Book Meme 4

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Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever

My favorite book, along with practically the entire population of the earth, is To Kill a Mockingbird.

So, I’ll tell you about my favorite series, the Sharon McCone mysteries, by Marcia Muller.

I discovered Sharon McCone somewhere in the mid-80’s at the Whittier Public Library. I quickly caught up on the series, which started with Edwin of the Iron Shoes, in 1977. To have read a series that 1.) an author has actually written for 30+ years and 2.) that has continued to grow and get better over time is just amazing. I always say that I feel like I’ve grown up with Sharon.

She started out as a young PI, working for a lawyer’s co-op in San Francisco. Over the years, lovers have come and gone, jobs have changed, an already problematic family got more complicated. But there are friends who’ve remained from the early days, mingling with new characters, and deep loyalties abound. Sharon has changed from an idealistic girl to a competent woman who’s seen more than her share of the dark side of the human psyche. She’s someone you want on your side because she’s not going to stop until she solves the puzzle.

I don’t want to give anything away but I was happy when she finally found someone she could depend on and love unconditionally on her own terms. Yeah, I’m a romantic, so sue me… I think what I like best about the McCone series is the supportive people around her. Sometimes female PI’s are written to be too tough and fairly unlovable. Sharon is a mix of tough as she needs to be and as generous as she can be and has a tight circle of people around her as tough and generous as she is.

I love that Marcia Muller has been fearless in her story lines. Her last book (this really isn’t a spoiler because the title, Locked In, pretty much tells the story) had Sharon in a waking coma, called locked-in syndrome. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book, coming out in October, to see what’s new with my long time BLFF (Best Literary Friend Forever).

C’est la vie!

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Book Meme 3

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Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months.

This is a tough one. I think I’ll have to say The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay. Lately I’ve been reading a lot of comfortable little cozy mysteries and this book took a total 180 from those.

Mark Genevich is a Boston PI with narcolepsy. He makes his way in the world by doing computer investigations and living in a building owned by his tough/tender momma. When he’s approached by the DA’s daughter, a finalist in a fictional American Idol, he’s thrown into a noir adventure worthy of the finest pulp fiction.

Mark is at once pitiful and determined. He hides his strength behind flip comments and the behavior needed to stay awake at the most crucial moments. Once he’s committed to the daughter’s plight, whether he’s imagined her or not, he’s going to see it to the end, whether that means putting himself into a driver’s seat or getting the crap kicked out of him. His loyalty to the cause he’s chosen reminds me of the late Robert B. Parkers’ Spenser, only without that Boston PI’s street smarts and muscles.

There are a lot of reason’s I’m naming this as my fave in the last 12 months. One may be that it’s such a different vibe than most of what I’ve been reading lately. Darker, more painful. And the writing is full of humor and wordplay and strangely heartfelt. We want to see Mark succeed and not get hurt and stay awake when he needs to. We want to see him clean up his stark apartment and find someone who has the patience to walk with him through his slow-moving life.

I was happy to see that there is at least one more Mark Genevich book (I’ve read it--it’s as good as the first one-No Sleep Til Wonderland) and I’m hoping there’ll be more. Raymond Chandler would be proud.

C’est la vie!

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Book Meme 2

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Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about

This would have to be the Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane. The first book predates Harry Potter and must be where JK found her inspiration for Platform 9 ¾, since the characters in these books depart to different galaxies from a “door” in Grand Central Station…

Kit and Nita find each other as they’re discovering their own magical abilities. Don’t get me wrong~I love Harry Potter~but in Kit and Nita’s world, they are much more autonomous and take on world-saving responsibilities time and again. They are full of emotion and epic epicness. OK, epic epicness just means these kids go through more heartache and stress than most teenage heroes. They have advisors but are mostly on their own, so they form a bond that both strengthens and warps over the course of time and adolescence. And family plays a much bigger and more supportive role in these books, too.

So, start with So You Want to Be a Wizard, read the eight books after that and I’ll bet you’ll be waiting eagerly for the tenth book after that, too!

C’est la vie!

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Book Meme Beginnings

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So, the weight loss thing pretty much petered out after 20 pounds… I’m still limping along but that’s a story for another day.

One of my bloggy friends, Judy Edmonds over at Sheep Rustling, is doing a meme about books. It’s a series of questions she’s answering day by day, as she has a chance. Since I’m a lifelong reader and my next tattoo will probably be designed around books and the word READ, this meme is right up my literate alley.

So, here’s #1:

Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)

Charlaine Harris (of the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series) had a series featuring Lily Bard, a woman starting a new life after a vicious assault. Lily had moved to a new town called Shakespeare, where she cleaned houses, worked out at a dojo and was pretty much a loner. It was interesting to see her come out of herself and start to trust people and learn to love. She and her lover made a cameo appearance a while ago in one of the Sookie books but I’d love to see more novels featuring Lily.

I’m also hoping Debi Gliori starts writing the Pure Dead Series again. This one is about a Scottish family with Italian roots, who live in a huge house with monsters, a mother who’s trying to be a witch and family members who really are. She’s great with plays on words and she’s just freakin’ clever. Sometimes she’s so funny, I laugh out loud reading in public places. I miss all the assorted characters and wild situations they’d get into. Oh, Debi, put the kids in day care and move back in with the Strega-Borgia’s!!

C’est la vie!

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Back to Basics

Hey!

Since my weight loss is at a standstill and depressing to blog about, I thought I’d go back to my Paris Dreams roots. While at the Orange County Fair this weekend, I had some Paris inspiration:

Oui, it’s an Eiffel Tower made out of bread!

And this is a table setting with a French theme. I really love the glassware!

I don’t have a picture of it, but The Husband gave me a really cool black and white poster of the Eiffel Tower. It’s taken from a neighborhood near the Tower, which rises in the background. In the foreground is a girl running across the street in a red jacket, the only splash of color on the print, with beautiful buildings on both sides. Maybe I’ll take a picture when we get it framed and hung.

C’est la vie!

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25 Pounds and Counting

So, a few weeks ago I needed to lose 23 pounds. Let me illustrate why I now need to lose 25... :

Breakfast on our anniversary weekend on Coronado Island (this was the short stack!)

Anniversary dinner

Wedding catering

Even before our anniversary vacation and our friend’s wedding reception, I’d fallen off the tracking wagon. So, here’s the plan:

Change my eating habits so they’re more trackable, mainly in the evenings. I’ve been eating more healthfully but I wasn’t tracking. Now I know I’ll be ok when I get to the point where I can maintain my loss but I have to concentrate on the actual LOSING again… So it’s back to sandwiches and salads that are easier to count points with.

And no snacking. I recently read that French women stay slender by drinking lots of water and no snacking. That sounds like a life plan--just good meals with no eating in between. NO is better than a little bit of this and a tad of that--those bits and tads add up! I’m going to do my best to develop a no snack habit.

So, here’s to a new dedication to reaching my goal. I’m fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in a long time and that’s lovely but there are other clothes (ie, the flirty skirt) that won’t go up over my butt. I WILL be able to wear all the clothes in my closet very soon!

C’est la vie!

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F-word F-word F-word

The plateau has returned. 'nuff said.

F-word...


C’est la vie!

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