Books

I finally finished Son of A Witch! It took me forever to finish this book. I found the pacing so slow. Maybe that's because I didn't know where Liir's story was going to take him, unlike Wicked, where we knew Elphaba's fate from the first page.

SoAW ended abruptly, and it left me with a lot of questions. How did Shell become Emperor? Where is Nor? What happened to her after she left Southstairs? And Candle, where did she go? Why did she decide to leave? For that matter, what about Trism? And what did Liir name the baby? I wish that there had been a epilogue.

Anyway, that's over now, and I've decided to take a short break from Gregory Maquire. The book on my nightstand now is Heroines, written by Eileen Favorite. Here's the rundown from the official website:

Watergate is breaking news, but at the Prairie Homestead, a boarding house in Illinois, there are more immediate concerns. A distraught Emma Bovary has arrived unannounced, and Anne-Marie and her daughter Penny have wrenched themselves from television coverage to attend to their new guest.

But if there's one rule at the Prairie Bluff Homestead, it's never meddle in the lives of the Heroines, however cruel the destinies to which they are bound. There's nothing to be done for poor Emma, save for the provision of tea and a sympathetic ear.

Adolescent angst can't compete with beautiful and grief-stricken, and Penny, a moody thirteen, knows she's no competition against such ethereal creatures as Blanche DuBois and Scarlett O'Hara. Hurt and excluded, she strikes out one night across the prairie to cool her hot head.

But when she arrives at the forbidden woods, she's in no mood to obey her mother's second rule, never to enter--and she soon finds herself in a world of very real heroes and villains, an unwilling heroine in her own terrifying story.

I could not resist a book in which classic figures from literature come together. I have been dreaming of a book like this to come along. It's my geek dream come true! It's so meta, like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, except in novel form.

Seriously, I think I have a problem. I just keep thinking that I need books to read by the pool this summer, because magazines get sweaty and messy. I found that out the hard way last summer with Vogue.

Once I'm done with Heroines, I'll make a short visit back to Maguire with Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, another "fractured fairytale", this time retelling the story of Cinderella. What I'm really looking forward to, though, is getting to read Bull's Island, by my favorite author, Dorothea Benton Frank, who sets most of her novels in the Low Country of South Carolina.

What are y'all going to read this summer?

Toodles!

Obsession Tuesday

Wow! I feel like it's been so long since I've written one of these. Good thing that I'm constantly obsessed with something so I can write...

Watching:

Lennon/McCartney night on American Idol: I've been jittery and bubbly about this since Seacrest announced it two weeks ago. On the one hand, I'm a huge Beatles fan, and I can't wait to hear a select few contestants takes on these classics. On the other hand, I'm a huge Beatles fan, and I'm worried that a few of the contestants will completely ruin the songs of my favorite band. Things I'd like to hear: Amanda Overmyer singing "Helter Skelter"; Jason Castro singing "Yesterday" (even though I know David Archuleta will snag that one up!); Brooke White singing "I Want To Hold Your Hand"; and Michael Johns singing "Revolution".

Reading:

Son of A Witch, by Gregory Maguire. I'm slowly but steadily collecting his works, but I had to read the sequel to Wicked first. In Wicked, we knew what fate had in store for Elphaba, but for Liir, the boy she left behind, life is literally a blank page. Liir is such an interesting character, too. He's quite morally ambiguous (at least where I'm reading now), unlike his mother-figure (Or actual mother? I don't know yet!) Elphaba, who so staunchly fought for what she believed in, even if she ultimately failed.

Doing:

Finding a basic wardrobe, or "Closet Essentials" as Tim Gunn calls them. My goal is to have one of those wardrobes that you can build on as the seasons bring new looks and new trends. I'm tired of standing in front of my closet, fretting and pining over what to wear. I feel like having a core wardrobe of essentials can help me alleviate that problem. But I don't want cheaply made things--I want things made of quality, that are going to last me, because it's the heart of my wardrobe. I don't need 3 pair of black pants that are going to fall apart in a year. I really don't like wearing black pants with anything except a white shirt (and it has to have a jacket or else I'll feel like a part of the wait staff at a restaurant) or a black shirt anyway. If I do, I usually end up feeling like I look like one of the Golden Girls. I like to wear khaki pants or brown pants with most colors. I feel less severe. Of course, this is all dependent on me reaching my goal weight, which should be right around the time that the new fall collections are out.

Toodles!

Weekend Update

What a busy, productive weekend I had! I've learned that you have to strike when the iron is hot, and I was hot to rearrange the house! I started out by making a list (naturally!) and by 1:30 Sunday morning, it had really gotten out of control, the things I wanted to do to the house.

I decided to start small by rearranging the master bedroom. I took the computer out of our room and placed it in Trey's room, and got rid of the defunct computer that was living in his room. Now Cathryn has a place to watch television and play on her sites when Trey is not home. Second, I removed all the DVDs, the television, and the DVD player out of the dilapidated entertainment center that had been housing them, and Richie and I threw it to the curb. Then I took all of my books and children's choir supplies off of the table I had been using and made it our new entertainment center, which I moved to a better location in relation to our bed. My darling, precious books were moved to a proper bookshelf (which made my darling, precious shoes homeless for about three hours), and the computer desk was converted to a hobby desk for Richie. I also moved the overstuffed chair in our room to a comfy corner where I can read or blog while Richie inspects his coins.

Since my shoes were homeless, and kind of heaped up sadly in a Tupperware container, I was forced to do a Wal-Mart run, since that's the only place in town you can get a shelving unit. I cannot see myself driving to Home Depot at 8 pm. It's in Surfside, and probably would have been closed by the time I got there. Wal-Mart was a scene of mass hysteria. I had a total of SEVEN things in my cart, and yet I did lot leave the place until 9. The only registers open were on the grocery side, and then there were only about five of those working. Forty-five minutes in line is forty-two minutes too long. UNACCEPTABLE.

When Cathryn and I finally got home, she and I put the shelf together. More proof that I've not given birth to another human being, but a clone of myself-- she drew out a plan of the shelf on her dry-erase board, complete with ponytailed figures with tools in hands. I don't know if I'd ever been more proud.

When I woke up the next morning, I saw that parts of the shelf were backward. I'm still too tired and sore to correct the problem. Speaking of being tired and sore, I could barely get out of bed Sunday morning, so I knew that there would be no dressing up to go to church. That's right--I played hookey. I'm not entirely proud of it, because I know that I need to be in church, but I seriously, seriously needed a day of rest. I finished Wicked (so, so awesome!), wrote, watched Band of Brothers with Richie (another piece of awesome!), and went to play practice.

Play practice went so, so well. Leslie's in charge of all the drama-related stuff this year, so this was her practice. She had us all sit in a circle and we read through the play, each actor just reading his or her lines until we had read the entire play through once. Then Leslie had us split into two groups (since there are two teams in the play), and go over timing and lines that way. My group was the Red Team, which is the younger team, comprised of Cathryn (Hiker #5), Dalton (Hiker #6), Brian Michael (Hiker #7), and Jordan (Hiker #8). What worried me the most was Cathryn reading her lines out loud, but she surprised me once again at how calm and collected she was. Folks, my little mini-me is brimming with confidence. I was surprised at how well they all read, given their ages. The kids were also pretty excited about their parts. When we reconvened, Leslie told me that she feels really good about the play now that she's gotten to hear them all read. We still have a few kinks to work out musically, but I have no worries. The next two practices are choreography-related, so no doubt Leslie and I will be steeped in prayer. And Valium, for our nerves.

Next up on the project list: cleaning out the closets, rearranging Cathryn's room.

Obsession Wednesday

Reading: Wicked, by Gregory Maquire. It's the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. It's fascinating, once you get past the strange language. It can get a little long in parts, but you're too afraid that if you skip a passage, you'll miss something important. It reminds me of watching Buffy--little things can mean a lot later on down the road. I've become so obsessed with the story that I had to purchase the sequel, Son of the Witch, plus I have acquired the Broadway musical soundtrack, as well as the book that goes along with the musical. If that's not obsession, I don't know what is!

Watching: Nothing. There is nothing on television right now that I have to watch. The writer's strike is driving me mad. The last Ugly Betty aired this past Thursday, and there hasn't been a new Heroes since December. how will I ever find out if Nathan Petrelli survived? Yeah, I know it's American Idol season. But I'm just not as into it. Maybe Season 6 has jaded me, but I'm finding these auditions just as boring as last season, if more humane. Maybe it's that I'm really enjoying the time Cathryn and I spend together at bedtime. I love reading her stories and talking about the day with her.

Doing: Reworking this blog! I really want it to reflect the real Josie. I'm still working on it, and I'm afraid that I'm still missing some links. If you see that the blog is missing something, tell me in the comments.