Happy Independence Day, America!

It's been a long time ~ six months ~ since I've posted anything here, and I've really missed it, but I've had some personal issues to deal with and little time for personal pleasures.  All that is now in the past and will I hope stay in the past, so, in to paraphrase Russel Casse: "Hello, boys and girls! I'm back!" (from the film Independence Day which is pretty fitting considering that tomorrow is the Fourth of July). 

I also had a long dry spell where almost nothing I picked up to read seemed to interest me, but I've recently read some amazing books which I'd like to briefly share with you.  Two were on audiobook, which I listen to on my trusty and well-used iPod.
 
First, you probably already know that Neil Gaiman is a wonderfully amazing writer, but but did you also know that he is also an amazingly wonderful reader, at least of the two works of his to which I've listened?  Last year, I was fortunate enough to listen to The Graveyard Book, my first Gaiman ever and coincidentally the winner of not only the Newbery Award for best novel of 2009 but also the Audie for best audiobook of 2009.  Then last week I picked up Neverwhere on audio and listened to it.  What a magical audiobook, and so masterfully read by its author.

Neverwhere tells the story of Richard Mayhew, an unassuming young businessman living in London.  Richard has a dull job and a pretty but demanding fiancee, but he's relatively happy, or believes he is. Then one night, on the way to dinner with his fiancee where he is to meet her wealthy employer, he stumbles across a homeless girl who lies bleeding on the sidewalk. He stops to help her, against the strong objections of his fiancee, and the life he has known vanishes like smoke.  Literally.  It vanishes.  His bank account is gone.  His apartment is being rented out as if it is vacant.  People can't even seem to see him when he's standing in a puddle in front of them, naked but for a small handtowel draped across a strategic area of his anatomy, dripping from the bath that was interrupted by a leasing agent and a pair of prospective new tenants.  And he's being stalked by two of the worst, creepiest and evil assassins who ever existed.  He has, in fact, fallen through the cracks.  Thus begins his sojourn in the city below the city, where magic is as natural as traffic lights and smog in the upper world.  It was so good, I wanted to start listening to it again as soon as I finished it.  And now I've got Fragile Things, another audiobook of his that he reads, on hold at the library for pickup soon. 

The second book I've listened to recently that I want to share with you is A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.  Now, I follow Libba Bray on Twitter, but didn't think I'd like her work as I'm not usually enamoured of angst-ridden YA romances.  Wow, was I ever wrong.  A Great and Terrible Beauty, set in the late 1800s, begins the trilogy that tells the story of 16-year-old Gemma Doyle who, after the suicide of her mother, is shipped away from the life she has known in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England.  While there, she discovers a magical realm beyond the mundane world through a door that only she can open.  While there was some angst and a small bit of romance, there was so much more: guilt, Victorian absurdities, danger, death, suspense, murder, and redemption.  As a friend on LibraryThing.com said, "Why oh why couldn't young girls have become enamoured with this series instead of with the stupid Twilight series..."

Some other excellent audiobooks I've enjoyed lately are Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten and First Among Sequels, the last two (so far) of the Tuesday Next series, and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, a reread for me.  Black Hills by Dan Simmons, the story of Paha Sapa who touched General Custer just as he died and became infected with Custer's ghost, is also good, though the parts where Custer was talking were a bit offputting.

Later this weekend, I'll post some of the paper books I've read and enjoyed in the past few months.  Now it's time to clean the kitchen, which I allowed to fall into terrible disarray over the past few days.  It will be good to be able to use the sink and see the counters again.

Haiti - Creative Ways to Help

Haiti is on everyone's minds tonight, and many of us are praying for those who are injured and/or lost loved ones in the disaster.  As those of us in California who have experience with catastrophic earthquakes know, it's just as important to give material aid ~ search & rescue, clean water, food, shelter, clothing.  Unless you are a doctor or emergency worker who is going over there to personally offer your help in digging out those victims buried beneath the rubble, you'll be giving donations of money.  So many charity organizations are asking for donations that it's not hard to find a place to send your money ~ a little or a lot, depending on your circumstances.  Just be sure the charity you give to is legitimate and is not a scam, which is not new or unusual when disasters strike.  Greed seems to thrive on the pain and suffering of others.

