This week I've read Heartburn by Nora Ephron. Eh. And Last Chance Saloon by um, some Irish chick whose books I've enjoyed....crap. Forgot. Next to my bed, I have been alternating between Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins (heehee) and a collection of short stories written by Irish chicks. Last night I was up with Chloe most of the night (she's had a heinous fever of 104.5 and I don't like her out of my sight), so I finally read Running With Scissors. I liked it, found it humorously horrible....but I still like Sedaris better. I think I'll look into Dry and Sellevision though, I'll probably like them, too. I also read That Yellow Bastard this morning over a cup of tea and a bagel. The last two weeks, I've re-read That Yellow Bastard, Big Fat Kill, A Dame to Kill For, and the Marv one....blanking on the title.

Next up: The Secret History, On the Road, Mrs. Dalloway (would make it the third time this year...I'm currently craving it viciously), collection of short stories by American women, The Kite Runner (book group selection), Sometimes a Great Notion, and Main Street.

Claire, try Augesten's newly released short story collection. I really enjoyed it and it isn't quite as dark as "Running" or even "Dry" (which I loved for obvious reasons).

The Hard Goodbye. I love that one. I haven't read A Dame To Kill For, yet.

I LOVE The Secret History. Tartt's The Little Friend isn't as terrific, but the characterizations are *amazing* in both. I'm a Bennington grad, so The Secret History really was a chilling read for a lot of reasons. I could see every place she described in vivid detail. And her Henry. Man, I love her Henry. Enjoy it, I hope!

You know all the bar scenes in the other books when Dwight is whining about Ava? She's the dame to kill for of the title. But now that I've seen Clive Owen as Dwight, I don't like it as much. But you learn how Manute loses his eye....:evil: and that's worth reading it for alone. The kill at the end of the book reminds me of the kill by Josh Hartnett's character at the beginning of Sin City.

I'm looking forward to A Secret History. Thanks for the good word.

My sudden interest in children's chapter books has given me a lot to read in a small amount of time. The book I'm working on now is The Grim Grotto : book the eleventh of the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Books I have finished:


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Princess Present (part of the Princess Diaries Series)


Other books being worked on;

Bad Ass Girl's Guide to Poker (to strengthen my game... and my horrible poker face)
Disney War

I am reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams & re-reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce.

I just got The Annotated Brothers Grimm and I've been swept back to my childhood.

When I was a kid we had a series of books, one volume was all fairy tales. I read that book over and over and over. I still remember that "Cinderella" was on page 123, that seemed magical somehow. The illustrations were all different styles and I believed them all, I mean somewhere the world looked just like that, not like the boring place I lived.

I opened up this new book last night and found some of the same illustrations and discovered the reason they were so compelling was that they were taken from classic editions of fairy tales. I feel like I've discovered something that's been lost for a long time.

I think it's Marian Keyes. I read that. I always say to people now....I'm in Last Chance Saloon.....

This weekend I was totally baaad, didn't work on my papers at all and curled up with two favorite detective novels....The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (not bad, not great but definitely not bad) and Cold Service by Robert Parker (just eh.)

I just read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. I ordered it from Amazon because I thought I might use it for one of my papers. I don't think I will be able to use it, but it was a very interesting read. I actually sat down with it to scan through it, and pretty much ended up reading it all in one sitting.

"My Wicked Wicked Ways" by Errol Flynn. He wrote his own biography and that dude was so SWANKY. I suggest it to anyone who's a fan or even slightly interested in reading about one actor's escapades. :snap: