Zzz... nooo... zzz... nooo...
2007-04-18 / 11:43 p.m.
Doozy of a can't sleep night. I'm in the middle of The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, and Palace of Laughter by John Berkeley. Loving both but can only read so little before I have to move on to another activity, I'm having real trouble with my attention span of late.
Got right through Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro superfast, it's a fun, light read... I hear the author is kind of bitchy queen-beeish but whatever, it's a cheap romance novel. Go get it! And keep it on your toilet, or nightstand! For whenever you need something frivolous to occupy you for five minutes! Or whenever.
The Last Treasure by Janet S. Anderson, on the other hand, was good children's literature. Clever Ellsworth gets called back to the ancestral home he never knew to find the last treasure and save his family from ruin. It's an excellent story with a smidge of Quaker values, but without stomping on anyone's religious beliefs (or non-beliefs, as the case may be).
The Printer's Devil by Paul Bajoria was good, not great, but a fascinating read. Very Dickensian... reminds me quite a bit of Joan Aiken's Midnight Is a Place. Must be the charming Old London child-labor aspect. I recommend the first version of the hardcover (beige with old-fashioned poster typeset art--the reprint is blue, I think, with some inky looking drawing, blah if you ask me!) if you're a real booklover. The paperback version with the red cover and oil pastel-looking illustrations is eye-catching and will match the sequel (The God of Mischief, still in hardcover only) but really, come on, the other cover is the way to go.
Speaking of London, Oblio is into both Un Lun Dun by China Mieville (Alice in Wonderland meets modern girl and all of London's lost things) and the new Doctor Who... I am along for the ride, I started both already but got sidetracked. Trusty old Netflix is back from my 3-month hiatus so we should be blowing through Season 1 fairly fast.
Oh, and before I forget, skip Anna Dale's Whispering to Witches altogether, please! Oh, unless you really hated Harry Potter, then you should read it either because a) if you don't like HP then you'll probably enjoy this, you twisted old cretin and b) because if you don't like this either it will be punishment to read, if you do make it all the way through the book.
Hmmm, I think I am getting sleepy after all...