Book List

As of 07/05/2009

• American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving your Assets by Jill Conner Browne – Can’t wait for the audio.
• Patty Jane’s House of Curl by Lorna Landvik – The story really sucked me in. I liked tone.
• Shimura Trouble by Sujata Massey – The last of the Rei Shimura books. Filling but not satisfying.
• Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman – Fascinating in the way of “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach or any visit to an old graveyard.
• If I Was Your Girl by Ni-Ni Simone
• Mistakes Men Make by Daniel Billett – Truly hilarious. No truly, as in everything the author tells men not to do (grow a mullet or back hair, stuff a sock in your jock or sport a Shel Silverstein beard) are true.
• X-Rated Blood Suckers by Mario Acevedo
• Buffy Omnibus
• Girl in a Box by Sujata Massey – Yah! She’s back. All the elements from the first books. When she left Japan I left her. Rei seemed so humorless. Hugh seemed sexy but a real douche. She shines in Japan.
• Shortie Like Mine by Ni-Ni Smone
• Between Mom and Joe by Julie Anne Peters – Loved.
• Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
• Simple Italian Snacks

My First Fan Letter

I’m so excited. I wrote my first fan letter. * And I heard back! It was to HRH Jill Conner Brown of Sweet Potato Queen fame. She’s the author, actually. My giddines is similar to that which I described someplace else on this blog were I ever to encounter one of the Palomar-Hernandez brothers. I had to write this particular letter for two reasons. First, because I enjoyed the latest book, American Thighs, and can’t wait for the audio. I listen to the other audio I have when I’m in a crabby mood. The second reason, I noticed the publisher used the same artwork as another favorite book, Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Cruisie. I got my copy, which I still have, on Oxford Street in London ona visit to Darah in about 2002. Also, the charactors make a porn movie and one title is “Fleshy Thighs”. It’s a good book, I recommend it. I’m probably a nudge for pointing it out but I don’t care.

* So it was an email. What’s your point?

Book List

As of 06/17/2009

• The Boy and the Ghost by Robert Sans Souci – Children’s picture book. Loved the illustration. The story is an old fable.
• Cribs by MTV – I had to see a picture of Tommy Lee’s Starbucks in his house.
• House of Java by Mark Murphy – Graphic novel.
• The Bearskin Rug by Jennifer Stevenson – Not hot. You’ve got to do more than use the word cock to be hot.
• Date Like a Grown Up: Everything You Need, blah, blah, blah by Lisa Daily – Like any diet book on the market. Always a “new take” but really says the same thing; exercise and eat healthy. In other words, nothing new to add. Would probably be good for a less internet-savvy reader.
• Water Baby by Ross Campbell – Good art work, really tells the story, crappy as it was.
• Burnout by Rebecca Donner illustrated by Inaki Miranda – Graphic novel. About a girl who falls for her step brother who is an ecoterrorist.

Water Sprite in the Fountain

Last week at work was a weird one. Not for me personally; that was pretty well business as usual. I mean for the library as a whole. A bunch of bizarre things happened, the guards were kept hopping and it wasn’t even a full moon. First, there were a few separate drunken patron incidents. That’s not the unusual part, happens all the time.* The first real shenangin was the water sprite. That’s what I call him. One of our homeless patrons got duded up on all his duds (minus underpants) for his trip to the library. All that clothing got heavy and started to droop, way down. Instead of asking at the reference desk how to fashion a belt, he began to frolic in the reflecting pool on the first floor. Let me just say, that water is loaded with chemicals. We’re all surprised his skin didn’t melt off. But it didn’t and he refused to leave the pool. The only reason he got out voluntarily is he heard one of our security gates go off and thought we were electrifying the pool. At this point in the story, everyone says, “Yeah, I wish.” Anyhoo, he did get out and was escorted out by the police. Our head guard would later report, “He was half naked and not the good half.” The next unusual happenstance was the corpse of a (former) patron found in the park behind the library. He was last seen tottering out after having refused medical attention.
* It must be a proud moment in your life to get booted from the public library for being trashed.

