My grandmother rocks

Oh, where to begin.

Right, my grandmother. She's much better. Much MUCH better. In fact, she was released from the hospital (again) yesterday and is now at my aunt's house in Hardin. (The again bit...she was released last Thursday from the hospital in Billings and sent to a rehab hospital in Hardin, and so we left on Friday. However, when we were halfway to home, we got the call that she'd gone critical again and had been sent back to the hospital in Billings. So we turned around.) Good news all around, and I had the added bonus of spending some time with relatives I hadn't seen in oh, a decade.

Grandma also has purple tipped hair and bright orange fingernails, courtesy of yours truly. Heh. (And then I dyed my own hair a deep, but bright, red.)

As for reading while I was away, it seemed like every time I picked up a book, someone would want me to do something, go somewhere, or begin to question me about what I was reading, and then why. So I didn't get a whole lot done. I did finish "Wives & Daughters", and have started "The Beautiful and the Damned", so I'll post my thoughts over at the SRC forums. I also read "Skinner's Drift", "Captain Alatriste", and "Black Powder War". I'll try and write up my thoughts on them this weekend, although "Black Powder War" was the only one I really enjoyed.

I've got big plans this weekend, full of finishing "The Beautiful and the Damned" (which I'm struggling with) and a couple of other books that are suddenly due back. (I'm so behind on my SRC plan...I think I'm supposed to be on book 5 by now.) Oh, there are the fireworks and friends too. And graphic novel buying...I think Polly #6 came out while I was gone.

And of course, 2 weeks of you all to catch up with.

Well, I'm back. (Actually, got back at 12.04 am Tuesday, to be technical.) I'm incredibly swamped with work and other things at the moment, but I hope to get a post up by Friday.

And to catch up with all of you.

Also, Grandma is doing much better. And had purple hair, but that's another story.

Change of Plans

Well, my mom called a little after 1pm to tell me that my grandmother (her mother) had been taken to the hospital and was in critical condition.

So, we're leaving for Billings, MT tonight. By car. (Apparently, it's very expensive to fly into Billings and there are only a couple of flights a day.) Just me, my mom, and my cousin Cort. It's anywhere between a 12 to 16 hour drive, and I think she wants to do it nonstop. No clue when I'll be back; my mom says a week minimum, but I don't really think I can stay any longer.

We'll see.

Someone pray for us all. Positive thoughts, whatever.

I've got 10 books stuffed in a bag, 2 for the SRC. No idea if I'll be able to post or not, although some of the family there has internet access.

Third Place Books

OH MY GOD!

He's coming back.

He's really coming back.

Jim Lynch is coming back to Seattle. And he's going to be at the store I mistakenly thought was the correct store.

Do you realize what this means?

I know where I'm going!

And I'm going.

If I was to be stranded on a desert island (again)

Gacked from Dani, who stole it from litlove...

What ten books would you take with you to a desert island?

Granted, Dani put a lot of thought into the scenario, things like how long was she going to be there for, any chance of rescue, even climate. Me, not so much. I figure if I'm there, I'm there for life. Although...making a list of the books I'd bring with me strikes me as kinda odd. I mean, doing something like this clearly brings up the point that I know I'm going to be stranded on a desert island. That isn't something I'd really be willing to do, either.

Eh. Anyways, the books and in no particular order...

1. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Now, this may seem like cheating to some people, but I actually have this book on my shelf.

2. The Bible
Not starting a debate, by my version of the Bible rocks. I mean, there are notes on the notes in there. It'll take me forever to read this, and that's what I'm looking for.

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
It's always a toss up between this one and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but I think the OotP is my current fave.

4.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
It's just a brilliant book and I always see something new in it with each read.

5. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Such a good, thoughtful, well-written book. And sad too. Which might help me take my mind off the fact that apparently, I allowed myself to be stranded on a desert island.

6. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
I did love this story and since I probably won't have access to anything other than coconuts and raw fish, at least I'll have Harris's descriptions.

7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

8. War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
It was a really good story and I've only read it once.

9. SAS Survival Handbook found here
Because their motto is: He who dares, wins. And that's the kind of mindset I'm going to want while I'm stranded on that desert island.

Ohh, the last book....

10. The Inferno by Dante
Seriously? Because of this: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
I'm so going to weave myself a blanket (out of palm leaves and grasses) with that quote.
And also, because it will help me remember that my life could be so much worse.