One way to give without actually digging in pockets or searching between the sofa cushions is to use http://www.goodsearch.com/ as your web search engine.  The first time you go to the site, you can plug in the name of a charity (I chose The Red Cross), and then, every time you search the Web with GoodSearch, money is given to the charity of your choice.  If you purchase something from a vendor you found using GoodSearch, even more money is given to the charity.  I've been using GoodSearch for about a year now, and it does a fine job of finding things on the internet, providing results that look much like Google's.

In this age of social networking, a new way of helping has come to the fore.  Names and photos of the missing are being posted on Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites, and I've seen a few cases where missing loved ones have been found.  As a faithful Twitter user, I can tell you that I learned about the crushing breadth of the crisis long before mainstream media got hold of the story.  People on the ground in Port-au-Prince were tweeting what they were seeing within hours of when the 7.0 temblor happened, and now tweeters are making suggestions for what is needed most, posting pictures from the streets, and telling their stories ~ 140 characters at a time.

If anyone else has any suggestions of creative ways to help, I'd love to hear about them.  Please leave a comment and I'll put them in another post or link to your blog.

A Christmas Meme

In Valerie Comer's Little World, she suggested this Christmas meme, which I thought was pretty cool. Want to play too? Link your answers in the comments section.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags, all the way! I can never find the scotch tape when I need to wrap something, or the room to spread it out, so the paper always ends up looking wrinkly and torn.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Love real but this year put up a very small artificial tree in my tiny little apartment.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually just before Christmas, like Christmas Eve. This year I put it up early, like yesterday.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes. With nutmeg on top. And a tot of brandy or rum in it is also quite pleasant.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Tiny Tears Doll one year and a 26-inch bike a few years later.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Everybody, because I always try to find unique gifts that I am sure the person will love (or at least use).

8. Easiest person to buy for? My daughter when she was little.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but I can't remember where I put it. It's not in any of the Christmas boxes I've gotten down off the closet shelves yet.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I like to send both, if I ever manage to get around to it.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A pair of gray knit gloves and a matching hat. From a BOYFRIEND! I felt so depressed. I mean, if I lived in Alaska or Chicago, maybe I could see why he'd give me something that looked like it was meant to keep an old granny warm, but I lived in Los Angeles, CA for heaven's sake!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I really don't have one. Not a movie person. But if I were pressed, I'd probably say "Home Alone."

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Christmas week, sometimes Christmas Eve. (I am not in denial.)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No. I may do it this year though. Haven't shopped yet.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Oh, my. Mincemeat pie. :) When we were little, my mom always made oyster stew for Christmas Eve, and we'd eat it with those little bitty crackers. Christmas was usually turkey, if I remember correctly, or ham. Or both. We had a big family.

16. Lights on the tree? No, but multi-colored lights on the potted palm and the potted ficus tree.

17. Favorite Christmas song? I love all the old carols: We Three Kings, Silent Night, Adeste Fideles, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Drummer Boy.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I've done both, but the older I get the more I like staying home.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Hmmm, I was just wondering that myself. Uh, let's see: Dasher, Dancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blixen, Vixen, and...um, Rudolph?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I grew up with Christmas Eve gift-opening at home with my dad's family, and then we'd go to my maternal grandmother's for Christmas Day and open gifts there too. When my daughter was little, I'd let her open one present from me on Christmas Eve, but Santa came that night after she was asleep so she opened those gifts and the rest of mine on Christmas Day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Sell, sell, sell. Buy, buy, buy. Lord, but the desperate commerciality of it makes me sick.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? Whatever I feel like. I do like angels, though, and have a lot of them. Actually, I leave most of them up all year.

