another month falls away

I can't believe how quickly February has gone. It's nearly March already. Nearly birthday. Nearly spring. I always mourn the winter a little as it leaves us. I'm definitely a winter girl; not in the skiing/outdoorsy sense, but I enjoy the cold snap in the air, the clean feeling of the snow, the comfort in a cup of tea to warm up after a sojourn outside. I love the twilight colors in winter. Everything just feels more crisp, more clear, somehow. I feel more crisp, more clear. But it's all cyclical, and the winter will come back to me again. I just wait as patiently as I can through the long heat of summer.

Another book to report in on: 9) Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr. This is the third installment in the Wicked Lovely series, and I quite enjoyed it. The series as a whole has been good so far. The writing is good, the fey world is well constructed, and the characters are easy to empathize with. This one, as an Amazon review pointed out, was a little thin on plot and a little heavy on Aislinn's inner conflict. but I think that's necessary, as setup for later plot. Sometimes the emotional end of things needs time and space to be fleshed out; not everything has to be about the forward motion of the plot all the time. So this one's definitely a keeper for me, and I can't wait to read the remaining two books in the series.

A question for you, o readers: Should I say more about the books I read? Less? I wonder what the right balance is. Let me know if you'd like to see me approach my mini book reviews differently.

The Borders location at Park Ave. and 57th Street is closing, so the whole story is on sale. I used my lunch break to go peruse the store with a friend. An hour and forty minutes, I left there with three new books, two magazines, and a bag of peanut butter M&Ms. I practiced restraint! Of course, I'll probably go back in a day or two, since I ran out of time before I made it through all the sections I wanted to hit. It's early days yet in the closing sale, so you should all go take a gander, maybe buy a book or two. They've got an awful lot of inventory in there still.

Well. I meant to write more, but today totally got away from me. I'll try to get back here soon. Happy Thursday, everybody!

she was a light in our lives

A little over two years ago, my partner-in-crime and I lost a very close friend here in New York. He reminded me a little while ago that today was her birthday. She would've been thirty-eight today, I think. Two years already . . . How does the time go by so fast? I miss her at odd moments. I know my partner-in-crime does, too; losing her was harder for him, as they were closer. He doesn't talk about it much. We're still close with her kids and with her partner, and for that I'm grateful. She was a great friend, and we're blessed to have known her, and I hope that wherever she is, she's happy and healthy and loved.

grey would be the color

My work computer is dead. I still feel busy-busy all the time. And lately, I've just been frustated by my life. Lack of time, lack of money, lack of space, everything. I'm trying to ignore it and just get things done so I can feel less stressed. One day at a time, one task at a time, and eventually I'll feel like I'm in control of my life again.
Without further ado, here are the next three books I've read this year:
6) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. This book took me by surprise. I'm not as into epic fantasy as I used to be. In fact, it's safe to say that these days I prefer fantasy of the urban variety. So the fact that this book just sucked me in and kept me enthralled until the end was pretty exciting. I like the characters, the court intrigue, and the religion, and the descriptive language is lush and well done. I will recommend this to anybody who likes fantasy books, or just good writing. A keeper, for sure, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
7) Foiled by Jane Yolen. This is a cute graphic novel about a girl who doesn't really fit in at school. She's a talented fencer, and spends most of her time outside school at practice for that. But over the course of the story learns that faery folk exist and she's been chosen as a Protector. I enjoyed this, and if it's the start of a series I'll read the rest, but I don't think it's a keeper for me.
8) Heat Wave by Richard Castle. This book was SO MUCH FUN. It reads like a long episode of Castle, which I also adore, so I had a great time with this and can't wait to get my hands on the next one. Definitely a keeper, and definitely recommended to everybody!
Anyway. Time to move on to the next thing on my work to-do list. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have things under control again. Blogging may be pretty intermittent as I deal with computer issues at work and lack of consistent internet at home, but I'll try to be back soon. I've got a post about the writing life percolating in the back of my brain.
Happy Tuesday!

she's got a lot on her mind

As promised in my last entry, I now present to you the third, fourth, and fifth books I read this year!
3) The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen. This book was really intriguing; it's about the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer who operated around it. It's a really strange dichotomy, the hope and progress and beauty of the fair set against the horrible desires of one man. I don't often get into history books, but this one is well written with a good narrative voice and enough personification of the historical figures discussed that I felt like I actually got to know them a bit.
4) Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This one had a slow start for me, but once things picked up thirty or forty pages in, I was hooked. I like that this isn't a typical werewolf book in any sense. I had some minor qualms with a couple of specific moments, but overall, I really enjoyed this a lot. Good, empathetic characters, interesting choices, plenty of action. There is also plenty of material here for an in-depth conversation on what family is, how it's defined, if there are different kindso f family, etc. Definitely a keeper!
5) The Good Spell Book by Gillian Kemp. This is a fun little book of Romany spells and folklore. I read it in research for my witch series, and while most of it doesn't apply to the approach I'm taking in my books, it was still an amusing read. Some of it resonated with me, some of it didn't, but I'm keeping it. For ideas, for reference, for fun.
Aside from that . . . my work computer is dying a slow death. I'm getting a new one in a couple weeks and frankly, it can't come fast enough! In the meantime I'll do a minimum of Internet at work. That seems to sit better with this poor machine.
Slowly making forward progress on writing things. I'm going to start the last round of edits on Superheroes tonight. I've got one short from last year typed, so I can print it to edit. One radio play episode should be wrapped up within the next couple of days, I'm thinking. And I've been getting things done at home, so the stress level there is going down.
There's plenty more to talk about, like dreams, and potential ideas for books, and yoga, and such, but I'll leave you with a couple of things:
New York City got more snow in January 2011 than any January in recorded history. Over 36 inches, at least. That's a LOT of snow.
Happy Imbolc, everybody! This is the holiday when we celebrate the coming of spring. It's a time of purification and dedication.
Wish me luck with my computer woes, and I'll be back soon.