La Vie En Rose for 2006 December 12

I've been reading a lot of really good books lately, fueled in part by my recent addiction to bookmooch.com. Considerately, I won't go into details about Feminism and History, for example, but here are some of the more exciting ones I have been reading.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring: this fabulous book came out in the nick of time to save me from post-finals stress syndrome. I read it in the two nights after I finished my paper. It is the long awaited third in the Pink Carnation series, and I was wrong about one of my predictions but right about another. I loved that it was set in Ireland since I have learned so much about Ireland this year, one of my professors being from there… It delighted me, Lauren Wilig is as clever as ever, and I dooo wonder how she managed to write that book during her third year or law school? Things like that make me feel so incompetent. I think what I love most about those books is Eloise, whom I find so relatable, going off on her mental vacations and running around London researching in archives. And that yummy English boy…

Rite of Passage: Tales of Backpacking 'Round Europe: This book was disappointing, but probably because I expected too much from it. I had wanted to read it forever and finally agreed to buy it for myself as an end of quarter present. All the reviews said it would evoke bittersweet nostalgia for one's time backpacking in Europe, and it didn't really do that for me. Most of the stories were forgettable but some really good, well-written and thought-provoking, so it was worth reading for that. I just had too high of expectations.

A Year in Provence: More travel writing. Do we see a theme? Actually I am doing a lot of travel writing reading in semi-research for my own genre-breaking novel, yet to be written. Besides I just like it. The first Peter Mayle book I read was Hotel Pastis, which a friend had bought then lent me. I caught her eye because we were in Provence together. I used to dream about spending a summer living with a family in some lavender-covered mountain village, or working at a hostel in a tiny village by the sea. To perfect my French, of course. Needless to say this is my kind of book. It made me crave goat cheese day in and day out. I have a very susceptible mind. I would recommend this to anyone who likes France and French food. (Which sad to say is not everyone, not even in Bakersfield, haha.) Peter Mayle is a great writer, I like him better than Bill Bryson because he actually talks to people in the places he goes.

Silver Wedding and The Liliac Bus: The same friend I went to Provence with recommended I read Maeve Binchy but I never got around to it until the Bookmark closed & I bought Circle of Friends to use up my credit. Now I am working my way through books by her because I love the little details in her character's lives, they are all so different and interesting. It reminds me of "what a tangled web of lives we lead" or something like that, because I find it to be true. Plus they are set in Ireland, what more could you ask? For me these are guilty pleasure/ bathtub reads.

That's all for now. More later, though at some point in this vacation I might actually do something that doesn't involve lying in bed reading.

I wrote that last entry yesterday but I couldn't put it up because the website was working. Now I have done something that doesn't involve lying in bed reading, I cleaned practically the whole house, and, as I can never resist a freshly cleaned bathtub, had a nice relaxing bath at the end of it. Today I am going to work in the yard hopefully as well as hopefully finish up my grad school apps. I am full of hope. I am lucky not to have to work this week due to an altercation with my manager when I asked for some days off. She was very rude about it! I would rather she'd have just said no than treat me the way she did. But now I can hopefully get a few things done. Plus I can actually pretend I still like Christmas, being away from the store. I am feeling much more relaxed and carefree now that school is out, but I still do have a lot of things to do & there is still a knot in my right shoulder from carrying Dave around, I try to remember to switch but never do. At least I don't have 500 books to carry around as well. At the moment. Lucky yous, there aren't too many pointless entries like this one because of my lack of internet.