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5:45 p.m. - 2007-08-31 I finished Here If You Need Me by Reverend Kate Braestrup, which is an Original Voices selection written by a Unitarian Universalist minister who specifically works with game wardens in Maine, providing spiritual support in times of crisis to the men and women of conservationist law enforcement as well as the victims (and sometimes perpetrators) that they come across in their daily activities. I loved this book, though I am not a religious person (I am of the lapsed Catholic variety, though I do still believe in goodness, grace and higher powers-that-be). Kate decided to become a minister when her state trooper husband met an untimely death in a traffic accident, leaving her with 4 children and her whole life ahead of her. Here If You Need Me is a memoir of sorts, with highlights from her 6-year career as a chaplain and the various little tragedies and comedies that have filled her life since her husband's death. It is a short, pleasant read (despite the dozen or so times that I was moved to tears), and Braestrup is a born writer (she also has a novel, Onion, published in 1990). I reread Sloppy Firsts, by Megan McCafferty, which was a lot more fun to read when it first came out... I think I was 23 at the time. It seems really dated now, more so than any of the YA books I have ever read. The slanguage is quite revolting (I know, I know, it was bound to be revolting anyway). The story follows 16-year-old Jessica Darling (who is anything but what her name implies: she is cynical and quite bitter as any non-Barbie girl is wont to be at that age) who finds herself virtually friendless when her best friend, Hope, moves from their New Jersey suburb to Tennessee. As a former transplant Jersey girl, I can sympathize with Jess's boredom, however with a second reading her character seems quite flat and somewhat annoying to me now. I hope I was never like that. I must note that dissatisfaction with the book just made me want to re-watch Tina Fey's Mean Girls, which is the only Lindsey Lohan movie I can stomach aside from Parent Trap. I'd been carrying around Jonathan Franzen's How to Be Alone. I don't often read nonfiction (this is a collection of his essays) but I find his writing pretty digestible (apart from "the Harper's essay," which even he admits was "tiring to read"). My favorites so far are "My Father's Brain", a personal piece on Alzheimer's; and "Lost in the Mail," regarding the notoriously dysfunctional Chicago Post Office. I recommend this for you if, like me, you occasionally feel guilty for reading fiction almost exclusively, with only an Entertainment Weekly here and there to provide some real-world input, if EW can be called that. Slap a Brodart cover on it, put it in your bathroom, and resolve to read one essay per week. Your brain and bowels will thank you. I'm in the middle of Stardust right now, hoping to finish before the movie version leaves the theaters. I'm 4 chapters in, and I'm far from disappointed! This might even inspire me to read more Neil Gaiman... - - - We're on the last disc of Rome: Season II. I can't wait to finish. It's such a brilliant show. Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is still my favorite, the sensitive barbarian. I love the role-reversal which has occurred between him and Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd), who was the previous season's golden boy. Their fortunes completely swap at the end of the first season. My favorite female character from last season, Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshall) has hardly been in, though I expect she will show up on this last disc (as the end of Episode 20 shows Mark Antony arriving in Alexandria). It's a great show, with a marvelous cast, and a terrific score by Jeff Beal (who also composed the music for Carnivale). - - - Last night, the hubby and I decided to cool off in the movie theater and see Superbad, which was really Supergood. I *heart* Michael Cera. Search his name on YouTube to see some of his hilarious shorts (no, not those shorts). I love when he's talking about one of the guys Jules (or is it Becca?) dated, and says "Have you ever looked into his eyes? ...Its like the first time I ever heard the Beatles." (or something like that, I can't find a direct quote!). Really, I don't have to rewatch the rest of the movie, I just want to watch the intro over and over again (the one with the flashing disco colors and the silhouettes of Seth and Evan dancing around).
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