My skies are grey

We've gone from beautiful, wear-a-t-shirt-it's-so-warm weather to cold, wet, miserable weather and it sucks.  Really.  Sucks.

I felt bad for my poor showing during the twenty-four hour readathon, so to make up for it, I read War for the Oaks, by Emma Bull, last night.  Well, that wasn't the only reason I read "War for the Oaks," but it was one of them.

I'm not sure what it is about this story that grabs me so, although I know it's more the story then the way Bull writes.  I find myself relating to the character of Eddi, although I don't have a lick of musical talent.  Or anything close to the same fashion sense.  Maybe it's Phouka; I do like his character, sly, tricksy devil that he is.  

It's full of British folklore, which I love, and it's totally just a coincidence that I can use this book in the Once Upon A Time III challenge.  Now all that's left is a June reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I'm also wondering if I can find any  non-fiction books or essay collections about any of those four genres. Anyone have any recommendations?

I've started reading Mere Christianity again and I have to say that taking two months off was a huge mistake.  I've completely forgotten where I am in this collection of essays on Christianity.  I think I might have to start over at the beginning, although I'm going to try and avoid that.  

I've seen two different posts now about a new book that was recently reviewed in Vanity Fair.  Both Colleen of Chasing Ray and Dani of A Work in Progress have just posted about The Crimes of Paris by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.  It sounds really interesting and I'm going to try and get my hands on a copy of it. 

From the publisher:

Turn-of-the-century Paris was the beating heart of a rapidly changing world. Painters, scientists, revolutionaries, poets--all were there. But so, too, were the shadows: Paris was a violent, criminal place, its sinister alleyways the haunts of Apache gangsters and its cafes the gathering places of murderous anarchists. In 1911, it fell victim to perhaps the greatest theft of all time--the taking of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. Immediately, Alphonse Bertillon, a detective world-renowned for pioneering crime-scene investigation techniques, was called upon to solve the crime. And quickly the Paris police had a suspect: a young Spanish artist named Pablo Picasso....