angela_o

1. The antibiotics seem to be kicking in nicely and I'm feeling much more human.

2. The weather is lovely.

3. Alias was back. ( Here be spoilers )

4. I finished #27. Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty. The third, and probably final installment in my favorite YA series. Jessica Darling goes to college and what a crazy ride it is. I adore this series and highly recommend it.

Also, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars both rocked last night, though I was feeling rather yucky. I'm trying to come up with my Unified Field Theory of the Bus Crash, but it's still a work in progress. So many suspects, so many red herrings in the sea.

Life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had a chance to update my reading list. I finished this one a little while ago. #23 is The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. A very intriguing look at loss and the impact that grief has on the mind and one's perception of reality. We're discussing it in my Book Group in a couple of months and it should engender some fascinating discussion.

One of the major themes in the book is that you never know when your life is going to change drastically and that's something that I've been thinking about a lot over the last couple of years. Reminds me of the line from Death Cab's "What Sarah Said" (which was one of the highlights of Friday's show), "and it came to me then, that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time". How true that is. We can plan and hope to our heart's content, but nothing in life is certain.

I have been a sloth recently (the kids were on Spring Break) and let the reading slide. But, I sat down this morning as they were leaving for school and read a fun little chick lit. It's #22 on the hit parade and called Ex and the Single Girl by Lani Diane Rich and it was quite entertaining. You Colin Firth/BBC Pride and Prejudice Fans would appreciate some of the characterization and plot points. :)

I'm going to head out in a little while to work set up for the Spring Friend's Booksale. I wonder how many potential entries to this pledge will find their way home with me? ;)

Number 21 is The Three Incestuous Sisters by Audrey Niffenegger. It's subtitled "A Novel in Pictures" and that's the best synopsis. Think Gorey crossed with peculiar Victorian sensibilities and a little Garcia Marquez thrown in just for kicks. Completely different from Time Traveler's Wife which I think bodes well for her sophomore novel. She obviously isn't someone who will be pigeonholed.

Number 18 is boy meets girl by Meg Cabot. Another in the email/IM style. Enjoyable, but not as good as the previous outings of the type.

#19 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (and pretend that there's an accent over the o in Zafon because I don't know how to make one magically appear). Wonderful book filled with courage and cowardice, love and loathing, fear and fatalism, death and destiny. Love as a conduit to grace or destruction. There are worse fates than living in a world of books indeed.

Entry #17 on the hit parade. The Boy Next Door by Meg (whose full name is apparently Meggin) Cabot. Another in her email entry style of storytelling and a fun read. As you might have gathered I have what I term "category killer" tendencies. If I find an author I like, I tend to blow through their entire repertoire. So, you'll be seeing repeats of author names. :)

Book #16 Fashionably Late by Beth Kendrick. Another breezy read that admirably got me through the gap this afternoon between finishing lunch with my husband and picking the kids up from school. So much chick lit...

Although more serious titles are in the offing. :)

Also, I finally got around to getting Funeral by Arcade Fire and I really like it. Sadly, the new Franz isn't capturing my fancy as of yet but I'm going to keep trying. Couldn't Death Cab just play the entire concert? For me? That's not too much to ask is it? lol

#15 Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot. A breezy, occasionally laugh out loud book that cleverly uses the Blackberry/email format to advance the storyline. A fun way to spend part of an afternoon.

#12 The Royal Pain by MaryJanice Davidson. Not as entertaining as the first book, but a quick read.

#13 The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig. The sequel to The Pink Carnation Entertaining, but I was a little disturbed that the present day storyline is moving so slowly.

#14 Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot. I have a serious soft spot for The Princess Diaries but I'd never read anything else by the author. This was quite enjoyable and I'm going to check out some of her other books. There's something about YA that always draws me back no matter how old I get. Although, the heroine of this book was 28 so I guess she's branching out. :)