More books arrived for me today! Thankfully my mother does not get the mail.
- The Elements of Style, original edition, by William Strunk, Jr. (IT WAS THREE DOLLARS. THREE. DOLLARS. :D!)
- The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (aka mistful@LJ aka She of the LOLarious Book Reviews)
- Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner (which promises to be excellent)
- Scarlet and the White Wolf by Kirby Crow (which promises to be trashy and hilarious)
- Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith (which promises to be full of the adventures of Ibn Battutah for whom I may or may not profess true love across time)

The Granada Holmes OST also arrived, and I am enjoying the Wren Orchestra of London and the Gabrieli String Quartet (and occasionally the St Paul's Cathedral Choir) as I type.

And now I should really stop buying books, or I will need more than one new bookshelf before the end of the year, and there is no room for a second, let alone a third.

Felt much better today, until about 12.30, when I took more paracetamol and perked up again with lunch for a few hours, and then went steadily downhill again from about 3pm. Still feeling queasy, but will go to bed as soon as I work out where my mother is and whether she wants anything done about dinner. Got a fair bit done today, anyway, which is good.

Tomorrow, work, lunch for Dani who is leaving us (T_T), and shopping after work for a dress for the wedding. I hope that Cue dress suits, but it more than likely won't, and this will mean hunting, and you know how I hate it when I can't just walk in, buy something, and run immediately back to a crowd-free zone. Perhaps if I frequently warn people I am feeling ill they will give me a wide berth. (HAH.)

[EDIT] ignite, I cannot believe I just read that book before midnight. What utter trash. And not even trash with payoff for all its bloody setting up! Two kisses?! What faggotry is this?!

I know sleeping know would be a monumentally bad move, but that doesn't make the bed look any less inviting. To stave that off, to do list:

- finish Wicked Gentlemen
- sketch Gaura of Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits
- list BPAL imps for Sonya
- take mum BPAL shopping, yay, yay, perfume
- write something, preferably coherently

[EDIT] So, I'm not finished Wicked Gentlemen yet, but I have to say - it's good, right, but it seems to suffer a persistent case of not quite rightness. As in, none of the phrases are quite as beautiful as they could be. The rhythm is off, the word isn't as precise as it should be... whatever, there's just this niggling sense that it needs to be rewritten and resoldered and given another six months in the bottom drawer. It's frustrating, because otherwise I'm really enjoying it, but I guess reading Sarah Monette almost exclusively for eighteen months has left me spoilt for gorgeous phrases.

[EDIT] Yeah, no, that book was little more than mush. Next!

Coming down with something, as is my wont when I have been around the children. Glands are up, tonsils aching faintly, but with any luck the multi-vitamin and a decent night's sleep will see me at work tomorrow. Tonsilitis is not something I care to have in my adult life, do you hear me, little fleshsacs. My ears are iffy, too, but that's possibly just a sign I ought not to spend so much time with headphones in.

Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale arrived this morning. Well, technically Friday. It's decent so far, and not as trashy as I was expecting, which is a relief.

I am, of course, supposed to be writing in order to fulfill my self-set fic-finishing deadlines so that I can clear out the fic list and write Real Things but to be honest at the moment I feel like sentences are falling out the back of my nose.

I was talking to Tina last night about methods of novel writing and how, in particular, Book!verse, CC!verse and Rocfall seem to like me to ricochet wildly between them. Conductor is also pretty sharing and caring, although shyer about it than the rest, which just figures, given its protagonists. AtM seems to be the live-in, since it coexists peacefully right up until the wild fits of novel jealousy that involve flinging fistfuls of the story on the floor and making sure it all goes back in upside-down.

Yeah, so maybe I should go to bed. >_>; Yeesh.

I need a shoulder/neck massage more than I have ever needed anything in my life. Ow. Alternatively, to work out where in hell my tennis balls are, because how can I work knots out of my own shoulders without tennis balls to lie on? Grr, argh.

Reading Dragon Keeper is really weird. Hobb's improved again, for one thing. Greft is like a cleverer, more controlled version of my stepfather. Rapskal is ADORABLE DKFJHDS but you all knew I was going to say that. All of the characters are really fascinating and brilliantly assembled, and they are all unlikeable in some way. As in, Rapskal is probably the only person I would even try to associate with IRL. Everyone is selfish in different ways, and it's... it's really good. I just feel like this has all been a lead-up book.

Also, alleyne, Sessurea is totally the big placid blue dragon whose name I cannot remember because it's come up all of once, but also started with an 's'.

Loads to do today, but I'm going to wallow in the sadness of my spine a little longer before I actually start. By which I mean 'limber the fuck up for a day of sitting'.

It occurred to me today that, fuck, I have a lot of books. (The above is a photograph of all the notebooks I own that I have not yet written in.)

