June, 2006



June 1st, 2006, 10:37 p.m. - These people don't know how to Google? Oy

"Who's That Guy?"


June 9th, 2006, 1:35 p.m. - In case you were wondering...

I'm still alive. Just on vacation. Go about your business.


June 10th, 8:03 p.m. - Guess what I did last week?

Read a lot of books, that's what.

15. Possible Side Effects (Augusten Burroughs)
I'm surprised this book didn't get great reviews since I thought it was great - better than Magical Thinking and definitely better than Running with Scissors, which I never even got through after probably three tries. Burroughs isn't as good a writer as David Sedaris (but then, who is?), but I still love his style. I'm always surprised to remember that he has no higher education because he comes across so intelligent. He finds the perfect words to describe exactly what he's trying to. Possible Side Effects gets a little confusing because the stories switch between Burroughs' childhood and adulthood, but once you figure out where you are, they're easy to navigate.

16. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
I was afraid I wouldn't like this, even though so many people have, but I loved it. Kidd is a wonderful writer with amazing attention to detail and the ability to make you picture her scenes the way she must be seeing them. My only real problem was that I thought Lily, the narrator, sounded too young for 14. (Maybe it was naivete instead of youth, but either way, I thought she could've been drawn a little better.) Oh, and I didn't really like Rosaleen, and I thought her relationship with Lily could have been a little stronger, especially before they met up with the sisters, but oh, well. A great book anyway.

17. King Dork (Frank Portman)
I think this was supposed to be like The Da Vinci Code for teens. It wasn't. It doesn't work that well. I get the irony that the protagonist, Tom, is supposed to be like Holden Caulfield even though he hates The Catcher in the Rye, but...if I wanted to read Catcher (as it's often referred to in the book), I'd read Catcher, you know? Also, STOP USING EVERYONE'S FULL NAME ALL THE TIME. And don't take 100 pages to get to the plot.

18. Julie and Julia (Julie Powell)
Don't read this book on an empty stomach. It will make you want to go to the kitchen and try to cook something French. You will probably fail miserably. Instead, read about Powell's experiences trying to bring herself out of an I'm-approaching-30-and-haven't-done-anything-meaningful-with-my-life depression by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. She doesn't sugarcoat any of it - the failures, the struggles, and the strain on her marriage and life in general. Powell's voice is so strong, honest, and unabashed, I don't think she held anything back. It's rare for a writer to show herself in a light that might not always be favorable.

19. The Husband (Dean Koontz)
Seeing as how I found Koontz's last two books, Velocity and Forever Odd disappointing (and possibly a third, if he was responsible for the suckfest that was Bad Twin), The Husband was a welcome pleasure. Gardener Mitch Rafferty has 60 hours to get together $2 million to ransom his kidnapped wife or she'll be killed. Of course, he doesn't have nearly that amount of money and he can't get any help from the police. The rest of the book is almost in real time, and Koontz keeps the pace very well. He's definitely a master of suspense and tension. I was bored trying to get into Velocity and Forever Odd, but The Husband starts off strong and barely falters. There are a couple of great twists in it, too.

Up next: The Brief History of the Dead (Kevin Brockmeier)


June 11th, 2006, 10:01 p.m. - Happy summer vacation!

"Britain vs. the U.S." - no more Apprentice till January! Only trash this summer! Huzzah!


June 15th, 2006, 7:52 p.m. - I'm finally an aunt!

Samuel James Brasler was born today, sometime around 5:30 p.m., weighing in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces. (My poor sister-in-law!)


June 20th, 2006, 10:22 p.m. - Newsflash!

I suck at bowling. And I always break my thumbnail.


June 21st, 2006, 8:48 p.m. - Click and let the cuteness overtake you

Warning: You may faint from a cuteness overdose.


June 27th, 2006, 7:58 p.m. - Reasons today sucked

1. No one ever answers the phones
2. ...And they wouldn't stop ringing
3. I had to print and bind transcripts because our production person was out
4. The lights in my office were flickering all day, then went out at 3
5. It rained all freaking day
6. My coworker's parents' basement flooded, and they're on vacation and coming back Saturday, so she might have to take off Friday to go help her brother rescue the house
7. We just acquired a new company and are keeping everything separate, for some reason, so everything takes twice as long
8. The other company's phones were supposed to be forwarded to us. They haven't been
9. The fax number was, though...to our phone number. So half the time I answered the phone, there was a beep on the other end
10. I drove all the way to Barnes and Noble in the rain in rush hour traffic behind bad drivers and they didn't have what I wanted anyway
11. I wound up getting locked out of the house in the rain with mosquitos attacking me

Bring on tomorrow!



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