CROSS YOUR LEGS
Jamie-Lynn Spears is pregnant. Oh, yes she is. This is not a drill, folks! This is the real thing! The SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD sister of Britney motherfuckin' Spears is going to HAVE A BABY. They are like The Beverly HIllbillies FOR REAL.
Jamie-Lynn Spears is pregnant. Oh, yes she is. This is not a drill, folks! This is the real thing! The SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD sister of Britney motherfuckin' Spears is going to HAVE A BABY. They are like The Beverly HIllbillies FOR REAL.
Tonight, Ulrich and I ran into an a rather famous actress at the Fancy Grocery Store, and I immediately humiliated myself by announcing quite proudly that she and I shared a birthday. She was very gracious, but written all over her face were the words, "Oh, great, another Crazy -- let's try not to get stabbed." I heard a lot of "happy birthday" and had to stress carefully that I knew it wasn't actually our mutual birthday today, but just that I thought it was an interesting bit of trivia. I mean, to ME. Admittedly, it makes no difference to her that some dude in the grocery store is also a Pisces, but it was good news to me, and I wanted to share. Is that so wrong?
Another thing I did this week was receive a very ominous email from Honey Ryder, my ex-girlfriend. Yes, you read that right. She sent me a little "hey, haven't talked to you in a couple of years since that time I TOTALLY FREAKED YOU OUT, and I thought I'd see how you were doing! Oh, also, I'M COMING TO TOWN. SEE YOU SOON," message. I have mere weeks to prepare.
On the heels of this -- and I mean, IMMEDIATELY on the heels of this -- I got an email from the girl I pseudo-dated after Honey and I broke up. Again, you read that right. Don't judge, it was a very confusing time for me. Anyway, Girl #2, whom we shall refer to as Ingrid (for reasons that are my own), and I rode a rather bizarre roller coaster at the end of my senior year in high school, in which there were a lot of things we didn't say to each other, and which ended with her sort of never speaking to me again. Until, you know, MONDAY, when she wrote me an email out of the blue.
Then today I got a message from ANOTHER girl I knew in high school (although I don't *think* I dated this one -- my memory's a little foggy on her), but I can't bring myself to read it yet, because I'm starting to shake in my boots at the thought of what else is coming down the pike. I REALLY need to commit Friendstercide, y'all. Wearing a homing beacon on the internet is proving bad for my constitution.
So the big question before the court is, do I try to gather unto me all the people I know in order to create a protective buffer zone for when Honey comes to town? Or do I go for what's behind Door Number Two: protective isolation? It may prove wiser to have as few witnesses as possible to whatever embarrassing truths about Teenage Dr. No may come to light.
I'll be grappling with these heady problems all weekend, while Ulrich and I are out of town, staying in a spacious B&B, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, hoping there aren't as many gay-hating rednecks in those particular mountains of California as have been reported elsewhere. We did buy a twenty-eight-year-old bottle of wine to bring with us (what we were doing at the Fancy Grocery Store), so failing all else, I can probably drink my way to a solution.
I suppose if I can survive that, I can survive anything.
Dean Koontz: Intensity
Suspenseful and unnerving, this book suffers from only two minor flaws. While Koontz's purple prose lends itself well to description and rumination, it does no favors for the scattered bits of dialog in this otherwise well-written tale. Additionally, after a crashingly good horror story with genuine moments of real introspection, the final denouement seems trite and preachy. Overall, though, an exciting read.
Joanne Harris: Gentlemen and Players
My one complaint about Joanne Harris is that her protagonists tend to be abrasive and unlikeable. Not so here, which is possibly her best to date -- our hero is one of the most enjoyable characters she's developed yet; even the villain has a cunning appeal, and Harris pits the two narratives against each other, ratcheting the suspense as she slowly brings things to a boil.
Janet Evanovich: Visions of Sugar Plums
My mother is a woman obsessed with Janet Evanovich, and she has been insisting for years that I read her interstitial novellas. This is the first, and it's a cute, breezy Christmas tale. There's a supernatural element that wasn't my cup of tea -- too much peanut butter in my chocolate -- but if you're a fan of Evanovich, you'll like it.
John Buchan: The Thirty-Nine Steps
A brisk and engaging spy thriller, this novella - the source material for Hitchcock's famous film - barely exceeds 100 pages. It strains credibility a bit, but it's still a fun read, and although the Georgian era references and colloquialisms are sometimes hard to follow, a glossary of terms (!) at the back of the book does help.
James E. McWilliams: A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America
An excellent book, especially if you're interested in culinary anthropology or American cultural, social, geographical, or political history. The author charts the evolution of regional American cuisine from colonial times to the Revolution.
Janet Evanovich: Metro Girl
Typical of Evanovich's style - this is light, easy, and fun; a good summertime book. Perhaps a bit too stylistically similar to her Stephanie Plum series, but if it ain't broke...
Heather Graham: The Seance
So bad. SO. BAD. Just...just so bad.
David Kamp: The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation
An authoritative and compellingly-written look at the rise of gourmet cuisine in the American culture, charting it from Le Pavillon to Chez Panisse to Whole Foods. It will make you want to cook, y'all. For reals.
James Patterson: 1st to Die: A Novel
A recommendation from my mother -- she's hooked. I thought it was good, but Patterson's blunt, staccato writing style took some getting used to. Still, if you like procedurals, it's an effective diversion.