( This is what happened when I tried to photograph all the books I own that I have not yet read. )

So now I'm making a list. Or rather, remaking a list. Properly, this time, with the intent to deal with the items on it. So, without further ado:

LIBRARY/BORROWED THINGS TO READ:

Adams, D - Last Chance to See
Bolt, R — A Man for All Seasons
Bryson, B — A Brief History of Nearly Everything
Carey, J — Kushiel's Mercy

( Things I own and have not read. )

Only 66! I'm doing quite well. XD (Or I have missed a box somewhere.) I missed a few. XD Also, have marked rereads with asterisks.

READ: 5/84

I did do things today, and I did them pretty quickly, but really, I was distracted for a lot of it. XD There were a lot of interesting conversations! Also, there was MarioKart. (I did not win, but nor did the NPCs beat me, which is always good when you are playing without feeling in half your hand.)

Picked up my mattress protector, ate dinner with Rage, and bought four books for the price of three! They were even books I have really wanted for a long time. (I AM GETTING BETTER.)
- The Dark Lord of Derkholme by Diana Wynne Jones
- Christopher Chant III & IV by Diana Wynne Jones (they are on my shelves already and I cannot be bothered remembering their titles just now I am tired and my train of thought may not arrive again for hours)
- The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner

I am not allowed into a bookstore again for at least a month, mind you, because four-technically-five novels in a week is a bit ridiculous when one actually intends to SAVE one's money. *facemash*

Anyway, now I am going to bed, because my bed! It will be here in twelve hours or fewer! I am very excited about this!

Elbow was AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and as you may have expected made me CRY and now I am going to do my utmost to stay up all night and finish Corambis, because it, too, is beautiful, amazing, and making me cry.

[EDIT] ( And a nonspoilery paragraph or four from Corambis because I couldn't NOT share the fucking thing. )

[EDIT] And then it was four-thirty in the morning and I was ten pages away from the end of the book ( and this scene happened and I nearly yelped aloud. )

And since it's twenty to five, it hardly seems worth going to sleep NOW... *ponders* I think I'll start figuring out where to put shit in my room.

I couldn't NOT read this review of the ARC of Corambis. But it does have minor spoilers. And I think I am going to cry with happiness whenever this story arc completes itself, and there are only twenty-three days to go and I should finish everything just in time, judging by my current reading speed.

....or I could just cry at the thought of it all being resolved! Either way! Oh, I am a sap.

Going to see Watchmen with James again this morning. XD But we have to clean a lot before we can leave or mum will eat us. So! Off I go.

Books I Have Read So Far This Year:
- Wicked, by Gregory Macguire
- Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey
- Kushiel's Chosen, by Jacqueline Carey
- Kushiel's Avatar, by Jacqueline Carey
- Quid Pro Quo, by Manna Francis
- Games and Players, by Manna Francis
- Blood and Iron, by Elizabeth Bear
- Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner

Which is still pretty sad since I used to finish books like that within three days, but whatever. That's more than I read for probably the entirety of last year, which is both horrifying and something I am glad to have rectified, even if I've really only been reading to save myself from death by boredom while I can't write.

Like it says, over the next twenty-seven days (TWENTY-SEVEN DAYS!!!) I will be rereading Mélusine, The Virtu, and The Mirador, and will likely rave about Mildmay the whole while. (This has been your warning to evacuate.)

The interview was fine; five people, two and a half hours, and many repeated questions. It was all very casual and friendly and I have reserved high hopes. (If nothing else, I have recommended Sarah Monette to someone else. XD)

I am reading Kushiel's Chosen and far too tired for the usual fantasy nonsense. (In my head I am composing a letter that goes, Dear Fantasy Author, if I wanted a travel book I would buy one from Lonely Planet.) Really, really love the book. Do not love Phédre's propensity for being kidnapped and taken to exotic places because it is all too much to concentrate on and this is why I like Doctrine of Labyrinths: because the journey is coherent and purposed and there are dull, unimportant bits that Mildmay very helpfully skips over.

And... yeah. Tired. Tomorrow goes like this:
- fire door check
- nothing
- staff meeting
- drinks

and thank all the small gods for that.

[EDIT] EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

eeeeeeeeeeeee

eeeeeeeee

!!!!!!!

For the record, body, that is not what a good night's sleep consists of.

On the bright side, La Dolorosa! Joscelin! adkfjadsfdsf!!!! I just squeaked with joy and started crying happily and couldn't stop! I may yet be disappointed!

...possibly I should not read Kushiel's Chosen on the bus on the way to the interview. :3

But seriously. Joscelin Verreuil: King Fucking Ninja, Yo.

....and now that I've used this icon, I can't unthink it. But Sydney Losstarot would make a fabulous Phédre. .......except now I am sad because I would have to write it with Ashley as Joscelin, and Sydney/Hardin is the ultimate VS OTP. :< Whyyyy.

"...and I think, in his quiet Cruithne way, he is very madly in love with you."