What would you bring?

My life in less than 27 words

Heh. Dani has just summed me up with this sentence:
"Oftentimes I will see something or read something and it will pique my curiosity to a point where I become sort of [read completely] obsessive about the topic."

SRC update: finally, a goal accomplished

Well, "Sense and Sensibility" is done. Finally

I can't say that I enjoyed this book, which surprised me because I love Jane Austen's work. I mean, one of my favorite books is "Pride and Prejudice" ("Persuasion" was a close second), I've enjoyed all of the other ones immensely...I just don't know what it was. Maybe I didn't enjoy it as much because it was more "mental" than "verbal"? (Did that make sense?) Or it could be that I had such a built up hope for this book that I just set myself up for disappointment.

Either way, it'd done. And as a reward, I put the movie version (with Emma Thompson) on hold at the library.

In such a good mood that I'd finished, and because it was so sunny here on Sunday, I started book 2, "Wives and Daughters". I'm only four or five chapters in, but I'm enjoying this one so much more. I'm hoping to get a good chunk of it done tonight, it is a rather large book, but it reads so fast that I'm hoping the length won't be a problem.

(That's really all the news I have...at least for now. I mean, I am WOEFULLY behind on my readings. The stacks and stacks of library books I have are going unread...and in some cases I'm getting fined for them. I renew them, but then they get due again. Vicious cycle. And I haven't done more than read the back cover of the book Stefanie sent me for winning. (I'm so sorry Stefanie, but I WILL start it this week. I WILL.) Stupid real life...why's it always having to get in my reading way?)

It's been 7 days, and I'm already behind

So the Summer Reading Challenge started last week, and I'm already behind. It's a combination of things...plans that couldn't be changed, catching another cold, meeting a new guy. But I honestly think it's the book. Sense and Sensibility is just not as good as I'd hoped.

I mean, I know it's not really fair of me to compare, but I'm afraid that

The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent. His attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added a relish to his existence.

is just not gripping me like

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

did.

"Pride and Prejudice" is funny, sarcastic, witty, and fun. "Sense and Sensibility"...isn't. It doesn't help that the first 412 (not really) pages are all about setting up the story. I know that's important to the plot, but I don't really need 14 pages of Mr. John Dashwood (Elinor and Marianne's elder half brother) dithering on in his head about whether or not to help his siblings and step-mother after his father dies. (He ultimately doesn't.) I'm up to chapter 18 (which you think would be an accomplishment), but each chapter is maybe, maybe 4 pages long. (And 4 X 18 = 72. 72 pages in 7 days. 72 / 7 = 10.3 pages a day. I'm so ashamed!)

"Sense and Sensibility" has finally started to get "good" though...Willoughby's just left and Marianne is in tears over it (and the engagement 'thing', which clearly, they were not engaged. Nope. You can tell that even though everyone thinks they are, but it was never said, which means, they were not engaged. I'll be proven right, you just wait.). In my head, I keep seeing scenes from the movie...is it dreadful that I can't wait to get to the part where Marianne nearly catches her death from the rain? (Hmm, probably, but whatever. She's been a rather annoying character so far.)

I'm going to finish this book by Sunday, I have to. Seriously. (Did you all not see my motto up top? I thrive on stress and challenges and planning.) Besides, I have "Wives and Daughter" to read this week, and if I let "S&S" linger, I know it'll turn into "Anna Karenina"...or that bloody "Oliver Twist". (You can see where this is going right? By week 5, you know I'm going to be juggling the first 2 books, finising the third and putting book number 4 in my bag, with book number 5--Animal Farm--languishing by my bed.) I don't dare go and look at the SRC forum...it'll only depress me. All you people, reading right on schedule...I wonder if there's a place for us not-on-schedule people to post?

(And no, I'm not cranky because I was up all night coughing and only got 5 hours of sleep. Why, did it seem like I was? Because I'm not. I'm not!)

Nothing but apologies from me

I'm sorry to say.

I've got things to write about, including the fact that I won Stefanie's drawing (and received the book last Wed), and that I'm already behind in the Summer Reading Challenge, but.

I'm sick.

And when I'm sick, I do nothing.

So,hopefully by the end of the week I'll be better and I'll have something more to say than "sniff".