Looking for ways to make it better

So, while I'm still sick--I currently sound like an eighty-year-old smoker--I've been trying to find things to cheer me up as I wait to get better.  

One of those things--danger signs approaching--is on line shopping; it's so easy to go "oh! I really want that" and then three seconds later I'm typing in my credit card information, clicking the button for expedited shipping.  However, there are sales abounding, which makes the damages a little lighter.  

Book sites are the most dangerous places for me to shop on line at, although I have to say that the massive sale at ENC Press, where book prices are down twenty percent, is making it a little less scary.  It's also making my birthday/mother's day/father's day/Christmas shopping just that much easier.  (Note: Everyone is getting a copy of $everance this year.)

Plus, how can I not love a site that's currently advertising their sale as the "best depression special ever?"

Still coming soon

Haha, of course I managed to get sick yesterday, because not only do I have today and Saturday off, but today is also my 30th birthday and really, being sick just makes it that much more fun.

Posting on all topics to come; I promise. Right now it's all I can do stay awake and drink more water.

Happy Birthday to me.

Coming Soon

• My epic battle with FedEx to get my ARC of Magic Strikes by Illona Andrews.  FedEx decided that what I really needed was to wait 11 days to get this book.  (One day, FedEx will feel my wrath!)
• My review of Magic Strikes will be up soon (but just so you know, awesome is going to be my first word).
• My review of Mother's Milk  by Andrew Thomas Breslin and my ongoing struggle to avoid dairy for the next little while.  I'm not going to let the aliens screw with my brain!
• My exciting news about interviewing an author and more details to come.
• More exciting reviews (Headlong and Lament).

Once Upon A Time III

Is it Spring already? It must be, because Carl has posted his Once Upon A Time III challenge. While there are more details at his site--including the different levels of the challenge--it basically boils down to reading one book from each of the below category:

fan⋅ta⋅sy: a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting.(Wiki)

fairy tale: a fictional story that may feature folkloric characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and talking animals, and usually enchantments, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. (Wiki) (The Faerie Queen's Deception: Lament)

folk⋅lore: the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people; The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. (Dictionary dot com)

my⋅thol⋅o⋅gy: a body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person; a set of stories, traditions, or beliefs associated with a particular group or the history of an event, arising naturally or deliberately fostered. (Dictionary dot com) (Magic Strikes)

Fantasy, fairy tale, folklore and mythology. The definitions above are a jumping off point, but those of us who have unabashedly reveled in between the pages of these genres know that each is so much more.

I can't join this challenge--much like I haven't joined the other challenges I'm participating in--but I might read-along. I do have "White Witch, Black Curse," "Pretty Monsters," and "The Faerie Queen's Deception" all on hand. Fantasy and fairytale are covered with these three options, so that just leaves mythology and folklore to consider.

ETA: Hmm, Magic Strikes was full of Indian/Hindu mythology, so I've got that genre covered... now to find a book on folklore.

Where was I?

Have I had my head buried in the sand?  Because I had absolutely no idea about this:

Under the CPSIA, which was passed by Congress in August, children’s products are required to undergo stringent testing for lead and phthalates. Currently, the General Counsel of the CPSC is interpreting the law to apply to ordinary, paper-based books for children 12 years of age or younger, so that all such books and product would have to be tested for lead content. Therefore, public, school, academic and museum libraries would be required either to remove all their children’s books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities as of February 10.

More information can be found in a whole host of places, like at the ALA, or here at Publishers Weekly.

Living Dead Girl

Giving myself a break from the mad, mad milk conspiracy, I picked up and read Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott and it was heartbreakingly sad.  Poor, little lost girl; she's been bent and broken and bled until the only thing she can be is Alice.  

While it was another excellent book by a favorite author of mine (Perfect You, Bloom), it was not the mental break book I needed.

The sheep are going to have to wait

Because I have a great deal to get done tonight before I can even think about counting them.

But first...I won one of the book giveaways over at A Book Blogger's Diary.  Yay me!

Interests

Unwind, by Neal Shusterman, sounds really, really good.

