Merry Christmas!

With the holidays, it's been quite crazy around here - I have stolen a few minutes per day these last few days for reading, but haven't done too much. It is rather my fault though because I have chosen to nap and play Mah Jong and help cook and watch movies with family instead. Also, last night before the Christmas midnight Mass, I chose to be smart and pray the rosary a little earlier than normal (before I go to sleep) so that I wouldn't be up too late instead of reading more because I'd still like to know what's going on.

I should really get back to the movie we're currently watching, so I'm off for now. For those wondering, we're watching Julie & Julia - both Mom and Erin got it for Christmas, and Rachel hasn't seen it and wanted to. Poor Jimmy, we keep watching movies he's not very interested in. The next one should be one he wants to watch.

Oops!

After publishing that last post, I remembered more things I'd wanted to say about The Thirteenth. I'll add them now instead. First, although I knew the reference had to be for something else, but I really think L. A. Banks ought to have written one more book before this one - it's currently the twelfth book in the series. I'm also intrigued by this book's suggestion for the origin of silver's negative affect on vampires and other hell creatures - a connection to Judas' betrayal of Jesus for "a few pieces of silver" - although I would argue that 30 is more than a few.

I'm still reading Irish Crystal. Dermot has been making some interesting (and amusing) comments about Nuala - sometimes just to himself and other times in conversation with the Adversary (which is technically still himself). I was also amused with the very last thing I'd read so far - Nuala complains that she still wishes Dermot were there too - but she's got no right to complain as she'd told him he wasn't allowed to come (although he hadn't considered the option of coming until she mentioned it).

Depending upon how quickly I read, and how well the final bits of Christmas shopping go, I just might finish this book today - so I may have to find something new at work today. I'll probably go for the next Nuala mystery, but who knows.

A Bit of Reading, Little Internet Wandering

So, it has yet again been awhile since I last posted. This past week has been a bit crazy - Jimmy is now home for Christmas/between-terms break - and it's almost Christmas. I suspect this next week or two might be just as busy/internetless.

I rather quickly finished Irish Cream, partially to find out what happened/get to know the characters better and also because I needed to finish two of the other books I'd checked out by the day after Christmas. I'd gotten the one because the last book (at that time) I'd read in the series contained an excerpt from it, the final book in the series. After actually getting the copy of this book at the library (having them order it and everything), I learned that there was a book in between it and the other one I'd read - and the library didn't yet own it either. Thankfully, library staff was willing/able to order that one as well. Then, while waiting for that book to arrive, the first one was placed on hold by someone else, so now, I was unable to renew it. I'll discuss more on these books later.

I did enjoy Irish Cream, even if many of the temporary characters were a bit hard to like (also, although I didn't like them much, I was still sad at what happened to them at the end). It's been so long (sort of) since I finished this, that it's a bit hard for me to remember much more of what happened and what my impressions were. I do rather wish I were able to see the Day's paintings though - that I do remember.

Having finished that, I dove straight into the two final Vampire Huntress Legend books, both by L. A. Banks. The first book is The Shadows, followed by The Thirteenth. I will discuss these together as they have somewhat blurred together in my mind - something about reading them in a row. I liked how the non-Guardian/civilian characters were brought together and made a part of the action - the family is growing. I also wish I could be on Atlantis with everybody - it would be interesting to meet all those little kids - and I bet they're quite cute. Ayana in particular is impressive - but so are all the others. I was saddened by the end of Fr. Pat's life on Earth, but I did like Uriel's use of his final battle/gift to fool Satan! JL's (I think it was him - sadly, even after this many books, some of the characters blend together a bit in my mind - maybe I need to read them all again) discovery at the beginning of the first book was exciting - I can easily understand the energy he got from it - he was almost bouncing off the walls. I was intrigued by Sebastian's accidental addition of Vlad/Dracula to the Vampire Council.

