Media Roll Call - and GOMEZ

9) A Winsome Widow by Teresa DesJardien - A horrible let-down compared to the other two Regency romances I read by this author. I thought surely that meant it was a freshman attempt but... Nope, this one was written in between Borrowed Kisses and The Marriage Mart. Go figure. Bland characters, overly annoying side characters, a writing style that consisted of at least 33% of rhetorical questions. At least it made for a lazy, easy ready on a day that consisted of not doing much of anything.

10) Swedish Folktales & Legends edited by Lone Thygesen Blecher and George Blecher - Phew, these were... earthy. I've read fairy tales and legends from all over, being somewhat of a obsessed nut fan of the genre as well as dorktastic over the social history that can be gleaned from them but this batch? Easily the filthiest. Amusing and fast and covering a surprising range but still filthy. Lots of fart and dick jokes, no lie. Though I was also tickled to pick up the random parallels or the out-of-the-blue reference to the strange meld of Norse myth and Christianity. It was put together well, too. Very simple with no literary embellishments. The tales stood and fell on their own.

10.5) Xenia: A Hoard of Lost Words, 18th Century Street Lingo, and a Few Completely Confabulated Terms Collected and Exemplified by Coleman Barks - doesn't count as a full book since it's a dictionary of sorts. Only realized halfway through that it's by the same gentleman who did my favorite Rumi and Hafiz translations... The translations are more lovely and less full-of-themselves.

More importantly than the books, though, dude... GOMEZ

This Wednesday, Pixie and I headed down to Philly to indulge in Gomez's Quinceanera (how do you make the tilde?) Tour. Fly joined us, bless her, trusting my musical taste to not steer her wrong. ( The band, needless to say, did not disappoint )