Finished The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. This is a prequel to my favorite book ever, The Shadow of the Wind.
This is very different from Shadow of the Wind but it's still great.
Here's the synopsis from the back of the book--I don't want to spoil anything, because this is really good.
"In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city's underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at an unsolved mystery.
Like a slow poison, the history of the place and an impossible love bring David close to despair. But then he receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike any other - a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realzies that there is a connection between this haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.
Set in the turbulent 1920s, The Angel's Game takes us back to the gothic universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and the Sempere & Sons bookshop, in a masterful tale about the magic of books and the darkest corners of the human soul."
The Cylon tester is now operational and Adama and Roslin each want the other to get tested first. Adama thinks it's a good idea for people to have confidence in the president and Roslin remembers that the captured Cylon told her that Adama was another Cylon.
It's hard for her to doubt that when he starts acting very strangely. He's distracted a great deal of the time, and he's been making mysterious phone calls and takes a ship, leaving no flight plan.
Turns out he isn't doing Cylon business--he's picking up Col. Tigh's estranged wife, Ellen.
Ellen's pretty awful. She drinks a lot (she was drunk in almost all of her scenes) and she's manipulative and just wretched.
Adama canceled his test and had Baltar test Ellen first (only one test can be done at a time and the results take 11 hours to come in). Ellen is not a Cylon, just an awful person.
(Except, of course, the "Cylon detector" is a joke and all the results will come back human. So I guess technically, she could be a Cylon after all.)
Here's Bekki's take. She didn't like Ellen Tigh, either.
I am so freakin' sad and depressed.
That's all.
Thanks for looking.
Finished Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl.
This book is a mix of two of my recent favorite genres--paranormal YA and gothic fiction.
It's set in the south, a town called Gatlin. (There are not corn children and He Who Walks Behind the Rows does not appear.)
Ethan has been having a lot of weird dreams lately--he's trying to save a girl he loves (who he has only seen in these dreams) and failing. When he wakes up, there's generally a ton of dirt in his bed.
A new girl shows up on the first day of his sophomore year and it's the girl from his dreams. And things get weirder from there.
Such a fantastic book.
Up was just named one of AFI's 10 best of the year. (In case you're curious, the others are Coraline, The Hangover, The Hurt Locker, The Messenger, Precious, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Sugar and Up in the Air.)
I just watched Up a few days ago, so I'm counting it as one seen. :)
It's the latest Pixar offering, so not surprisingly, it's really good.
From the time he was a child, Carl has wanted to be an explorer like his hero, Charles Muntz. That's how he met the girl who would become his wife, Ellie. They never ended up going anywhere, though. After she dies, he decides he's going to go on an adventure, the one he should have taken with her. Except there's a stowaway (Russell, the little boy on the cover) and things continue to not go as planned.
This is a really cute movie, and I liked it. (But why are you so bloodthirsty, Disney/Pixar? Why do you always kill people?)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/
photo courtesy of Mike Licht
I admire people who are strong. People who lift objects with ease. Someone who moves quickly and works hard and appears to be tireless. My neighbor stands out in my mind as an unusually strong woman. I watch her fearlessly tackle household projects that many men would avoid. Up high on a two story ladder scraping and then painting the outside of her house, mowing her lawn, building a stone walk way in front of her home, moving a bureau twice her size. She is amazing and carries it all off with a feminine flair. She has to be tough living in a household filled with men. I wish I could be more like her. Of course, coordination helps. Sometimes I feel like I'm all thumbs. I would trip on my own shadow if it were possible. I drop things, I bump things, and my senses sometimes fail me. I want to get stronger though. And its time to get serious. A little less thinking about it and talking about it and a lot more action. It will be my New Year's resolution. Not like I want to be a female Atlas. Just a little less flimsy and flamsy and a lot more firm!
Finished The Lightkeeper's Daughter by Colleen Coble for Thomas Nelson.
Addie learns (as an adult) that her parents aren't actually her parents. Instead, she's the daughter of Henry Eaton (beyond wealthy man) and has been presumed dead for 23 years. She wants to get to know her family, but won't say who she is without more proof (all she has is a locket that belonged to her biological grandmother). So she decides to become a governess to her nephew (by marriage).
Her nephew's father turns out to be quite the good looking widower and sparks fly pretty much immediately. (Again, they're not related, John was married to Addie's half-sister.)
It's an entertaining book, but I had two problems. The first was that John and Addie fell in love pretty much instantly, which I didn't think was all that realistic. And the second is that Addie is perfect. Like Beth in Little Women, perfect.
Still, a fun book and especially appropriate to read at Christmas. There are also a lot of twists and turns (some I did see coming and some I didn't).
