more Linda Howard books and read 2 of them in three days.
I'm not ashamed.  I don't judge others by what they read....much.