just another Monday

Happy Monday, everyone. How's this week looking? Mine is going to be quiet but busy, I think. My to-do list at work is pretty light, so I'm hoping to get caught up. I accidentally took one too many freelancing projects, so there will be a lot of that happening in the evenings, along with packing. (No, there's no update on the apartment. Yes, I'm frustrated. No, I don't want to get into it right now.) No social plans for this week except a possible one tomorrow night, which I think depends on how much work I get done tonight.

A few books to catch up on:

46) Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow. It took me a bit to get into this one. but once I was in, I was hooked. I really enjoyed this. It's sharp and dark, with interesting characters and a fast-paced plot. I'm definitely reading more of this series when I get my hands on them.

47) Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol. What a fun, quirky graphic novel! Anya is a Russian girl who doesn't fit in at the school she goes to. Then she falls down a well and makes friends with a ghost. And from there . . . well, no spoilers. It's fun. Definitely recommended.

48) Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon. I loved this book. A lot. Anna Koval is a librarian who can't get over the boyfriend who left her over a year ago, and creates a semi-fictional blog under the name that is an immediate success. Anna is sharp-witted and broken and fun, and watching her attempt to walk the fine line between reality and her blog life is great fun. I think everybody should read this book!

49) The Walking Dead Book 1 is intense. That's definitely the best word for it. It's hardcover survival fiction. And I can't wait to read more of it!

50) The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge. This is the first YA book from Caitlin Kittredge, and it's definitely among the top five YA books I've read this year. This is steampunk plus fey folk plus Victorian-influenced America, and I love it. It's gloomy and sharp-edged and caustic. LOVE IT. I can't wait for the next one. February can't come soon enough!

Besides that, a dream to share . . . The beginnings of the dream are vague. I think my younger sister was a queen, and her first baby was stillborn. She was marked with a small B carved into her throat with the tip of a knife, and then there was something about the fey folk. Maybe they took the stillborn? The dream solidifies when the huge wooden gate to the fey world closes, and for some reason there is a group of us who want to go in after them. The gate is locked. Defeated, we turn to go and see a second gate that wasn't there before. This gate opens beneath my touch. We go down a gravel drive, take a sharp right onto a steep muddy path, and find ourselves on the semi-abandoned grounds of a mansion. The house is all boarded up and locked but we keep exploring. There is a huge chair behind the house, a huge cement slab with a backrest and arms placed on the back, and in the middle of the chair is a hole. We clamber up on it to take a better look, and realize that there are children watching us. Each of them is wearing a horizontally striped shirt and white shorts. Most of them are very young, but there are a few who look to be ten to thirteen or so. then a woman appears. She is very small, with long brown hair and huge eyes. Her face is alien and a little frightening, small chin and many teeth and broad forehead, but somehow beautiful still. She speaks to us; we adjourn to a nearby round metal table to talk more. My younger sister looks very uncomfortable. I sit down next to a boy who I am somehow involved with, my hand casually on the back of his neck. The woman sits down and challenges us to a tennis game, since we have trespassed in her kingdom. One of us points out that we were in the fey world just an hour previous, and since we were welcome then aren't we welcome now? The woman clarifies: those were the good fey. She's the other kind. It's clear that she has some sort of special interest in me, but I refuse to acknowledge it. She goes back to discussing the tennis game. . . . And I woke up.

I wish I could've stayed in that one longer. Ah, well . . .

And now, off to work I go. I've certainly spent plenty of time here this morning. Have a good week, everyone!