If you had invoked me before you began this journey,

Well, let's start with 50 Books, shall we? In no particular order:

1) Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper - I then lent it to my dad whose first comment was "I want to buy a cleaver now." I, already being in possession of a cleaver, bought two of her cookbooks, both for
specific regions. Land of Plenty, which is Sichuanese, and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, which is Hunan. There's a bunch of really good stuff in them, and I'm really looking forward to cooking out of it.

2) The Fortune Cookie Chronicles - short, easy, read on take-out Chinese in the US. I'm fairly convinced it's related to an article in the Times a few years ago about the origins of fortune cookies, but damned if I totally know.

3) The Umbrella Academy, Volume 1 - Surprisingly good. I nabbed in on the cheap for the iPhone (Dark Horse is putting out a bunch of trades in such a format) and got sucked in. The James Jean cover art may or may not have been partially responsible.

4) Percy Jackson and the Olympians - The Lightning Thief - I... don't know. I'll probably read the rest, but I don't think it was absolutely wonderful. The characters and the characteristics of their immortal parents were well-done, and the idea was good, but I felt it was... a bit lacking somehow.

The next books sitting on the to-read list are mostly partially-read. Likely, they'll get tossed aside in favor of a history of the Custer Battlefield since 1876 (work reading, title is Striken Field) and You Are Not A Gadget, which I think, based on some skimming, I will both love and hate. Expected reaction shouldn't be as violent as the one to Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is one of the few books where I've wanted to kill the writer.




Other than that, I went out to fighter practice tonight. I'm not a newbie, I am uber!noob! But, on the bright side, I practiced some simple things with Bryan and am feeling a bit better with stuff overall. With luck, enough friends will be willing to put up with me poking at them for a bit of time once a week, and all shall be good. Did discover I need to retape my tip though - red on black... not so good for my sight. Definitely need to get in better shape, but this is a good reason.

Also working on cleaning the house, which is a slow process. Translation - getting the library and spare bedroom to actually *be* such things. It's working out though, which is a nice thing. It's also rather overdue. (If you can consider it a few months to be overdue.) In the end, jut happy to be getting the house together and everything settled. After Crown - and btw, we'll be there Saturday and a bit of Sunday - we're going to get the yard in order.

Tomorrow, between work and CSA pickup, my plans involve, quite simply, homework. I feel like I'm running a little behind, but really I know I'm ok. Need to finish something for last week, but I should be alright, I think, as it's kind of not too much.

About the only downside to all of this is that one of my eyes seems to be a bit sore/painful. I actually think it may be a stye, but that doesn't make things any less annoying. Combined with the fact that I spent all morning being very sniffly, it's not been a good day in Willa!health.

So, it's clearly been a long while since I updated this list. I've finished all the Robin McKinley I own

3. The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.

Aerin! Luthe! Talat! Damar! Aerin! no, i don't love it... no, not at all... *grin*

4. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley.

And here we have Harry. And a mountain. I love this world (Damar), and while I'd love her to write more in it - McKinley's been pretty adamant on her blog that it likely won't happen. She's right in that her writing has changed over the years - themes, style, etc - and no matter what, these will always hold a special place in my heart. Honestly fans - be happy with what you have, don't torment the author about what you want.

5. Deerskin - Robin McKinley.

Retelling of Donkeyskin (without the money-producing ass I remember from Lang). Similar tale is the Many-Furred Creature. and i'm blanking on the aarne-thompson classification. i used to know some of them, and this was one. hrmmm Book about the standard themes of growing up, womanhood, love, etc. Damned good though. it's probably worth warning anyone who hasn't read it and isn't familiar with the source material - the rape scene can probably be considered rather graphic.

6. Sunshine - Robin McKinley.

More recent McKinley (2003). It involves vampires and a baker. Not nearly as corny as it may sound, my copy is well-loved and dog-eared. This is an honor that likely only belongs also to Good Omens, which I had to recently replace because of it.

7. Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley

Beauty and the Beast. Prefer it to the earlier Beauty, as it's more... fulfilling.

8. Beauty - Robin McKinley

Earlier version of Beauty and the Beast - one of her first books I think. Not bad, but not my favorite. That honor, as I've said before, belongs to Angela Carter's The Tiger's Bride.

Note - I am willing to concede part of my weakness for Carter's may be the last lines, which begin "And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs."

9. Medalon - Jennifer Fallon

Hrmmm.... interesting world. This is the first in a trilogy (Hythrun Chronicles, and I just found my copies of Treason Keep and Harshini) about a young woman created to destroy a god. Life gets interesting when said young woman when you consider how she was raised... Certain parts cause a minor twitch, but overall enjoyable.

