I hate snow.
Sounds harsh, yes. But it’s truth. Sure, it looks pretty on the mountains, or glistening by the lake. But what good is it? It’s cold, icy, slushy, never pretty when melting. Did I mention how cold it was? I hate being cold. I’ve decided to rally against it and next year, we’re going to Florida or Hawaii for Christmas. Alas, as I speak [or type, as the case may be] there are flurries and piles atop my patio furniture and railings. At least it isn’t sticking to the ground just yet…we have a long drive in this crap tomorrow.
At any rate, I’m keeping myself well entertained indoors today. Work, cleaning, reading. A well balanced day, I think. I’m loving my break and the fact that I have time to read for fun. Here’s my list of books so far this break:
1. Wife in the Fast Lane, by Karen Quinn. Ok, so a little [or a lot] petty, but a good light read. Enough to amuse me for a ful 24-hour period. Yes, that is how long it took me to read. Quirky story about a work-aholic woman and her work-aholic husband and their spiral down after they lose their jobs, and [shock!] she decides she wants to be a mother after inheriting her now dead housekeeper’s granddaughter.
2. Bitter is the New Black, by Jen Lancaster. I thought I could spend and complain with the best of them, but Jen Lancaster offers a great deal of competition. Well, let’s begin with the title, shall we? The full title of the book is Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a condescending, egomaniacal, self-centered smart-ass, or why you should never carry a Prada bag to the unemployment office: A Memoir. And it’s exactly what you’ll find inside the book, but in a very comical [mostly because it isn't happening to you] sort of way. She can spend and smart-ass her way out of just about anything. Very interesting read. I look forward to her second book, which ironically is next on my list.
3. Bright Lights, Big Ass, by Jen Lancaster. Again, as her first book, I think it can be summed up with the full title: Bright Lights, Big Ass: A self-indulgent, surly ex-sorority girl’s guide to why it often sucks in the city, or who are these idiots and why do they live next door to me?
4. Hunting and Gathering, by Anna Gavalda. As I have not read this one yet, I’ll just post the synopsis. Camille is doing her best to disappear. She barely eats, works at night as a cleaner, and lives in a tiny attic room. Philibert Marquet de La Durbelliere is a stammering, erudite aristocrat who sells postcards outside a museum. One eveing, he overcomes his own excruciating reticence to rescue Camille, unconscious, from her freezing garret, and install her in the large, ornate apartment he is taking care of downstairs. he alrady has an unlikely flatmate – the foulmouthed, talented you chef Franck, who is made more obnoxious by guilt about h is beloved granmother – who in turn forms an unlikely bond with his new friends. Apart, they may be hopeless, but together, this curious, damaged little quartet may be able to face the world. –Could be a little cheesy, but I’m willing to take the risk and read it anyway.
5. Bride Island, by Alexandra Enders. Again, I haven’t read it yet, so here you go: Six years ago, Polly Birdswell made a decision that changed her life forever. Now, long after having pulled herself out of an all-consuming alcoholic depression, she has remade her life in a small coastal town in Maine close to Bride Island, the beloved family retreat she considers her true home. As her future opens to new possibilities, Polly desperately wants to regain custody of her young daughter and its determined to prove – to herself especially- that she’s a stable and loving mother. But can she overcome a past that her family and friends seem determined to repeat? — Definite potential.
5. The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S.Lewis. Ah, the old classic. Well, actually, I figured that since I hadn’t actually ever read them before, I’d brush up on my Narnia knowledge before the next movie came out, that way I can tell you exactly what was wrong with it.