Create TV

I made it just under the wire for the digital television conversion which happened yesterday. In keeping with my tradition of keeping things until they absolutely croak, I will not be getting a new television when the one I’ve had since 1999 still gives a good picture. I got the converter and rabbit ears a few weeks ago from Amazon. It was delivered the day before Kristin went to Chicago. So it sat, exactly as I had unpacked it, until she got back. Although I’m a whizz at software, I’m hopeless at hardware. Without her help (Who am I kidding? She did it all while I watched.) everything would probably still be sitting, unhooked, where I left it after getting frustrated. Now it’s hooked up and I can watch limited TV. I get about 3 channels that I would actually watch. The rest seems to be religious crap or in Spanish. I don’t get ABC but I can live with that since they put almost everything online. What I miss the most is HGTV and E!. A totally acceptable substitute for HGTV is Create TV, PBS’s answer to HGTV, FoodNetwork and the Travel Channel. They have well-known hosts (Katie Brown, Sarah Molton, Ming Si). I have already developed a crush on Rick Bayless. He does a show called Mexico: One Plate at a Time. He’s in Chicago, I think, which strikes me as ironic, but he rides a scooter. How hot is that?

Quitters as Economic Indicators

I just read the best article. According to this article, regular economist types and such august personage as Alan Greenspan keep track of when men replace their quitters.* You read that right. It seems that when you put off replacing your tatty underpants, well, that says something about the economy. This is the type of stuff you just can’t make up and also makes me glad to be a human being.

* Quitters defined as underpants with elastic that has given up the fight. May also be threadbare and have holes in strategic places.

Booklist

Another whopper for you. I’ve been reading a bunch but posting very little. Happily, my little web business is picking up, leaving little time for my blog.

As of 05/31/2009:

