I forgot this blog existed. Again.

Okay, do-over.

So far this year I've read:
School of Fear: Class is Not Dismissed
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Divergent
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Aaaaand I can't remember what else. I'll try to. It looks like January was a lot of YA.


In progress:
The Count of Monte Cristo (I'm reading some free "classics" on Jared's ipod)
The Bromeliad Trilogy


Jared is reading Wildwood, which was one of my favorites of last year. It's so very good.

I've also been watching TV this year which I failed at last year. Not "real" TV, I guess, but Doctor Who and Downton Abbey on Netflix, mostly. Every few days I'll watch an episode when I might normally have just read. It's probably somehow good for my brain although I'm not reading as much as I usually do. I'm okay with that.

And I start a new semester at school at the end of the month so I'll probably drop off on reading even more. I'll still read, though. I can't not read.

EPIC FAILURE.

I read a crap-load of books last year. Don't believe me? I... well, I don't really care. You're not a real person anyway.

Seriously, though.
I'm about half way through the world of Discworld, further if you count the ones I read before I went back to the beginning.
I read some of 2010's more popular offerings... Hunger Games, Dragon Tattoo, etc.
Read a bunch of quick Independent Reader books, some YA, a million kid's books to Will.
Also read some classics I'd always meant to read - Swiss Family Robinson was great and I feel like I could plop down on some island somewhere and start my own civilization. Also enjoyed Treasure Island in all its piratey glory.
Just for example.

Basically, I read, and I read a lot. At least a (real, adult) book a week but really very much more than that. It was enjoyable. I should have kept better track, although I don't feel any worse off for having NOT kept track, just like every other year of my life.

Sigh.

Well for the love of Pete. There is something wrong with my blogging skillz. I have none.

So much for "giving myself direction".

I have read a billion books since my last post. Like, more than I'd read in the three months I actually posted. Apparently writing about the books I'm reading makes me read less. Sensical, no?

I am going to try to make a list, a plain old boring list, and post it here this week. I may as well keep track even if I'm not keeping up.

Jane Bites Back

Finished Jane Bites Back last night. It was... funny! and entertaining! and actually well done, for this sort of thing. Making fun of Jane Austen sequels and spinoffs while being a Jane Austen spinoff is not easy to do, but this was a good little read. Jane seemed perfectly Jane-like, in a new sort of way. I did groan a bit when I realized there was a sequel already, but I am sure I will pick it up if I see it at the library. I'm such a sucker.

And other things.

Hey! Books! I'm reading some!

Finished:

Equal Rites.
I lost this one in the sofa, apparently, with only 10 pages to go. I had visions of having to pay the library $90 (or whatever unholy sum it would cost) for a $6.99 paperback. Jared found it when we were moving things for the carpet cleaner so I was able to finish it yesterday and save myself the unholy sum. Whew. Close call.

Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There.
If Bill Bryson published a daily log of his meals and bathroom usage I would read it. Stick him in Bulgaria and I think I've died and gone to heaven. That man brings The Funny and The Did He Just Say That? like nobody. I love every word. Love.


Up Next:

Crap, I have no idea. I never started that Jane as vampire book... I have a few other books at home I've been dying to read... and I got some good recommendations here and elsewhere. I'll start something tonight, for sure.

This is How Big of a Nerd I am:

So I obviously got very in to the Betsy-Tacy series back there. One of my favorite things was reading the real history behind the stories at the end of each book. Maud Hart Lovelace grew up in a Minnesota town and she based most of the series on her own life. Included in the biographical sections, with pictures (!), were a few fun facts that completely drew me in.

1. Maud (and thus Betsy!) was born on April 25th, 1892. I was born April 25th, 1982. Love sharing birthdays with people!
2. In their later years, Maud and her family moved to Claremont, CA. I live in Montclair about 5 steps from Claremont. I grew up around Claremont. My mom lives in Claremont. Etc. etc. This was way too exciting to me.

See? Nerd. Ahem.

After I finished all the books I tried to find out just where this Claremont house was. I know that her Minnesota homes are all on tours and easily located in guidebooks and websites and everywhere, if you’re a Betsy-Tacy fan. I couldn’t find the Claremont house though.

So, being me, I wrote to the President of the Maud-Hart Lovelace Society. I know. I’m a nerd. Shush.

She oh-so-kindly replied with the address, where she had found the address (The Besty-Tacy Companion, currently sitting on my bookshelf thanks to the LA County library, just waiting to be cracked open), and told me she would just love if I could send her a picture of it. Then she told me she thought the Claremont library might have more information for me (it doesn’t) because she knew that the local Society branch had donated a park bench years ago in her honor. Which is when I lost it, because I have totally sat on that bench while my kid ran around the library grounds, and I had always thought it was just a city bench with some plaque dedicated to Mayor So-and-So, and you get the point. I’ve been sitting on the Betsy-Tacy bench!!!

On our library outing that week I got all giddy at the sight of it, and then got all sad because I had forgotten my camera. But. I have a little trip planned for a free Saturday soon. Maud’s Claremont house (which is less than a mile from my last apartment) and the Claremont library bench. Just me and my camera, so I can send pictures to the Society president one of these days.

Lately

I finished The Light Fantastic this weekend, and moved on to Equal Rites. This third Disc book is about a young girl who ends up with Wizard powers, but Wizards are supposed to be boys. Cheeky monkey. I’m liking it. Almost done.

I also got a few books from the library to add to my stack of Library Books I Must Read Quickly.

I have a super nerdy story I must tell regarding my newfound devotion to the Betsy-Tacy books, but it must wait for a better afternoon.

Better, and Other Thoughts

Better:
The Light Fantastic has gotten much better. Hoorah. I've realized I don't like these beginning Terry Pratchett books as much because they spend so much time on boring Genesis-ian (what, it's totally a word) bits of "In the beginning, there was a turtle riding on four elephants" etc. etc. etc.

I know these things from reading later books, I don't need it spelled out for me. I try to remember that someone reading this, his second Disc world novel, when it was published in 1986 would not be privy to the information I've gathered from later novels. But it's still annoying. We seem to be past that in this book, now, so I think I'm good to go. Either way I'll stop complaining about it and realize once again that I should have started from the damn beginning in the first place.

The Other Thoughts:
I check in here so sporadically that I didn't even realize I'd gotten a comment earlier in the month. Oops.

I wanted to read over watching LOST last night.

I like to figure out stupid things like: I am averaging one book every 4.something days.

This, sadly, is a much lower average (seems to me - I haven't done the math) than in my pre-kid days. I guess that's to be expected, but I wish I still had hours to just sit and consume an entire book. That would be heaven.

But living life is the priority and I can't exactly complain about that either. There is more to life than books, right? Right? :)

Now what?

Now I've finished the Betsy books and I have a stack of books still to read, and I don't know where to begin.

I'm reading Terry Pratchett's The Light Fantastic and it's... eh. I'll finish it, but it will take me a while.

I checked this book out of the library, mostly because it looks hilarious. Jane Austen is a vampire? How could I not want to read that?

I guess I'll see which of these I finish first. Or at all.

And then there were none.

I finished reading the last of the Betsy-Tacy series last night. And I cried. What delight and sadness and life are in those books.

The final 7:
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Heaven to Betsy
Betsy in Spite of Herself
Betsy Was a Junior
Betsy and Joe
Betsy and the Great World
Betsy's Wedding

Just pure goodness. I am bewitched.