I found out through a posting on FaceBook that one of the guys I went to high school with has died. Some sort of blood cancer. As far as I know this is the first classmate we've had that has died. I am stunned, shocked and in disbelief that he's dead. Not so much the person....but that 'someone my age and someone I went to school with' has died. I'm having trouble explaining my thought process. I just know that this has made me take a step back. I know it is entirely likely that we have had one or more deaths in our class but this is the first one I've heard about. Death is so final. It's weird and like I said---I'm having trouble explaining my thought process. He wasn't a boyfriend or even a guy I had a crush on, he was 'just' a guy I went to high school with. All of his pall bearers were also people I went to high school with. Some of *them* I had a crush on at one time or another. I feel like I 'missed out' because I only found out today that he has passed. The funeral was on Tuesday. Chances are extremely good that I wouldn't have gone anyway....two+ hour drive to the funeral home, then the funeral finally ending in a two hour drive home. Nah...I wouldn't have gone. Being a one car family sucks.
ok. On to other things that can't wait until Tuesday:
My Dad. Man, he can get on my nerves faster than anyone (and that includes my child). He doesn't ever tell you the whole story. He'll tell bits and pieces here and there....but never the full story. Even if you ask very specific questions he will evade you in his answer. Point in case: Jordan's Christmas band program is tonight. We asked my parents to come over a month or more ago. They said they'd come. I told them they'd have to sleep one on the couch and one in Jordan's bed. I also told them to please call as soon as possible if they wouldn't be able to make it so we could invite Chris's parents. We couldn't invite both sets of parents as we don't have enough sleeping room. I called this past weekend to verify they were coming. They were. Good. Fine. Wonderful. Now on to stress about what to fix for supper and breakfast and I better get the house cleaned up blah blah blah... I get a phone call at 6:55 this morning. They aren't going to make it because my Dad has to go to the cardiologist for a stress test. I asked him why he needed the test and he said 'because my doctor told me I needed it'. I asked why the doctor said he needed one and he said: 'blood pressure might be a little high'. I asked how high he said high enough for the doctor to tell him he needs a stress test. I told him he was annoying. My Mom chimed in and said 'I've been putting up with this for years.' So, yeah, they aren't coming. I didn't ask my Dad when the doctor told him he needed a stress test. For all I know he spent the night in the ER.
Chris and I decided to host Christmas at our house this year. His parent's have already said they'd come. I bet mine don't. Or I may end up with a huge crowd and nowhere for everyone to sit.
The wind that we had two nights ago knocked over our new outdoor decoration. It's broken beyond repair. ~sigh~ Oh well. It was only new in that we hadn't used it before this year. We've owned it for years and have drug it from place to place with us. Once I got it up it looked really good and I'm sorry we haven't used it before now. It will go out on Tuesday which is trash day. Garbage days are Monday and Thursday. I missed it today. Oh well.
Unemployment sucks donkey balls. 'nuff said about that. I've been home for four days so far and haven't even managed to get accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish on day 1. It is just so draining to look at everything that needs to be done and know you have the time to do them....so the lazy bug kicks in. I also promised myself that I would have all Christmas cards and letters done and sent out by the Monday after Thanksgiving. That hasn't happened and Christmas is drawing closer and closer with every waking (and non-waking) moment.
So basically ever since I reached the 250 (books read this year) milestone, I haven't read anything longer than Vanity Fair's article on Meryl Streep. (Really good, incidentally; I love her.)
I've read the first chapter of Churched by Matthew Paul Turner, and I can tell I'm going to love that book once my brain starts working again. I've also read the first chapter of The Angel's Game (thank you again, Rob!) and same thing. I'm going to love it. But right now? Now I don't want to read anything. (This may even include the ARC of the new Joe Hill novel, which I am really looking forward to. But it hasn't come yet, so there's no way to know for sure.)
So probably this weekend will be an exercise in not reading (except for People and Entertainment Weekly). I need to do laundry and I'm definitely watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm also planning on getting Julie & Julia and Up from OnDemand.
I'm also trying to remember that I've read a ton of books this year (101 more than last year!) and so even if I don't read any more books for the rest of the year, I've more than done my part.
(And then I think, "Not read for the rest of the year?!")
Marque
Do they celebrate birthdays in Heaven?
If they do I bet you are having a grand ole time.
I've thought of you often in the past two years.
I think of a saying that you had posted at one time on your blog---or somewhere.
It was telling how to live your life----sliding into Heaven/home plate---kicking and screaming and having a blast all the way Home.
I wish I could remember it. I could go Google it. But, well, if I do that then I will spend less time thinking of you and the impact you made on my life.
Bless you.
Bless your family.
I will always remember you.
