John M’s Neighborhood

Best. Surprise. EVER.

Yesterday, the mail came after I had already left for work.  When I picked it up last night, I had a little notice saying there was a package.  When I got that package this morning, it was a parcel of books.

Automatically fantastic, right?

Turns out it was from my friend Rob.  And it consisted of two books I had loaned him and a copy of the new Carlos Ruiz Zafon (The Angel's Game).  And upon closer inspection?

"To Kelly, Friend of the Shadow" and a signature.

My awesome friend Rob sent me a personally signed copy!  He met Carlos Ruiz Zafon at a bookstore in Germany (where he and his wife Tasha now live) and snagged me a book. :)

I am a very happy Kelly. :)

Finished A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

I haven't read this before, but of course I've seen several different movies (and TV show episodes) that are based on the story, so I knew it going in.

In case you've lived under a rock: Scrooge is a miserable bastard who does his level best to make everyone else miserable, too.  He pays his one employee incredibly poorly and wishes that the sick among us would just die already.  He doesn't want anything to do with his nephew and said nephew's family.  And then three ghosts come (four, really, counting his dead business partner) and show him the error of his ways.  And God bless us, every one.

One thing I didn't realize going in was that this is actually really funny.  (Scrooge tells Marley that he's not a ghost so much as a case of indigestion.)

But it's a sweet, funny (and, thanks to the final ghost) creepy tale.  If you've only known the story through movies, you should read the book, too.  (It's also pretty short, so it probably won't take too long.)

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

Finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

I hadn't read this before, but I have seen the Disney cartoon (and the one that aired on TV in the 80s, the one with Sammy Davis Jr. as the Caterpillar). 

So pretty much if you've seen the movie, you know what happens. (Except the book didn't have Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum or the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter--are they in Through the Looking Glass?)

It was really cute (and insanely short) but I wish I had read it when I was little, because this is definitely a book for children.

The best part was reading this right after Alice I Have Been and seeing how some of the characters in this related to people in the real Alice's life.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Pop-up Adaptation

Lewis Carroll

Finished Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin.  (This is a review copy; the book comes out January 12.)

This is a fictionalized account of Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.  The book starts when she's a little girl and friends with Mr. Dodgson (who you know better as Lewis Carroll), but continues through her entire life.  In fact, most of the book takes place after her family stops speaking to Dodgson. 

I enjoyed this book a great deal.  The last part (where she's a wife and mother) dragged a little for me.  It's not so much that it was boring (it wasn't) but that the first two parts (Alice as a child and Alice in love) were so interesting that the third part was almost doomed for me. 

There's an author's note at the end where she explains which parts of the book were true and which weren't, and that was very interesting, too.  (No, I'm not going to tell you.)

You don't need to have read Alice in Wonderland to appreciate this book (although I'm going to read it next).

Alice I Have Been: A Novel

Melanie Benjamin

Groundhog Day is #34 on 100 Years, 100 Laughs and #8 on their 10 Best Fantasy list.

I'm sure everyone's seen it, so no synopsis.

It's held up really well, and it made me miss Andie McDowell.  (Why doesn't she act anymore?)  And of course, Bill Murray is always great.

Groundhog Day (Special Edition)

Finished Tainted by Brooke Morgan.

I enjoyed this book, although I never really got sucked into it.  Basically, it was good enough where I always wanted to keep reading but not so good that I had a hard time putting it down.  (Solid read, though, and it's in paperback.)

Holly is a single mom (to five-year-old Katy).  She doesn't really have much of a social life (partly due to Katy; partly because she's a homebody anyway).  Katy's dad isn't in the picture and Holly's life is Katy and Henry (Henry is her grandfather, Katy's great-grandfather).  And then she meets Jack.  Jack's British and gorgeous.  He sweeps Holly off her feet (as in they move in together pretty quickly and get married not too long after that).  Everyone seems to love Jack, but is he really what he seems?

Tainted

Brooke Morgan

Finished U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton.

