Tuesday, October 24, 2006

I Haven't Disappeared

I haven't been blogging for awhile -- we all know how life catches up with us in other ways. But I have missed it and I'm going to try to get back on track.

Fortunately, while work and some stuff around the house kept me busy, I still found time to read. I finished The Gothic Tradition. It was okay; it's really designed as a textbook so there were some thought-provoking questions. But even though it was designed to be used by graduate students, it was a little too broad for me. I would have liked a little bit deeper look at the history of the gothic novel.

After that, I started Jonathon Franzen's Strong Motion. It's the first book of his that I've read. Starting was okay, but I seemed to have lost interest. I just don't have that much taste for most modern fiction. I haven't completely given up on it, but it's not on the top of my list right now.

Then I quickly raced through Laurel K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures. I've been hearing a lot about the Anita Blake series, so the RIP challenge was a perfect excuse to finally buy one. I enjoyed it -- though I still think I like Buffy better. But I'm awfully tempted to buy the next two or three books in the series!

I also started my last RIP book, The Moonstone. It's been years since I read it and I forgot how truly funny it is. There aren't too many books that make me laugh out loud, but this is one of them. Whether I'll actually finish it by next week when October is over is a mystery all its own.

Finally, I also snuck in a fast read with The Civil War by Bruce Catton. I worked in a museum for seven years, managing new exhibit projects. I've been asked to help out with a bid to restore a historic building that would include a small museum experience. The building was originally built for Civil War veterans at the end of the 19th century. So I needed to do a little studying. The last time I studied the Civil War was as a freshman in high school -- and that was a long time ago! Bruce Catton was one of the leading authorities on the Civil War and his book is a great broad overview.

Okay, that's it for now. But I do have an idea for a post for tomorrow -- yeah for me! Thanks for missing me, Kirsty! (Go check out her blog. It's got tons of great pictures!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout-out Susan! Your new template looks great. That's the second recommendation for The Moonstone I've heard this week, so it'll go on my TBR list.