Stephen Colbert is a genius.  Heh, the Rand Illusion.  (For those that haven't watched it, it's basically a plan (written by Ayn Rand in her novel "Atlas Shrugged") that calls for all the "important" people to stop working because they don't want to share their profits with the poor money-grubbers.  

Interesting idea

Just read an article here about Erin Balser, a Twitter book critic.  She posts reviews of the books she's read, as well as interviews with authors, in 140 characters or less.  I have to say I'm impressed, because I don't think I could ever be that succinct with my words.

Also, I started a new book yesterday (Mother's Milk) and I started knitting a new pair of socks. Shall I place a wager on which new thing gets finished first?

ETA: It was Mother's Milk by a landslide (three days).  I finished the first sock today.

Failing time management

Oh, how I need thirty-six hours in a day!  I'd be able to accomplish so much more, like actually make it to the library before closing hours to pick up the seven books I have waiting for me!  And with thirty-six hours in a day, I'd definitely have time to actually read them!

I've just started a new book, Mother's Milk, and I have to say that the opening chapters have been very interesting.  Science, Latin, law, and the dairy industry, all wrapped up in one book.

Looking to the future

Sassymonkey has an excellent post on why she prefers buying paperbacks versus hardbacks and I have to say that I agree.  Partly the cost, partly the size factor, and partly the fact that it throws off the look of my books, I will almost always wait for the paperback when buying a book.  

(I almost want to feel bad about my decision to wait for paperbacks--I want to work in publishing--but I don't.  It's not that I don't like hardbacks, it's just that paperbacks have so many things going for them.)

Also, I've decided to stop reading The Orient Express by Graham Greene.  On one hand, it's not the book I thought I was going to be reading.  Also, it's boring as hell.  I can't find it in myself to care about any of these characters and I've managed to make it halfway through the story.   Instead I've picked up Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, a rather dramatic change, but I think one that I'll like better.  It's been on my to-read list for years and I'm hoping to enjoy it as much as I did The Screwtape Letters.  

New Reading Ideas

A few days ago I realized that I had nothing on reserve at the public library (how did I let that happen?), which I quickly rectified, but now I'm wishing I hadn't been quite so hasty.

Marg over at Reading Adventures recently posted her review of Briar Rose, a modern retelling of the Sleeping Beauty myth set against the Holocaust.  

Leila at bookshelves of doom wrote about The Running Man, which she picked up after reading The Hunger Games (LOVED) because she was on a dystopia kick.  I just finished Junk and while I wouldn't mind rereading The Hunger Games, maybe I'll pick up The Running Man instead.  It kind of sounds like Blade Runner, with the whole killing/chasing/finish line theme.

Of course, I could always continue reading Bleak House.  I've only got all of it to finish.

How is it possible that I've only read eight books so far this year?  I know I've been busy, but seriously?  Seriously?

Junk, by Christopher Largen

Junk was the second book I've read recently and I have to say that while I enjoyed it, it wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny as $everance is.  It's more of a quiet, oh-no-they-didn't sort of book.  Like Fahrenheit 451, but without the burning people alive.  

Junk is set in a future U.S. where the WAR ON DRUGS has turned into the WAR ON JUNK.  In an effort to combat obesity, the U.S. government has outlawed all forms of junk food.  Bakeries are closed, eating red meat gets you thrown in jail, and a kid will kill himself rather than be found with a Twinkie wrapper in his pocket.  Gangs no longer sell drugs, instead pushing any and all forms of snacks, sugar, and salt on a huge black market.  Europe is in on the banning too, although Amsterdam has a thriving tourist industry, since that country isn't banning anything. 

It was a very interesting story, made more so by the fact that Largen included "mockuments" on the WAR ON JUNK in his story, taken from newspapers, court documents, and apparently, letters from prison; all chosen from actual drug-war documents.  

The interesting thing about this book is that I can already see signs of something like this happening here in the U.S.  Snack and drink machines are removed from schools and hospitals over health concerns, smoking indoors has been outlawed, chains are now required to post nutritional information on the menu board, and shows like "The Biggest Loser" are huge.  Note, I'm not saying that removing overly-sugary drinks from schools is a bad idea, or that I like smokers, but I am pointing out that rights and privileges are being removed and not everyone seems to care.  

I mean, who doesn't want the right to own salt?