Blogging two weeks in a row?! What the what?! 😉
1. I have a cold. (Yuck!) J is sending me some chicken noodle soup from my fave deli (what a sweetie!), and I’m quickly burning through a box of Kleenex. Le sigh. But that leaves me plenty of time to watch some Netflix. Since Gilmore Girls — all seasons, all episodes — is on Netflix streaming, I’ve been reacquainting myself with its awesomeness. For some reason, the bitchiest characters are my fave. Maybe it’s because they say things that I would never dream of saying, but they’re kind of true…mean, but true…
Like Michel! How awesome is he:
And Paris! OMG! <3
Also, I’ve found and watched all of Bitten. Because Clayton!
OMG!!! And how many naked butts can one show have. Apparently a lot. Thank you, Lord!
2. My friend Candace came over and gave me the best mani ever. I mean seriously. Look at this:
Okay, so maybe I should’ve gotten over my Hello Kitty obsession a couple decades ago, but that so didn’t happen…
3-5. So a couple of weeks ago…or more…whoops…I got tagged in a post on my personal Facebook page by a friend. They wanted to know my 10 fave books of all time. I figured some readers here might also be interested in this one. I’m counting this as #3-5 because it’s gonna be a long one! So, off the top of my head, my top 10 books:
1. The Rainbow Goblins by Ul De Rico
My aunt gave me this book when I was very little. She passed when I was very little, but some of my earliest memories are of her reading this book to me. Something about it just sucked me in and stuck with me all these years. I think it has to do with all the vibrant colors in the pictures. That mixed with the ugly goblins. It made me start thinking about the supernatural at a very young age. One could say that all Mexicans are into the supernatural (Dia de los Muertos anyone?), but I’ve always been somewhat obsessed. I’m pretty sure it started with this book.
2. Beats me, Claude! by Joan Lowery Nixon
I think only Texas people know about this book. Joan Lowery Nixon was writer who lived in Texas. She wrote a TON of middle grade horror books that I absolutely loved. (I devoured everything she wrote during fourth and fifth grade. Faves include The Seance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, The Haunting, Don’t Scream…etc.) So it’s a little funny to me that the book that stuck most with me was one of her picture books. Whenever J says something and I don’t have an answer, my reply is: Beats me, Claude! I finally had to hunt down the book for him because he didn’t get my reference. It’s a simple book with three mini-stories or chapters, all leading to something really sweet. I liked the lesson in it and the sweet relationship between Claude and his wife. It’s pretty damned funny!
3. Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
Really anything by Dr. Seuss is awesome. The way he uses words and layers in deeper meaning into his silly rhymes… Some people might not see that these books are saying so much, teaching so much, but they are. And they do it so subtly. Beautifully. Dr. Seuss was my first exposure to a wordsmyth, and I think he’s brilliant.
4. The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
This middle grade series got me addicted to reading. I think I was still in lower school when I read it (maybe 3rd grade?), but I got sucked in and couldn’t put it down. I think I re-read these books so much that I wore through the binding. The idea that these siblings could go on an adventure to save the world from the end of times… Yup! Totally up my alley.
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Two siblings running away to live in a museum?! Count me in! I could’ve maybe dragged my little bro with me…although at that time, he was going through the whole “you have cooties” thing. So annoying! Although I have to say, if I was going to go live in a museum when I was a kid, it probably would’ve been the Museum of Natural History in Houston, because that’s where I lived and the museum I begged to go to every weekend…I was (and still am) a nerd! So sue me!
6. The Dark Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
I read these books in high school. (I think the first one came out when I was a sophomore… There was a year between each installment and boy did that feel like FOREVER.) Bishop’s writing changed the way I looked at writing, books, and the fantasy genre. I’d never seen a magic system so unique. Still don’t think I’ve seen anything since then as unique as that. I also loved that it was a matriarchal society. (Girl power!) She’s currently writing another series, The Others, and she’s really done it again, IMHO. She’s reinvented the Urban Fantasy genre in a totally original way, and I looooooooves it. The third book is coming out this coming March, and I can’t wait!
7. Mercy Thompson series & Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs
I can’t pick just one book by Briggs. They’re all awesome. I love her depiction of wolves and I love her romance. The guys are all swoon worthy, IMHO. Her writing is the perfect mix of kick ass and romance.
8. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Okay, so a bit of a departure, but MAAN was my first foray in Shakespeare’s works. If I thought Dr. Suess was a wordsmyth…boy, was Shakespeare the master! And the banter between Benedick and Beatrice…
<3 <3 <3
9. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Really brilliant writing and a scary look at the future! Even if the book sometimes got a little too techy for me, I loved it. Devoured it. The characters felt really real, and the storyline was believable—even if it kept me up at night.
10. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Austen is the original romance writer. I love this book. I love the characters. I love the movie version. I love it all. I also love Jane Austen’s other works—in particular Emma—but I love this one most of all. This classic is not one to be missed. And to have such a strong female protag in that day and age…scandalous. But Elizabeth Bennet, even when she’s falling for a man and he loves her back in an age when a love match was rare…even when she could save her and her family from the poor house…refuses him on principal because he’s wronged her sister.
She’s got some real cojones!
That’s all for this week. Everyone have a very Happy (and safe) Halloween!