• Hard Time by Steve Gerber – Graphic novel. Just noticed he’s the same guy that did Nevada (later in list). This was much, much better. Better story. Better art work. It’s about a boy involved in a Columbine-style school shooting and follows him to prison.
• Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling. Impulse check out after a rare hour on the children’s desk.
• Watchmen by Alan Moore – Graphic novel. I thought I’d enjoy it more, since all my library people raved about it. I want to like it more than I did.
• Tomo: I Was an Eight-Grade Ninja by Andrew Simmons. Manga. Easy to read at the desk, which is what I did.
• Nevada by Steve Gerber – Pretty good graphic novel. The eponymous main character is a show girl with an ostrich as a pet. She goes on a trippy trip which was interesting before I lost interest. I did finish it, though. It’ll be interesting to see if they do more with Nevada as a warrior for other dimensions. Or whatever they are calling it. I can’t remember and I already turned in the book so I can’t look.
• Foul Play by Janet Evanovich – One of the nine or so re-releases of some trashy romance novels she wrote before the Plum books. I’m so glad she got this crap out of her system. Like the early trashies of Jennifer Crusie (another favorite) there are definite signs of good things to come but overall disappointing. This book should have been called "Fowl Play". A red rooster features prominently and, in my opinion, was not given nearly enough to do.
• Road Trip of the Living Dead by Mark Henry – The second book in a series the author didn’t expect to write. I like this one better than the first. And, you’ll recall, I did like the first book.
• Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry – This book is an interesting take on zombies. You just don’t often see a zombie as the protagonist. Probably because of the limited diet (braaaiiinnnsss) and necrotic skin. Some of the reviews of the book mention a limited plot, which is true. But it doesn’t matter because you just want to see how Amanda (aforementioned protagonist zombie) handles her new life.
• Hopeless Savages: Ground Zero by Jen Van Meter – Graphic novel. I liked it because it was drawn by Brian Lee O’Malley of my beloved Scott Pilgrim. I found the teen slang created just for the character a bit hard to follow at first. But then I got used to it and it was cute when her love interest Ginger says, “You called me smart. You called me hoosky.” That cracked me up. You’ll have to read it to see what "hoosky" means.
• Ghost World by Daniel Clowes – Graphic novel. I didn’t like it, probably for the same reason I’m not an existentialist. When I had delusions of minoring in philosophy I went to see a French film, the title I can’t even remember. Not that it matters, I didn’t get it any way. It was very French; the main character committed suicide at the end. A friend in class the next day asked me about it. His dad was one of the philosophy professors at school and had raved about the film. I didn’t want to admit I didn’t get it. There are other Ghost World titles but I think I’ll leave them be.
• Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez – Fantastic graphic novel. I’d like to write an ode to the Hernandez brothers. I love them so much I might abandon my innate dignity and giggle like a 15-year-old girl with her friends if I ever met Gilbert Hernandez. I might even go to Comicon just to meet them. I might actually ask for an autograph copy. I might actually buy all the titles for my very own library.
• The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo – Good, flat ending. I will keep reading but I’m starting to be afraid the titles are better than the actual book. The next one is called X-Rated Bloodsuckers.
• In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz Illustrated by Queenie Chan – Graphic novel. I hope they do more. Really pretty good.
• You Wouldn’t Want to Live in a Medieval Castle by Jaqueline Morley, Illustrated by David Antram – Another impulse check out after a rare hour on the children’s desk. It was cute, actually. If follows a young girl, the daughter of the bailiff at a castle, through a siege by Prince Jon.
• No choice but Seduction by Johanna Lindsay – Although I grew up loving Johanna Lindsay and this book was pretty entertaining, most of her recent books are disappointing. After 30 plus years of writing trashy historical romance novels, original plots must be hard to come by.
• Ceremony by Robert B. Parker
• Early Autumn by Robert B. Parker
• Looking for Rachel Wallace by Robert B. Parker
• The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene – Another score from Savers.
• The Sign of the Twisted Candle by Carolyn Keene – Found two Nancy Drews at Savers for $1.49. SCORE!
• La Perdida by Jessica Abel – Graphic novel, OK but the main character is a self-involved douche bag.
• The Perfect Match by Kimberly Cates. Can’t remember much about it but it had dogs and a single father with two kids that made me cry.
• Walking Shadow – Robert Parker
• Dead and Dog Gone – I like these types of books. They invite you into another world. The dead guy is always someone we the reader is not invested in.
• The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais – First Elvis Cole. I like how getting info from the cops was easier and how he banged two women (the only women) in the case and then they went away but didn’t die. Not like David Hasselhoff’s lady friends on Baywatch.
• LA Requiem by Robert Crais
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by? – Graphic novel
• My Heart May Be Broken But My Hair Looks Great by Dixie Cash
• The Mitfords: Letterts Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley. Didn’t read every word. The thing is almost 800 pages. Not a Harry Potter. But I read enough.

Library Epiphany

Had a library epiphany today, thanks to Jenn and Marlene. The reason I’m meant to work with teens (and maybe someday, adults) rather than children is, if they crap their pants it’s not my responsibility. I can politely ask them to take care of it. And their mothers don’t sniff their butts.

So Very Butch

Diana and the Teen Council decorated all the headphones to cut down on theft. Although why anyone would steal these things in the first place is a major mystery. They are huge and don’t have great sound. But the plan seems to be working. We are getting them all back these days. I wish you all could see how our kids look with giant, land-the-space-shuttle black headphones festooned with ribbon, lace and glitter. So very butch.

Book Lust – Anita Blake Graphic Novels

Today at the library Jenn requested that our library purchase the Anita Blake graphic novel series. I’m so excited. I am in book lust for these graphic novels. Since I have her complete written oevre I may have to purchase these for myself. But I know these will circulate so it’s not totally self-serving.