if I stay and my abandonment

Both of these titles have had a ton of press. If I Stay by Gail Forman was optioned for film before it was even on library shelves and My Abandonment is a very literary ripped from the headlines about a father and daughter duo who live in the woods. But creepier than I just made it sound.
Anyway, If I Stay was good except I found the plot very predictable. But the characters made it special. The main character is a cellist so that was a nice surprise. I love reading books where the cellist is not a huge dork but a fully fleshed out person. The parents were great too.
My Abandonment was too literary for me I'm afraid. It was a very interesting concept, however.

books with buzz

I just got done with 2 different books that have been getting a lot of buzz lately.

One is "The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan. This is a post-apocalyptic YA zombie story with a tragic romance thrown in. Sometimes I read a first novel that is so good it makes me hate the author because, you know, why didn't I write that? It's that good. It has a unique vision since it deals not with the immediate effects of a zombie attack, but with what happens to the survivors after a couple of generations. Really great novel.

The second is "A Reliable Wife" by Robert Goolrick. Everyone is talking about this book so I thought maybe I could read it for a program I do at the library where I give adult book talks. Um, no. This is basically a study in sexual repression and sexual obsession. It is suspenseful and definitely intriguing, but hard to read at times. And there is no way in hell I am going to talk about it to little old ladies at the library. In 1909, a woman answers an ad in a newspaper and travels to Wisconsin to marry a wealthy and lonely businessman. She has a plan for this marriage, one that is somehow both complex and simple and only revealed in bits and pieces. The businessman has a plan, too. I really hate to give away too much because it was masterfully written.

Of the two, of course I liked the YA better. But as far as adult, "literary" novels go, the Goolrick was certainly worth my while.

beaten over the head with a tuna can

I watched Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday night, and ever since then I've wanted to punch something in the face due to the Chicken of the Sea jungle I have stuck in my head. I've gotta say, Annie Duke can certainly craft a lyric. If I ate fish, I would probably be out buying giant flats of this tuna at Costco right now.

I realize that this is part of the genius of the Apprentice. Not only is it a TV show, but it's also a 2 hour long marketing campaign for whatever brand ponies up the cash. I wonder what kind of a bump this company got from having Joan Rivers make clucking and splashing noises. Although with Joan Rivers I would assume that more people simply covered their eyes in terror as they promised they would never ever get plastic surgery. I mean, remember when Joan Rivers looked like a person? Now she looks like what would happen if the Joker and a cat had a baby and then the baby got old and had several face lifts.

Probably I should save my TV watching time for something more educational or at least something not directly created by Satan. But then I would have missed Jesse James looking perplexed and a Playboy Playmate trying to convince America that she's super duper smart. That's comedy, people.

lately

I haven't been writing lately. My life just sort of sped up and I got out of practice and after a few weeks, it just got worse until I was like "why would I ever write again?" But I have read a lot of books in the last few months, and knitted some things. I mostly have stopped eating at restaurants other than super cheap places because of cash flow issues, stupid economy.
Here is a picture of the knitting I've been working on recently:

It's lace. I don't do a lot of lace, mostly because it takes concentration and I tend to knit while talking or watching TV. But a few months ago I took a lace class with Annie Modesitt and decided it was time to use what she taught me. She was funny and a great teacher and really helped me a lot. So I decided to make a shawl. It's going pretty well, although sometimes I'll discover that I made a mistake and I'm way too lazy to rip back so I just, like, decrease a stitch somewhere to get the right number on the needles again.
Knitting is good therapy for overcoming my crippling perfectionism. This shawl is going to be good enough. It will be pretty and cozy even if it has a few errors. The world will not end if there is a mistake. I will not need to throw it in the trash. It's an exercise in being happy with my skills even when I am imperfect.
So that's what's been going on lately.