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? If I had my choice, I'd make roast beef with mashed potatoes & gravy. Oh, vegetables? Sure, whatever. And mincemeat pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. And maybe plum pudding with hard sauce. And a nice moist fruit cake. And those powered-sugar-covered almond crescent cookies. (Yes, I like sweets.)

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Not so much. World peace. To win the lottery so I could retire. Health care reform with Medical for All to pass. The end of homelessness and domestic abuse. The return of my passion & creativity. That my daughter and family are all safe and happy.

Merry Christmas, Everyone! And may the New Year be filled with happiness, health, prosperity, and all good things!

Truly, Madly ~ a review

Lucy Valentine comes from a long line of matchmakers who have been aided in the endeavor by being able to read peoples' auras. Unfortunately, while the Valentine's are uncannily accurate when it comes to pairing others, they seem unable to find true and lasting love themselves. 

Heather Webber's Truly, Madly was a fun, easy-to-read romantic mystery with delightful flashes of humor. I thought it was very well-written in a style that was breezy but not annoyingly so. It was written in the first person, which often puts me off, but Heather Webber managed to pull it off. Lucy is a likeable heroine with a couple of major issues: one is that she feels as if she's not really good for anything & doesn't quite belong, and the second is a giant fear of commitment. Lucy's paranormal talent was zapped when she was 14 years old, and now all she seems able to do is find lost objects, not much help when she's forced by circumstances to take over the family business.

She shares the story with a cast of supporting characters that include Sean ~ a hunky but not particularly well-developed P.I./love-interest, Dovie ~ Lucy's ditzy but hip grandmother who, in her desperation to become a great-grandmother, is both adorable and terrifying by turns, a couple of loyal best friends, a pushy reporter, a really creepily psychotic yet tormented villain, and, my personal favorites, two rescue animals ~ one a three-legged, neurotically needy cat named Grendel and a one-eyed hamster named Odysseus. Along with Sean's puppy Thoreau, the furry threesome promises to provide lots of comic relief as the series continues.

I thought the solutions to the various mysteries were pretty cool, but I wasn't thrilled with what I thought was a rather abrupt ending. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Truly, Madly is due in stores in February 2010. I won an ARC through LibraryThing.com's Early Review program.

It's NOVEMBER 1 and You Know What That Means, Right?

November is National Novel Writing Month, and, as I have for the past three years, I'm taking part in the NaNoWriMo challenge. What's that, you ask?

The challenge, for those brave (or crazy) enough to accept it, is to write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November. Not really any other rules, except it should be a fresh fictional project, begun at the stroke of 12:01 a.m. on November 1 and ended at 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Not one word of the novel itself should be written before November 1, but you can outline, plot, research, do character studies, etc. before then. Or not. (I'm one of the "or-nots," which makes for some pretty hair-raising moments when I run out of ideas halfway through the NaNovel I'm writing.)

At some point (one hopes before 11:59 p.m. on 11/30), you upload your novel (straight or scrambled, it doesn't matter, since no one except you and those with whom you choose to share) for verification of word count, and, if it is at or over 50k, YOU WIN!

And the prize? Ah, the prize! A beautiful, sparkly purple bar under your NaNo name and the rights to brag about it for the next 12 months. Cool, huh?

So, all these words (practicing for NaNo?) just to say one thing: I won't be around much during November to blog or read everyone else's blogs (or to Twitter, or on Facebook, or on LibraryThing, or to read novels, or to get much sleep), so please forgive me for disappearing for a month and please come back on December 1 when I pick up where I left off on my OTHER life that is not NaNoWriMo.

I will be tweeting during November as @Novelst, so, if you are on Twitter, please feel free to follow me (tho I probably won't follow you back because @Novelst is strictly for NaNoWriMo and writing in general), and plan to blog about my NaNo experience on LiveJournal (where I am Storeetllr), in case you are interested in how I'm doing with my NaNovel.

Okay, then, this is it till December. I'm leaving. Now. *poof*