After reading those, I moved on to a book I found by shelving it (sort of - it only stayed on the shelf for an hour or so). I was intrigued enough by it that I decided to see if we had a different copy of it at all (it was the Large Print version), but as we didn't, I did go back and get it. The Seven Year Seduction by Heidi Betts was about what I expected. It was a rather cute story - that like similar stories, did bring me to tears at a few points (but most stories in which I begin to care for the character(s) at all does that). I enjoyed it I suppose - although it wouldn't win any prizes for Great Literature. Although I could have guessed at most of what happened in the story, I did not expect the miscarriage surprise. This book only took the total of a couple of hours to read - even if it was spread out between Friday night and Saturday.

Having finished that, I continued on to what I'd originally intended to read after Irish Cream, Andrew Greeley's Irish Crystal, which just happens to be the next one in the series. Although I'm not far into it (much of my time today was spent knitting while watching football - with a bit of Christmas shopping as well). So far, I'm rather annoyed at the three or four temporary characters who have been complaining about Maeve and Fiona, the two dogs (Irish wolfhounds), and also Day (who walks them). I like all three of them, and am therefore inclined to dislike any who don't like them.

Back to the Irish

So, I stayed up last night to finish Missing Mark - I had pretty much started it earlier that morning and just kept reading - well, when I wasn't at work or watching Bones with Mom. I quite enjoyed it, although I'm not sure I liked it as much as I liked Stalking Susan. I knew quite early in the story who caused Mark's disappearance, although I'd had no clue about the reasons for it. I was also intrigued by the face-blindness described in the book. I can't imagine what that would be like. In some ways I'd like to argue that it (in a mild form) is the reason I have some trouble recognizing people in large crowds and remembering people's names, but I don't think it's true. No matter how convenient that could be, I'm not sure it would work quite that way. I suppose, though, it could also explain why I sometimes say this person reminds of this other person and (often) everyone else gives me a confused stare and argue that they look nothing alike.

After finishing that book, even though it was already late - probably almost 1am or 1:30am (I don't remember what the clock said, even though I did look at it) I decided I wasn't ready to go to bed yet. I started another book I'd checked out from the library - another one I'd had on hold that I was only going to get to keep for two weeks (I suspect that many people are interested in it for the same reason I was). After the title intrigued me, although I can't place what about it did that, I decided I was going to try to read it because it was written by a Mayo doctor and was inspired somewhat by real occurrences. This book is The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine, M.D. It wasn't quite what I expected and I can't decide if I want to say it was a good book or not. My heart goes out to Batuk, and especially all those who live what she did in the story. I appreciate that Dr. Levine is donating all proceeds from the sale of this book to help missing and exploited children. I ended up staying up to finish this book as well last night (probably finishing around 4:30am, maybe a bit closer to 5am). In some ways, it could be interesting to have a one-on-one conversation with the author about his book, but I don't actually plan on that ever happening.

After a bit of debate on what to read next, I decided I needed to move to the next Nuala Anne McGrail book, Irish Cream. So far (I'm only 15-20 pages in), I'm enjoying this Andrew Greeley book, too. In some ways I'd like to move to some of his other series' too, but I don't know how to pick one, and there are so many. I may just wait until I've read all of these - at least that have been written so far. I don't really know what the historical mystery is in this story yet, but I'm sure there will be one; there've only been hints as to what the modern one is so far. I'm amused by Day's character so far, but it's a bit early - although I suspect he's a character I'm supposed to like, so it's not too surprising. I am amused that he's related to the little bishop - although I suppose I'm also still amused that he's called the little bishop. Hmm, I wonder if Nuala and Dermot (and kids) appear in any of the Blackie Ryan mysteries. I suppose the best way to find out would be to read them.

Snowy Day

On this cold and snowy winter day I am starting to read Julie Kramer's second book Missing Mark. Her first book was this year's first book for the St. Francis book club. As soon as I'd read that (Stalking Susan), I put this one on hold at the library - I wanted to know what happened next, and it was an enjoyable quick read. The book was finally available for me yesterday, so here we go.

I did also get the next two Nuala Anne McGrail books as well, but as Missing Mark is still on hold enough that I only get to keep it for two weeks, I'm going to start with it, even though I also expect I'll have finished all three of them before that two weeks is up. I am still planning on mostly watching Angel season five today and tomorrow though.

