lunch break quickie

I'm having carrots and beets for lunch today. Tasty! And should probably be working while I eat, not writing, but c'est la vie. Two more books on the list:
Piano by James Barron. It follows one Steinway concert grand through the entire process of being made. If you have a mechanical interest in music, then this is a great book. Lots of interesting information. I really enjoyed it, but I'm not keeping it. I don't need to follow that piano through its birthing process again.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This book is beautiful, and sad, and lyrical, and heartrending. I cried. It's a brilliant love story with a sad yet optimistic ending. If you want to read something that will really tug on your heartstrings, read this. Especially the last hundred pages or so. This is really a book to be read slowly, to be savored. Great language, and amazing characters; it's fascinating to watch their relationships unfold. I don't even know what else to say about this book. Everyone, go out and read it! Audrey just recently signed a contract for her second book. I can't wait to see what it's like. Let me say, though, that this is not an easy read. There is some serious angst, and some difficult times, and a lot of loneliness in this book. It's not for the fainthearted. But for the sheer beauty of the romance, I highly, highly recommend it.
Oh, and just to let you all know, I did buy that art print that was in my list in my previous entry. Nothing else yet, but rest assured, the T-shirt will happen.
One brief thing about the Twilight books, before I get back to work. I was just reading a review of the books online, and came across a passage that says these books "are -- in essence and most particulars -- romance novels, and despite their gothic trappings represent a resurrection of the most old-fashioned incarnation of the genre. They summon a world in which love is passionate, yet (relatively) chaste, girls need be nothing more than fetchingly vulnerable, and masterful men can be depended upon to protect and worship them for it." I found that really interesting. There's been some hubbub about the underlying Mormon principles, and how controlling Edward is, but I'd never thought of this. The reviewer is really saying that they're just written the way romances used to be written, instead of how they're written now. And I think he's right.
And now, several offsets to get through, so I'm off. Ta!