Another fantastic Kinsey Millhone mystery.  In this one, she's hired by someone who thinks he may know something about a decades-old kidnapping case.  (He remembers seeing two guys burying something a couple days after a little girl was kidnapped.)  She doesn't have much to go on, but that doesn't stop her. :)

I can't even tell you how much I love the Kinsey Millhone mysteries.  I started reading them in high school after some friends pointed out that if I liked VI Warshawski, I'd probably be fond of Kinsey, too.

Some people get annoyed that these books are still set in the 1980s, but I think it's nice.  Besides, if it moved to modern day, Henry would have to die, and I do not want Henry to die.

U is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone Mystery)

Sue Grafton

(Almost.  I have 40 minutes to go.)

This has been a batshit insane week at work.  The verdict in our mayor's trial came in yesterday and it was probably one of the five worst working days of my life.  (The other four, all in no particular order:  Virginia Tech shooting, police-involved shooting that happened on the weekend, faux-hurricane also on the weekend and one night where there was a tornado in one of the western counties and we were on the air for an extra hour, making it four straight hours o' fun.  Presidential elections are also always fun.)

So I am more than ready for my weekend. 

I don't have much planned.  I have to do laundry (of course and always).  But beyond that?  I want to finish the new Sue Grafton mystery, which I'm really enjoying.  I bought myself Terminator: Salvation on Blu-Ray, and I hope to watch that tomorrow night, while eating the Grotto's Pizza that my mom thoughtfully bought me the last time she was in Rehoboth.

Also, tomorrow features a two-hour Private Practice special (although I'll probably be watching that Friday, as tomorrow ALSO has new episodes of The Office and 30 Rock).

Speaking of The Office, I'm really close to breaking up with that show.  It hasn't been funny in a really long time.

I might also make my return to reading actual books, because I have some review copies I want to get through.  AND I learned today that I'm getting a review copy of the new Joe Hill book!  I'm really excited for that, because I loved his debut novel, Heart Shaped Box.  (He's also Stephen King's son, but that's not why I like his books.)

I also got a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth today.  I've never read it before, and I won it in a contest. :)  One of my really good friends absolutely loves that book and every time she remembers I've never read it, she gets really sad.  (And also sort of horrified.)  So I'm excited to read that, too.

One of the cool things about the Kindle is that they offer a lot of classic books for free.  I'm hoping to become a more well-read person next year, so here's hoping. :)  I did download a slew of classics (Anne of Green Gables and most of the rest of that series, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, My Man Jeeves--I blame you, Cori!--Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Treasure Island, Black Beauty, A Christmas Carol, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Little Men, Vanity Fear, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Madame Bovary, The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, The Count of Monte Cristo, Pollyanna and its sequel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Pollyanna Grows Up, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, and Anna Karenina).  So yay! :)

I get asked this question a lot.  A LOT, a lot.  And in the hopes of never having to answer it again, here we go. :)

First, you know how some people like to watch TV and how some people like to listen to all the new music and how some people shop?  I read.  I watch movies and TV, too, but mostly I'm a reader.  I always have been.  There's a picture of me as a toddler reading People (this has not changed, even though I've applied for a job there twice now and they haven't hired me...but that's not the point) and family legend says that I started reading when I was three.  But I think most people manage to do a lot of whatever their non-work priority is.  For me, it's couch time with a book; for you, it might be concerts or shoe shopping or watching every single episode of Top Chef in one crazy weekend marathon.

Second, this year (and next year!), I decided to read for charity.  Family and a couple of friends are sponsoring me (most are doing a flat rate, which is what I encouraged) and I've read more this year than I have in any year prior.  (I am on pace to beat last year's total by over 100 books.)  I think it's because if you give me a goal, I will exceed all expectations. :)

Third, if you look at what I've been reading this year, you'll see that it's not super challenging.  I haven't been reading War and Peace or Madame Bovary or anything.  I did finally read Little Women, but still.  Not the same thing.  I've been reading mysteries, general fiction, fun nonfiction (hello, AJ Jacobs!) and a ton of YA fiction. 

And finally, I don't have kids.  I don't have a significant other or roommate.  I have a dog who is fine with me reading all the time, provided he can hang out in my lap while I'm doing it.