I have now officially lost some of my prime reading time for a while. I like to read on my walk to and from work, but it is now too cold and snowy, and I have to be able to watch/prepare for icy spots on the sidewalk so I'll have to wait until spring for this opportunity again.

Now what?

So I just finished reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane at supper today. I did quite enjoy it. I suspected correctly who the "bad guy" was. I was slightly wrong with the prediction I made in my post yesterday. Connie did not stay in Granna's house as I expected - however, I was correct that the house didn't get sold. Grace sold her house out west and moved into the house she grew up in instead. I was intrigued by the suggested meaning/identity of the philosopher's stone that Liz (Connie's roommate) made at the end of the book. It wasn't something I expected, but it makes a good bit of sense.

However, I don't have much checked out to read now. The only book I have left is the final book in the Vampire Huntress Legends series, but when I checked it out from the library (after requesting that they purchase it) I learned that there was another book before it, but after the last one I read (this was slightly hard to expect as the last book I read didn't list this one, and had an excerpt from the last book in the series). I'm currently waiting for the middle (ish) book to come in on hold for me, after it is purchased and processed into the library catalog.

Tomorrow after work I'll find something else to read - probably the next Nuala Anne McGrail book by Andrew M. Greeley. I've never had much trouble finding something new to read at the library - usually I find too many options at once. I also have yet to read the next chapter (chapter five) in the book for the Bible study at Church, but I might have some time between Church activities tomorrow morning, so for now I'm saving it for then. Anyways, I'm hoping to finish the final season of Angel this week, so I can return it to my boss' boss when I'm at work on Friday - I don't want to keep this one as long as I kept the last one - almost two months at least, I think. Thankfully, I don't think he cared much - at least that's what he said. But still, that's too long. Unless I get extremely distracted - which is possible - I should have no trouble with that. Time to watch that first episode.

Memories

So, last Wednesday afternoon/evening I finished The Lost Symbol. It was similar to both Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, which I suppose shouldn't surprise me too much as they are both in the same series. Near the end of the book, when the fact that the whole adventure started only about ten hours earlier appears, I found it hard to believe at first. So much was packed into that time frame that I wanted to say it just wasn't possible. I suppose in general it might not actually be possible, but according to the story it was exactly the truth. This book didn't seem to have quite the same glaring inaccuracies that the other two books had, but it is still merely a story. I am still interested in learning more about Katherine Solomon's research - Dan Brown says at the beginning of the book that it really is a field of study, so I'll have to look into it at some point. For much of the second half (last third?) of the book I was sure that the Washington Monument was important in some way - was maybe the large rock/stone mentioned - but didn't know for sure why I thought that. Now, in thinking back on it, I think it hearkened back to an early passage in the book when Langdon is flying over DC, the plane about to land, and he reflects on it.

After finishing this book, I read The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney. I'd already read the first two books in the series and was a bit intrigued to see where the story would go next. Sometimes I found it hard to understand and/or sympathize with Greg - especially as regards his trouble with clean laundry - it's not that hard to do laundry and clean clothes are so nice to have. The story was about as I expected based on the other two. It wasn't bad enough for me to quit reading, but it's not really that great of a book - granted the fact that it's intended for a much younger audience might make a difference in that. As I'd hoped, I also finished this Wednesday evening - I could sort of be under the ten items checked out at a time limit I'd imposed on myself - officially I had a book for Mom and a book for Dad both checked out, but as I'd already read them I didn't worry about including them in the list.