Oh, Joscelin. You have such a way with words.

*resists the urge to ruffle his hair and giggle stupidly*

[EDIT] Well, that's that, and far more enjoyable for seven years spent dithering and refusing to read it. (I AM NOT KIDDING.)

Why do I get hungry in the middle of the night? T_T;;;

[EDIT] djfdshfdj my cousin has eight week old puppies and they are painfully adorable hfdjfa

*seethes*

ONE DAY I WILL READ SOMETHING WHERE MY FAVOURITE FUCKING CHARACTER DOESN'T DIE.

Telling myself that I knew it was coming is NO HELP AT ALL.

[EDIT] ..............Joscelin. is such. a DORK. XDDD ♥

MUM: Y'know, Chris says holding up books hurts your wrists.
ME: .........I KNOW THAT. I have nothing but movies and I hate movies and unless you plan to hold my book for me I don't want to hear it.

She's spent the last week telling me to read! |D;

As annoying as it is to have a whippersnipper start up as soon as one has tea, the smell of cut grass is nice. At least until the whippersnipper starts up again.

- breakfast
- shower
- wash whites
- fold clothes
- hang whites
- vacuum bathroom
- vacuum bedroom
- walk
- scene more
- draw
- REST

Despite the list I suspect most of the day will be lost to reading Quid Pro Quo. >_> Oh well. Surely Sam will understand that rereading fabulous porn is more important than reading about Lady Alustriel Silverymoon. (No, I am not joking. I know this was the format when the book was written, but I keep having to pause to howl with laughter.

...okay, it's not just the names. I don't like Salvatore's style, at least not in this book. I started to be interested in Drizzt as of about p30, but that's a decent whack into the story, and the style doesn't help me along. =_= I think I can cling to my minimal interest enough to converse with my 2IC about his Favourite Book Evar, though. XD

[EDIT] The splints are back on at the first sign of owie, primarily from housework. I'm still hopeful that a few more days will do it - they felt really good this morning.

Mum called to ask me to test aircon fuses and now the thing won't turn on at all. Also, every time I deal with a fuse box I have to tell myself very sternly that no one's arm is going to flop down at me in a dismembered fashion and that there are definitely no velociraptors in my house.

got proper splints today. will likely be away from the interwebs for a while. am relying on you all to tell me the second corambis podcasts are available.

also went to see valkyrie today, tainted4life, and all I really have to say is thank god they stopped tom cruise from speaking german within the first two minutes. good enough, though. (yes i know i am the world's worst bitch where films are involved.)

[EDIT]

Dear Ms Kushner,

I am on p265 of Swordspoint and because it is a melodrama I know it will probably get worse again before it gets better.

But I wanted you to know that at this point one Alec may be my favourite character in any book written in this style, and I would currently like to haul him out of the book by his lapels and kiss him until St Vier is persuaded to kill me.

JUST SAYING,
Rave

I just keep reading because I'm interested in the history and the society of Wicked but I stopped caring about any of the characters about half the novel ago and it has just occurred to me that now I am out of university I have no cause to go on reading books I do not care about. Meh.

...why I bother talking to my mother. Every single thing I say, three sentences later she's yelling at me for something unrelated. Every. Single. Thing. Eventually, I think, I am just going to put a vow of silence into place.

Rage was home sick today (I hope you're feeling better, sweetness.) so the day was pretty long and tedious. My foot was sore from the moment I walked in the door, which is... not a good note to start the week on, put it that way. Sold my first real coffee machine today, but I'm not counting it as a real sale as pretty much all I did was tell the guy we had them and how much I was going to give it to him for. For the record, there is a FUCKLOAD of margin in the Gaggia Titanium at the moment. Not forever, but John clearly bought them when Gaggia's only other option was to suck cock for money. Just saying.

Um... yeah, words are leaking out of my head like the air from a punctured inner tube. Might be a better idea to just... stop talking.

For the Wickedest on my flist, I hit Liir today and while I like the characters well enough, the guy's writing style and scene choice is CONSTANTLY BEMUSING TO ME. I'm currently bored and hoping things improve. I'm sure it surprises no one that I am most interested in Tibbett and what the hell happened to put him so far below the radar, aside from being tied to a Tiger in a club. Going to keep struggling on, and suspect it takes a few reads, but dfajsdahsj. Do I have to?

...yeah, okay, so my mother should stop talking to me now.

Just had a pretty epic conversation with kuchibue, in which we discovered where Ash came from. And why he's been around for the last week or so. And on second thought also explains why I was doing okay at the beginning of 2007 but absolutely failed in the latter half.

Also, I fear the next book I must order will be Wicked Gentlemen, because the entire premise is fascinating. :'D

All bought within the last... two years, probably closer to a year, and unread. I have bought more and read them, though. >_> Uh. I. Possibly should stop this, but, uh, hell. There's really no defense. XD;;;;