San Diego or Bust

Bust. Well, I was supposed to go to San Diego on Saturday. First to go to the Natural History Museum, which is having an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The biggest public viewing of them ever. And also to have dinner with my brother. Well then plans got changed to just driving down for dinner. The exhibit will be there through December, so we have time for that, but my brother is shipping off to Guam in a month for a year, so there isn't too much time to see him before he goes. I actually got to sleep in on Saturday which was nice. I was going to run errands and decided to just do one or two that were really close to home, as I thought I'd be driving a lot in a few hours. To make a long story short, we didn't go. Ben had to work and thought he'd be home by about 3 or 4 (plenty of time to drive down to San Diego, have a nice dinner and chill and then drive back). But, he didn't get home until after 8pm. So there went that one. All in all the weekend was nice, much better than last weekend. Next weekend might not be so great (Vet appointment for Grr on Saturday morning, which means a carsick kitty Yay! And taking my Mom car shopping on Sunday, ugh).

As for the latest & greatest novel I finished..."Sick Puppy" by Carl Hiaasen. It was a very entertaining novel. I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun reading it and had trouble tearing myself from it. I'm still waiting for a book from the library, so in the meantime I'm reading "Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded August 27, 1883" by Simon Winchester. So far, I'm having a little trouble getting into it. It's hard to go from a wildly funny, sarcastic, yet very witty fiction to a non-fiction about a volcanic eruption. It's good so far (I'm only 20 pages into it), I just have to get used to the writing and it being a non-fiction, which may take a few more pages.

Off the grindstone they call work! Or should I say Back to it, as I've been here an hour already...

Rough Weekend

Following a rough last few days, I finished "Deception Point" by Dan Brown. It was an amazing thriller. Full of suspense and twists and turns. So much fun! I read the last of it on Sunday night, sitting in my new reading corner. It was a blast. I think it's the combination of my awesome reading corner, super comfortable chair, and a good book that can make life a little more worthwhile. At least, that's my take on it.

I'm now reading "Sick Puppy" by Carl Hiaasen. He's another writer that I would say is along the same lines as Vonnegut and Robbins. Very witty and sarcastic. I'm enjoying it a lot.

I still have a book that I've requested from the library, although it's still not there and I requested it about 2 weeks ago. I'm hoping it'll be in by the time I finish this one. I want to read the Harry Potter series too, now that all the books are out. I think I may read those next.

And lastly, to end this posting:
I want to commemorate the death of Ralphy "Snowshoes" Eiben. Died on Monday July 23, 2007. The last of my childhood pets who looked like he was part bobcat or something. Six claws on each of his front paws. He knew his name and would talk to you. He had the best purr of any cat I've ever heard, the most soothing sound. He killed & brought home a full grown rabbit once. He was such a big cat, that I think other little animals just got so scared they stood there staring and one swipe with his claws and they were down for the count. He will be missed. I took some pictures and video of him in his last few days, but I didn't get his talking meow or his purr. I wish I did. I hope Ralphy & Psycho are rejoined and happily playing together as they did in this life. Bye Ralphy, I really hope we gave you a good life. I'll miss you.

Reading is Fun!

I finished "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro last week. It was a truly amazing story. Ishiguro has this great way of telling a story while keeping a shroud of mystery around it. So, even if the story is not a mystery, you still find it all a huge mystery to you. When I finally found out, or shall I say, realized, what I was reading about it put me into a sense of awe. I had already gotten close to the main character, so it wasn't that jarring for me, yet it was still a little unsettling. It was beautiful. I can't even describe how wonderful of a story it is. Nothing is as it seems.

I'm now reading "Deception Point" by Dan Brown. As usual, it's a great thriller/adventure book that I'm thoroughly enjoying and cannot put down. His writing is so easy, yet really sucks you in. He has a way with explaining scientific facts in such a way that almost anyone could understand AND want to read more. It's pretty fun. I'm still waiting for the book I requested from the library to come in. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my read!

P.S.

While I was in Nantucket I went to the whaling museum. There is an exhibit there that has some things about the whaleship Essex. I read a book awhile ago that I posted about, called In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's all about the true story of Moby Dick. Actually Herman Melville was the cabin boy of the ship that picked up the captain of the Essex after a 93 day journey of trying to be saved. A whale rams the Essex and only a few people survive. It's 93 days before most of these people are found. It's a crazy story that was pieced together from journals and such. Really wonderful. But to finally see this stuff in an exhibit was exhilarating. I'll post a picture or two, once I finally get them from my digital camera...

Been awhile

Sorry about the lapse in postings. Life has been pretty hectic & I have managed to read a lot of books, just kept forgetting to post about them. The move has been totally complete and I have to admit that I really do love this new apartment, especially without the drunken manager. I finally got my deposit back a few days after California law says, but I finally got it. Grr has decided that it's fun to go for walks around our new apartment complex. If we leave the front door open she slips out and saunters back in about 10 minutes later. It's kinda funny. We've even had two houseguests already.

I had a wonderful 4th of July. We went to Nantucket for the week to visit some of Ben's friends. It was such a wonderful place. I had the best time there, but it was nice to get home, back to my bed and back to Grr. One of our new neighbors was nice enough to get our mail and water our plants for us, so it was pretty cool. I think Grr had fun at my Mom's. My Mom thinks she's such a funny little cat, which she is (not so little though).

So, let's see I really can't remember all the books I've read, so I'm only going to speak about what I remember. A History of Love by Nicole Krauss was a wonderful book. I really, really enjoyed it and was totally gripped by the stories. I also re-read Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. This was supposed to be for my book club, but the meeting was the day after I got back from Nantucket. After I ran a bunch of errands & picked up Grr from my Mom's, I was not able to go anywhere and especially not able to coherently speak about a book. So, I didn't go. I emailed a few people & found out that the discussions were great. So it sucks I missed it. I did like this book again. It's really short and sweet. You don't have to think too hard, but at the same time the book makes you think. It's well worth the read.

I finished that book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. Thought it was good. It was a nice snapshot life of a girl in a boarding school that just wanted to go. I liked it, but wouldn't thoroughly recommend it unless I knew that's what someone was looking to read. I did also read Save Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. What can I say? Amy Tan delivers yet again. She's amazing. The story was fabulous, well written, wonderful characters and just a great read. And the story is not like any of the other Amy Tan books. I highly recommend it.

Now, I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. So far, it's a mystery. One that I'm enjoying. I think I'll read my next book club book once I find out what it is. I also put another book on hold at the library, just in case...

That's it. I tried to cram a lot into this posting, but hope it's okay. I promise to try and post again a little sooner this time.