Having finished that book, I started the other book I'd had on hold at the library that came in the same day as The Lost Symbol. This was Katherine Howe's The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I've been greatly enjoying this book - I can't wait to see exactly how it will end. I guessed pretty quickly that Connie was related to Deliverance Dane somehow - why else would some things apparently hers be in Granna's house. I sometimes felt a bit of kinship with Connie - in some ways I think we are quite alike - but obviously not in every way. When I started this book Wednesday evening, my first thought connected to a book I read a year or so ago, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason's The Rule of Four. Both of these books made me a bit nostalgic for college/paper-writing - again I almost want to assign myself a research paper or a writing project (maybe something similar to my Brit Lit after 1700 research project), but I'm a bit afraid it will have a similar result to the assignment I'd given myself after reading The Rule of Four (great book, btw) - my brain was too fried after trying to understand Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" and I was unable to finish anything. Unlike Connie, I can't imagine knowing enough about any topic - especially something as broad and New England history - to be able to spend three or four hours answering any and all questions posed about it - I suppose that means it's a good thing I'm not looking at being a doctoral student. I'm enjoying the little bits of historical story amidst the modern-ish main story. I've always been a bit fascinated by the Salem witch trials - horrified too. One prediction I have for the end of this book is that Connie is going to decide to buy/keep Granna's house instead of putting it for sale on the market. Oh, I'm also still surprised that Connie hasn't realized that her ability to know what her mother is doing at a particular moment - even seeing her sometimes - despite being on opposite coasts of the U.S. is something that is quite unusual for most people. It almost seems as if she thinks everyone can do that.

Friday afternoon/evening I came up with a solution for one slight problem I had. I wanted to be still reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane this morning, but I was reading it a bit too fast for that to work well. However, I realized that if I were to read the final book I'd checked out with it first, that would solve my difficulty (although it did end up leading to me staying up much later than I should have Friday night). Friday afternoon/evening/night (I stayed up until about 2am) I read I am the Wallpaper by Mark Peter Hughes. Much of this was also as I expected it to be - although at times it was hard for me to picture Floey as 13 and even harder for me to picture Calvin (I think this is the right character - I've already forgotten some of the names) as 15. I did enjoy the story - as evinced by my late night. As with many books I read - especially the YA ones I find while shelving or shelf reading - I found I was crying at times. Not as much as I did for many books, say especially Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen, and partially it's sequels, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall.

New books

So, yesterday evening I finished Irish Stew! - I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't very close to the correct solutions to either mystery, but I'm not usually, so that's nothing new. A couple of posts ago, I commented that Nuala and Dermot's third child was born premature just as I was. As I was reading the book and Socra Marie kept going back to the hospital because of health issues, I kept thinking that I didn't have that much trouble when I was born (at least from what I've been told - not too surprisingly, I don't remember much (if anything) from then myself). However, near the end of the book, Nuala lists how many weeks early Socra Marie was born, and I realized that she was born more than twice as many weeks early as I was (15 weeks, compared to my 7); this quite likely is the reason behind the difference. I was quite angry with the couple Nuala and Dermot were talking with at this point in the story - they told the two of them that they should have treated Socra Marie as a stillbirth/miscarriage and not continued fighting for her life (despite the fact that Socra Marie was fighting on her own for her life). The doctors had also suggested this to them at the beginning of the book, but there was something in particular about the way this couple said it that really bothered me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Socra Marie was more six months old and was doing quite well - in some ways better than full-term babies her age.

I tried to move to one of the books I'd had on hold at the library that came in for me pretty much right after finishing this one, but between the extreme difference in theme and tone, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular on tv I just couldn't get into it. A few hours later, I had no trouble and am now over 1/4 the way through it - almost 1/3 finished. I'm reading Dan Brown's newest book The Lost Symbol. I'm interested enough in this, and Dad would like to read it as well, so I'm going to finish this instead of watching those other shows, so that I can find out what happens and Dad can finish it before it's due back in two weeks. Briefly at the beginning (mostly) it reminded me of National Treasure. I am intrigued by the research that Katherine Solomon is doing in the book - I may have to look into it, if I can. It could be interesting to read any studies from it.

Haymarket Riot and Stew

I'm still reading Irish Stew!, but considering all the tv show watching I did yesterday, it's a bit surprising I'm almost halfway through it. As the mystery unfolds, I keep wondering exactly how it will be solved. I'm kind of interested in researching more about the Haymarket Riot, but I know that Andrew Greeley has done a lot of research for the book, and at the end of the story he put a note about the "true" aspects of his story. I think I'll wait for those, and if I need to, I'll do more research after that. Nellie's reactions to/interactions with Socra Marie are quite amusing and cute. In the last part I read, she was the only one able to soothe Socra Marie - because she hadn't paid any attention to her in the last few days and Socra Marie was mad at her for it. :)