Currently, I'm working on finishing up books I have half-read. This includes the infamous NorsePunk All The Windwracked Stars, which I started from the beginning again just to read the aftermath of (what is assumed to be) Ragnarok and the transformation of Kasimir. She's got a portion of the prologue over here. I fully admit to having a weakness for grandiose statements such as You are not so fallen as you think, and I am the coming Age of the World.

Also have The Far Traveler and Ghost Train To the Eastern Star partially finished. I'd add Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to the list, but I've decided I can only take her in smallish doses as she seems to be inciting ragey!Willa bits...


Right, back to more mundane things. With only two classes today - from 2 to 4:45, I'm currently debating just hitting the library, pulling the damned Mapplethorpe stuff and going home and tidying up a little bit, then relaxing. (Good paper topic, Willa... *mutters* take one of the most written about photographers and chose to write about what no one writes about.)

Be amused.

I have it on good authority Mo Willems is a damned good writer for the little 'uns.

Weekend good. Hit Bookman's, ended up finding a few things - including a copy of Bright Young Things. Woot! Also picked up Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson, Heinlein's The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (a personal favorite), and a few other things. I need to expand my Heinlein collection, he's a favorite.

(Incidentally, I think I'm going to have to look for T.J. Bass' The God Whale. I stumbled across refernces recently, and it seemed an interesting premise.

I'm currently in the (slow) process of getting back into the academic grind. It's sort of weird, to tell the truth. This is my last year of undergrad, so maybe I'm just looking at things differently. I'll admit, in my capstone class, I feel like my goals are so... lowly. I don't have dreams of changing the art history world - I just want to help all those people do research.

Seriously.

After a run of fiction, I decided I needed a change of reading. So, I'm happily reading Tom Wolfe's Hooking Up - which is quite good. It's a collection of non-fiction essays, about various topics, and a novella. I've not read The New Yorker stuff yet.

It's perfectly Wolfe - kind of frantic in places, well-researched, and just fun to read. Now, thus far, it's worth it for two stories - Hooking Up (which is about sexuality at the start of the twenty-first century) and My Three Stooges.

The latter talks about the writing of A Man in Full, and the state of the "Great American Novel." Normally, I wouldn't mention it. However, there's an absolutely lovely section in which John Irving is described, frankly losing it, on a Canadian show called Hot Type.

Attempts to find it thus far, have failed.


In other news, I will admit - the Times Opinion page on the current New Yorker cover... chaos... is quite amusing.

Got my copy of Interface Masque today. I read a little of it, and forgot how much I liked it when I read it several years ago.

Absolute Sandman Vol. 3 comes out tomorrow. The fourth, and final, comes out in November.

SQUEEEEEEEE!!!


Now, I should eventually pick up a copy of Lives of the Monster Dogs.

I recently got my hands on a PDF of Twilight.

I'm about 50 pages in and can't. go. any. further.

It's just not very good.


Someone on FW mentioned they'd read it because it was compared by a friend to Sunshine by Robin McKinley.

I agree with the hell no.

Got a Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas, spent most of it today.

Got a Mark Helprin novel (Freddy and Frederika), NightWatch, and one that looked interesting called Eifelheim.


Plus the current issue of The New Yorker. for i am an east-coast heathen damnit! and i have not read the new yorker in a while...


I nearly bought Umberto Eco's On Uglyness. It's big and glossy and full-color and *ggggggg*

So, let's see.

Most of the weekend was spent goofing off in WoW. Also hit Barnes and Noble. (kittenfemme - they were *sold out*!) There, I drooled over Absolute Sandman Vol. 2. Lots. And dropped a few subtle hints. I also picked up Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and The Crown, two of my favorite books. (side note - i was reminded of them because i recently re-read deerskin, and there's a tiny reference to maur, the great dragon that aerin defeats.)

But I love Aerin and Harry, and I should have picked up the books eons ago. They make me exceedingly happy.

And Christmas cards. I know, such a corny thing - but they were Gorey! And dogs! And damn it, I wanted them!

Also - on Vent the other night, during Gruul - someone asked who sounded like a gnome. Consensus in the guild was it was me. *headdesk* Also, I got punted by the beast in UBRS. Not sure if I should be honored or not.

Added bonus - I was part of the guild's first kill in SSC. Woot!

How does one cure stress and worry?

Buying books!

I got one on some excavations in Norse Greenland, one on card weaving, and the Tudor Tailor. The last one won't get here for another month, and they only had it in paperback (which means, if I use it lots, I may re-bind it), but it's oh-so-shiny...

Back to quiz studying!