Splinters of a Fractured Mind

I kind of read 12 more books before I got to the end of 2014 and forgot to post about them in the push through the holiday madness. So we'll do an abrupt, possibly bratty drive-by. (You know I sometimes read absolute nonsense, after all.)

( Books of 2014 )

19) A Kiss Before The Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski - I picked this up as a bag-filler when I got my haul from New Street, figuring that it would be amusing if nothing else because, dude, the title. Not to mention that it's based on the concept of an angel who chose to come to earth and live as a human, who decides to become a PI, who is a big old fan-boy about film noir and Dashiell Hammett... It proved way better than I expected and way more charming. While the plot wasn't much in the way of ground-breaking (I have seen The Prophecy, you know), the characters were interesting, the writing was pretty solid, and it just had some lovely hooks to it. I loved Remy's dog, silly puppy. I love the fact that he was married and devoted to his wife and they treated each other like equals even though she knew. There was love in this book but it was not a romance; the love was in the right place, the heart, and not driving things along.

20) The Museum at Purgatory by Nick Bantock - As all of his work, it was visually stunning, heavy on the detail, and elaborately organized. It's a bit more complicated and esoteric, though, so it made for thick-going. I still enjoyed it.

You know, I have to stop this problem I have. I take a bag of books to the used book store, get rid of a good dozen... and come home with two. Oh, well. I guess it's better than taking in two and coming out with twelve, right?

( Reading time )

And go stir crazy and twist our ankles and shovel until we keel over. Sounds like fun, yes? No.

Anyway, we've accumulated somewhere in the vicinity of 20 inches or so during this past week and that was on top of the already lingering 8 inches from the previous storm. My work closed on Thursday so I've had a four day weekend. In between bursts of snow on Thursday, I went out to dig my car free. As I slaved away, two gentleman from nearby homes came over to help me and we got it clear in maybe an hour, hour and a half. They were so unbearably sweet and I made cookies that night that I still need to bring to them as a thank you. I did, however, manage to wrench my ankle pretty well a few times. The last time, I was walking back to the house to come in and get warm; I went down entirely, managed to land on my back in the huge snow drift, laughed a bit and cursed delicately... And just laid there for a few moments and watched the sky above. It would have been peaceful if I wasn't concerned about the snow getting through my coat to my phone.

Then it snowed more so... Fuck you, too, Mother Nature. Needless to say, I canceled a vet appointment and a doctor's appointment as I wasn't about to dig out again early in the morning and drag poor Serendipity out in that. So, as it hadn't snowed again, I dug out my car. Again. Then I walked up to get my nails done and pick up milk at the corner store. This is something I immediately regretted upon my return home as it showed my ankle to be far worse than I thought. I spent the rest of the day on my butt and we ordered Valentine's Day pizza and shared a bottle of excellent wine.

Saturday was more snow. But, dammit, we wanted out by that point so we dusted and dug out my car again and went to The Mint for delicious food... And returned to my first bout of snow politics this year. May karma bite that woman in the butt.

Pixie has pointed out that I've developed a habit of using baking to self-medicate. I say this is not a bad thing for my roomies or others near enough to benefit. I tried a boxed bread mix yesterday for a rising dough that doesn't need kneading and it looks gorgeous. I made potato soup from scratch on Friday and I made those cookies Thursday. I was going to make pie but my ankle is saying no. I also have lots of carrots for carrot cake. Everyone! Come to Bethlehem and be fed sweets!

Thank god that I go to Florida on Wednesday until Saturday. I could use some sunshine and non-white scenery. I don't even care if all we do is go to thrift stores and the cat shelter!

( Book Update )

Uh, or else just watch me continue to list my books so I can keep track of my life in bite-sized ways. Delusions are fun!

( Books )