Well, another birthday has come and gone and no one showed up to tell me I'm a wizard (I would have said "witch," but I think that might have happened a time or two, and not for good reasons, so...). Oh well, maybe next year.
It was a mediocre birthday to say the least. Some nice things happened, like finally getting to try the swanky place in town (I can honestly say I've tasted a pork chop I would willingly and happily pay $30 for) with my partner in crime, and discovering that we had become grandparents (two of our cichlids had at least one baby we saw -- it subsequently became dinner for one of the other fish, but both Darwin and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom told us that nature was cruel). Still, the overwhelming part of the day was negative as Boogie tested positive for heartworms. We're waiting on additional tests, and we're kind of thinking false positive because about the only chore I am excellent at is maintaining my dog's health. I don't remember to unload the dishwasher or switch the clothes into the dryer all the time, but I freak if Boogie's monthly heartworm or flea/tick/mosquito stuff is an hour overdue. I even give him the f/t/m stuff in the dead of winter. So, we're wondering how our formerly heartworm negative boy turns up with the stuff, I wait on a second opinion before I begin plotting my texas chainsaw massacre style revenge on the company that makes Heartgard.
I did wage a bit of an internal war with myself on Friday, and I wound up giving into peer pressure. I bought Twilight. I think I might have actually been speaking my internal struggle out loud in the Target (which had the book on sale) because people might have been giving me funny looks (or they could have noticed how clueless I was in the boys' clothing section when I was trying to guess the right size Star Wars pajamas to get for the Crimefighter's nephew for his birthday and followed me to see what other displays I would mutter at).
See, on the surface, I pretend to hate all fad books. My official line is that anything that gets people, and especially kids, reading is OK by me. Don't get me started on all the folks who have issues with the sorcery in Harry Potter since the theme of every book resonates strongly with Christianity (specifically Anglican teaching because Rowling is English). Still, I pretend to hate fad literature and place myself "above" the masses.
But I have come to realize that, sometimes, fad books are crazily popular for a reason. I don't think this is true in non-fiction where I really do find most wildly popular books to be quick fix solutions to real life problems or promises that internal weaknesses are never "your fault." Fiction, however, has proven to be a whole nother bag of tricks.
I held out on Harry Potter for a very long time. A combination of being recommended by someone whose taste in books I admire (and the fact that she loaned me the book and its sequel) and a long snowy Christmas break in Clemson with no one around to play with made me give in and finally pick it up. Three days later, the pretense of checking on the aforementioned friends' house "since the weather had been awful and they were away" had me driving in a massive ice storm and rooting around until I found the third book under a pile of clothes. I devoured all three in less than five days and was hooked. Books four through 7 saw me in line at midnight with friends or alone surrounded by children way younger but no more excited than myself.
Similarly, I have tried to start my own fad. Over the past five years or so, I have purchased no less than 15 copies of JD Robb's Naked in Death to pass along to my friends who are readers. Without exception, every one of them has picked up the series, caught up, and is waiting with baited breath for the next one (#26 with six additional novellas through the years). Nora Roberts (JD Robb's real name) has been adament in her hatred of people who sell used books online (therefore denying authors royalties) but I think she's wrong on this one. My moderate investment in her first book has given her at least 15 customers for 25 of her books each. She should fund a mass market printing of Naked in Death and hand them out on the street to strangers. When you are that entertaining, your work speaks for itself. Plus, she has hundreds of books in print -- when comes the time that your previous work has paid you enough?
So, my point and I do have one, is that I sucked it up and bought Twilight. So far, it's no Harry Potter, and Edward Cullen is no Roarke (from the In Death series). I'll read it, along with Jane Eyre (which I'm making slow but steady progress with) until November 4. If I haven't finished it by then, it will (I can already tell) have to take a backseat for at least 2 days (the time it takes me to devour Robb's books). Sorry, kiddos. High school angst has nothing on a cool New York Cop of the future and her smokin' hot Irish husband.
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I'm still reading the J.D. Robb books - so, good work. I've now not only read them all, but also listened to all of them as audiobooks (it's a different experience). The reader, Susan Erickson, is really good, and they're available through my public library system. Ah, god bless the library.
I've been contemplating the Southern Vampire series because I caught a couple of episodes of HBOs Tru Blood (it was the free preview week - damn them with their drug pusher tactics). Have you tried them?
I have read some of them. I read the first because I liked Charlaine Harris' Shakespeare series (Shakespeare's Landlord, I believe, is the first one). Shakespeare is the town; it isn't about the bard, although I might be intrigued to see how that might go. The first couple SVs were pretty good. I can't move it to my "buy in hardback" list because I have too many on that list, and I am not Rockefeller. They're pretty much on the "library rental" list -- entertaining, but no waiting in line at midnight or anticipating the release date. I've seen two episodes of the SV series on HBO (I have to travel to the South Shore to see Dexter on TiVo every few weeks at the old roommates'). I like the books better, but that could be because Anna Pacquin isn't my idea of Sookie.
Speaking of Dexter.... I really like Lindsay's Dexter books, although I like the show better because Michael C. Hall is the man I'm gonna leave Gerry for (he's aware, and concedes). Think The Talented Mr. Ripley (I get Patricia Highsmith in print, but rarely in film) but with quirky humor and wacky sidekicks.
I got Manda, my Dad, and Dawn all hooked on the series. (Naked in Death in EVERYONE'S Christmas stocking! They don't ask me to shop anymore!) My problem with Nora Roberts' books on tape is that she switched to Brilliance audio and they produce cheap quality CDs (although the price is no less; imagine that). The lower quality CDs don't play well in my car. I'll get through a CD and then the next one will refuse to play. The library's copies of Survivor in Death and Remember When work well, and I've rented them many times. Next to the guy who reads Harry Potter, she's one of my favorite readers.
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