Books: The #amreading / scheduled to read / omg Borders edition:

1. Finished China Mieville's Kraken. Here is a cephalopod art rec, because I needed something to get the taste of suck-ass out of my mouth: Jellyfish and Octopus by reminisense.
   
I haven't read anything by Mieville before. Despite hearing from many that Kraken is possibly his worst book, and that I should try one of his others, I think I'll pass. I found everything about the book except the cover (which is extremely cool) annoying and horrid.

2. Started reading In the Night Garden by Cathrynn M. Valente. I was in love within mere sentences, and now, a little ways in, I just adore it. I'd never read Valente before either, but people I trust love her writing, and I can see why.

3. Borders is in its last death throes ten days, and I joined the zombie hordes eagerly devouring literary brains on Sunday. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture inside; it was simply too sad. This particular Borders is where I've lingered on many a Sunday afternoon. It's where I went to not one but two midnight-release parties for Harry Potter books (six and seven). It's where I told a young kid to try Bradbury (he was already perusing the sci-fi and fantasy sections, picking up the Star Trek serial stuff) and saw him leave later with "The Martian Chronicles."

People seemed almost giddy, which made it worse. Yeah, I'm glad to see people picking up actual, printed books, whatever the circumstances. But there was a sense of glee among the customers that horrified me. The employees, conversely, were just trudging along. The overall atmosphere was... apocalyptic.

I picked up four books for less than $20. I'm happy about that, because I'm a dead-poor girl who grooms dogs for a living and has a bad, bad reading habit I need to sustain. But the hole that Borders will leave in my heart is huge.

Anyway. The books I bought:

Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula LeGuin (a trilogy)
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes -- an Angry Robot imprint that I've been interested in for a while
Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
The Passage by Justin Cronin -- reviews on this were mixed, so I've put off buying it for some time, but for the price, I felt I could chance it

4. Writing? What's that? I write every day. It's usually less than four hundred words. It's scattered material, with no coherence to previous writing. At least it's writing.

That's what I tell myself.

But hey, I got books to read!

1400 words done, bringing chapter two to a thrilling close. Finally, this train wreck is rolling on, full steam ahead! (heh) I've had to do a lot of research for this, and the most fun so far was when I looked up slang and cuss words this morning for a specfic time period. Always good to know, though, that 'fuck' has been around since, apparently, we first started fucking and had a word for it.

Woke up this morning to a dog with a head like cabbage. Damn spiders. I just sprayed for them last week. It's usually me they like; B says I'm the sweet meat. Which is weird. Anyway, Lucy went to the vet, where it was determined she had a fever, swollen lymph nodes, and a wobbly back end, meaning that it was a bit severe of an allergic reaction. Now on various meds, but at least she isn't "shar-pei face" anymore, as the vet called her. (she's a GSD)

And then there's this fabulous chair:




I like to play the "When I'm a famous author game." It keeps me going when I'm staring at the computer screen and nothing comes to mind but a blur of totally modern swear words, and I realize that, in all likelihood, I will be grooming dogs until the day I die. Anyway. When I Am A Famous Author, I will give interviews while sitting in this chair. Found via. Although it's been all over the interwebz today.

And now I pause for a break, more tea, and the end of Judge Judy.