it's a hot one and my abused TBR pile

Yesterday was such a nice pleasant day. It wasn't too warm, it wasn't cold. But today? it's currently 715 in the evening and it is still 89 degrees! I think it got up to 100 degrees today. Have I ever mentioned I hate hot weather? cause I do. I think I could exist happily in an area that stays between 40 and 65 degrees. This kind of weather makes me so pissed off, unreasonably so. I couldn't do anything, but lay on my bed in a stupor, trying to read. No energy, no willpower. Tomorrow won't be much cooler. At least it's supposed to get down into the 50's tonight, although I don't see any fog coming in to help with that. It never fails in this area though. Just about time to go back to school/work and the summer, which has been mild, just heats up. It'll probably go back and forth like this til October. Does it every year, and every year people say, "I can't believe it's the end of September and still so hot!" Every year.

While I was in a stupor on my bed, my granddaughter was again sorting through my books. This is what I found when I got up.

non-reviews and a little bit of whining

I must really be tripping this year. There are eight books I've read this year that I haven't written anything about. That was the whole purpose of me doing this blog; to write about books that I enjoyed, or sort of enjoyed. What a dweeb am I?

Maybe I'll go back to review them, but tonight - I'm fighting a cold; 'cause of course I have to go back to work this week, so I MUST catch a cold and be miserable! Can't start out the beginning of the year calling in sick, so I have to tough it out, which means more pain (but no more pain meds to help cope), and more general discomfort. I've found that when my pain spikes, it usually does not go back down to the previous level, it stays higher than it was before. All I can do is take extra ibuprofen. Part of what I have to do this week is work with books, using my hands and elbows, so it's probably going to suck, no matter how much I don't want it to. It's hard to stay positive during times like these.

On the other hand - today my 2 year old granddaughter counted to 10, many times as she was pointing to things on a bookpage. Once she gets past ten, she starts repeating numbers, but that's pretty amazing anyway. We were also working with shapes (we were reading Calico Cat Looks Around) from a reading book. On the last page there are shapes like square, circle, petal, crescent...etc. The first go around she didn't get any right. The second go around she got a few right and the third go around she got every single shape right. I'm not sure if she'll remember by tomorrow though. It's possible she might remember some, but probably not all. Makes me want to start easy words on flashcards for her, as long as it stays fun. Toddlers and preschoolers should have lots of playtime, and NO academic stress. Just playing is learning.

My husband and I will have our 30th wedding anniversary on Tuesday (August 11). He had put aside a little money to go out to dinner (we live from paycheck to paycheck). This weekend started a heatwave in our area. One of our fans had broken recently. Last night another fan wore out, and my middle son's room was so uncomfortably hot (no circulation) that he ended up going to his girlfriend's to sleep. Today my husband comes to me and asks "what would you rather do? Go out to dinner for our anniversary or buy a couple fans for the house?" This may seem like a very unromantic choice, but I picked fans. It might seem like he gave me a very unromantic choice, but he knows that I'm needing extra airflow, and I want my son to be comfortable also. So we can still go out for an icecream on our anniversary evening. We don't need the whole dinner thing, that only lasts as long as you digest it anyway. The fans will last longer!

The Demon's Librarian ; hot weather

The Demon's Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow

I've been reading this book for about a week. (I think) I usually can finish a book in less time than that, but I keep getting interrupted by life. I have to sleep, play with my granddaughter, play with my grandson when he comes over, make myself do stretches so my shoulders don't freeze up on me, eat, visit with my mom who's here from Panama, play with my little 10 pound ball of terror - SkippyJon, and interact with my family. {oh the hardships! :) } I'm, fortunately off work for the summer {unfortunately for my pocketbook - more time to shop for books, less money to shop with. Ironic is life.}

So I've been reading the Demon's Librarian --> way off topic ensues here--->{when I can stay awake. We've been having heat spells. I'll bet it was 100 degrees here. It is 3:34 in the a.m. and the temperature is still in the 70's. insert scream here---- I melt in hot weather. My brain shuts off and I get so uncomfortable. I know other areas deal with longer and hotter heat waves; but I can't stand any type of heat. 80 degrees feels extreme to me. And, to make things a little harder, I am going through menopause - complete with hot flashes and more hot flashes. yuk. hot flashes and irritability at husband. Does anyone else suffer from this? I think I love my husband, but I have NO patience for tender feelings - unless it's from my grandchildren. Does that make me horrible? probably. I think we should all go to the beach tomorrow and forget our troubles}

Back to the main subject of my post: Once again: So I've been reading The Demon's Librarian. For the first two or three chapters, I had a hard time connecting with the book. This surprises me. I love everything written by Lilith Saintcrow, and have always sank right into whatever novel of hers I am reading. For a while I was wondering what my problem was. It was hard for me to get into the story, or identify with the characters. Today I noticed that I was feeling more into the book. I skimmed back through the beginning again, and it hit me. Ms Saintcrow usually writes in the first person. This book is written in the third person, and uses two main characters' point of view. The interesting thing, and something I think that I like, now anyway, is that instead of writing something like..."Susie Q wondered why her oatmeal was too lumpy....", or "Ms M wondered what was wrong with her husband, couldn't he see she was trying to read?" when her characters were having thoughts, those thoughts were written in first person and italicized (in italics?). I think that at first that made it so the reading didn't really flow for me, but as I got further into the book, it read much more seamlessly. Like you are in their heads, listening in on their sometimes sarcastic thoughts. I am now a little more than halfway through the book and the further I get into it, the more engaged in the book I am and the more I am enjoying this book. I almost feel like I should re-read the first few chapters, but I am way too impatient for that.

I haven't read Ms Saintcrows "Watcher" or "Society" series, so I don't know if those are written in this style. I have read her new YA book (Strange Angels - loved it), her Dante Valentine books (Working for the Devil, through To Hell and Back) and her Jill Kismet books (two of them anyway; Night Shift and Hunter's Prayer). Loved those books - a lot. They are all written in the first person. In fact, now that I'm thinking about them (the books) I think I want to re-read the "Devil" {Dante Valentine} series and for sure I want to read Strange Angels again. Especially now that Betrayals is coming out, the sequel to Strange Angels. Those two books are under the name Lili St.Crow, not Lilith Saintcrow, in case anyone hasn't heard of them yet. For a YA book, I was surprised at how scary the Strange Angels was {I was surprised anyway - I expect adult books to be scarier than YA}. It reminded me of being 18 again and reading The Shining (Stephen King), it being around 1978, and the general (American) public being a little naive still, that book scared me while I was reading it. I had almost the same feeling while reading Strange Angels, heart beating fast, feeling a little jumpy, worried about the main character. Not many books make me feel like that anymore. (or was that just a hot flash? no, really I loved the book.)

I am hoping to finish The Demon's Librarian tomorrow. I have so many TBR books, and just bought Prey {Rachel Vincent} and Street Magic {Caitlin Kittredge} to add to them. In my TBR pile I have another Lilith Saintcrow book, Steelflower. Apparently that one is from her earlier writing career. It's possible I'm remembering wrong, but I think Ms Saintcrow wrote that Steelflower was written before the Dante books, and she's been working on a sequel, but it's a long way off from finished. Steelflower is more fantasy - featuring elves and swords.

Prey will be next book I read, so that I can pass it on to my father when I finish reading it. He loves Rachel Vincent's books. Every book in the series that I've read, he now owns. He keeps my books. Cracks me up. In fact, that is the only series that I haven't kept. Usually, if I like a book enough to buy all the sequels, then I have a spot on my "keeper" shelf for them. Not these ones. My dad has them all. It's cool though, he enjoys them. He's going to be 71 years old, and this is the first fiction series he has read.

Well - it's pathetically late. Once again I have managed to stay up almost all night. I have a serious issue with sleeping at night. Part of the problem is my pain meds have all worn off, and if I take more, than I end up taking the next days' dose before it's time. It's hard to fall asleep when body parts throb and ache. Sleeping pills seem to have the opposite effect on me, or rather no effect. I just stay up a little later, not really feeling like I took anything. My body chemistry is whacked. I need to find out a free way to learn yoga. Internet maybe?