Back To Reality

So I have kinda been spazzing out on the books recently. Obsessively reading. To the point where nothing is getting done.

What has been the source of my obsessions you say. Well, there has been the adventures of Lt Eve Dallas and her billioniare husband Roarke, in the ‘In Death’ series of books by J. D. Robb (or Nora Roberts to us lesser mortals) I’m on Book 7 of a set of 25 with no end in sight. Bliss. Then I fell head over heels in love with Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series. I have only read the first two but Julian and Kyrian. OMG! Heroes to be obssesed over. Most defintely. And then finally and this one crept up on me, J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Man, I am so into this set of books. The first one Dark Lover I was all, ‘Meh, It was okay,’. But I liked the secondary characters and the storyline enough to go back and read some more. By the second ‘Lover Eternal‘ I was ‘That was MUCH better.’ And the third ‘Lover Awakened‘ turned me into a complete Brotherhood whore. There is plenty wrong with the series but I just can’t seem to care. I love these characters and the overall arc of the series. Brilliant.

But I have had to deal with some everyday, real-life stuff today and I realise I have perhaps been overdoing the whole, ‘I’m reading’ thing. I haven’t looked at a piece of kintiing in a month and the tv thinks it’s been dis-owned. So after chores today I’m going to email a few folks and pick up my knitting and I’m not going to touch a book until at least 5pm. Honest.

Present

I am here. I am alive.

I’m just having fun, working, getting to know my new workmates and reading my ass off. Seriously I haven’t turned a TV on in two weeks and I have discovered the e-book.

I want an iLiad. I know, not another gadget.

But it means I can get rid of all the books I have kept because I might want to read them again, (Though in all probability won’t.) It means my collection will remain intact and I shall have space, blessed space. The digital age is a great thing for us hoarders.

I’ll still keep my most favs that I can’t bear to be without. My Terry Pratchett’s, Meljean Brook, Jim Butcher and Jennifer Rardin. The rest can go.

Cowboys And Angels

So the time has come for me to gush and wax lyrical about my new literary crush.

I have just finished Meljean Brook’s fantabulous Demon Night.

I’m almost beyond words. I can’t seem to find the right combination to tell you all intelligently, how well written, tightly plotted and heartwarming this book is because all I want to do is go:-

I LOVE THIS BOOK. LOVE, LUUURVE, THIS FRIGGIN’ BOOK.

I feel like a teenager again, unable to communicate with anyone and forced into just squealing random adjectives in a high giggly voice.

AMAZING, AWESOME, HAWT!, WONDERFUL, ROMANTIC, HAWT!! DREAMY.

But I will stomp on that teenager and tell her to sit quiet while I try to explain in rational terms, why I loved this book so much.

It is classed as a Paranormal Romance, but basically it’s Urban Fantasy with a little more focus on the romantic aspects of the main characters relationship. There is still plenty of action and mystery to quench even the hardiest of readers.

Charlie Newcombe is a recovering addict. Drink, drugs and an ex-con to boot, she has done it all. An aspiring opera singer who had her voice stolen from her in a druken car wreck, she now is struggling to live her life without her crutches of the past.

Ethan McCabe is a ‘Guardian’. A cowboy outlaw who is atoning for his past sins by protecting humans from whatever they need protecting from. Right now that’s Charlie, who faces a danger she is not aware of.

Vampires have been sent to ‘turn’ Charlie, in a bid to force her sister, Jane (a brilliant scientist.), to help a cadre of demons find a scietific breakthrough which could bring about a chilling prophecy.

That’s about it. I’m not a great one for giving descriptions, they always sound to melodramatic and really fucking lame. Suffice to say, the book centers around Charlie and Ethan and how they deal with the threat looming and each other.

What I love about this book.

Ethan. He’s a cowboy (with a drawl) and an angel (kind of.) What more could you want. He’s hot, sexy and did I mention HAWT! When I picture him in my mind’s eye I see a cross between Nathan Fillon and Jensen Ackles. But much bigger. Ethan is 6′6″.He is also is charming and self-deprecating and still a little bit parochial about some things (but defintely not about others.) His voice in the book is really distinctive and Meljean hits his cadence and timbre perfect every time. It never jarrs or seems out of place in a modern setting.

Charlie. Charlie is not you typical heroine. She isn’t kick-ass (which a lot of then are nowadays, it’s the fashion but it has to be done well, re: Jennifer Rardin.), but she isn’t a complete emotional wreck either. She is needy but recognises it and takes steps to prevent or lessen that trait. She isn’t whiny and she is living her life her way, with no apologies and no excuses.

There are no ‘fake’ or ‘overly manufactured’ reasons why they don’t get together. Reasons are plausible and talked about. There are no tragic misunderstandings, melodramtic uncoverings of deceit etc and when there is no reason for them not to be together they actually get it on…more than once. Oh yes. It’s not really a worksafe book. Not unless you want to spend the whole day frustrated, that is.

We get a ‘Happy Ever After’. I’m not sure when that became a dirty word for authors but when I invest my time in a book, I want a friggin’ happy ending. I want it to have been for a reason. I don’t care if it’s not real life, cause I ain’t reading about real life. I want them to beat the big bad and live happily ever after, having lots of hot sex and even babies if they want them.

What I don’t like about this book.

Erm, nothing.

Anyways, there you go.

My top ten list of literary boyfriends just got a new entry right in at No.1

1. Ethan McCabe (Demon Night)

2. Vayl (Jaz Parks Series)

3. Harry Dresden (Dresden Files)

4. Japhrimel (Dante Valentine Series)

5. Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

6. Rohan (Dragon Star Series)

7. John Taylor (Nightside Series)

8. Lan (Wheel Of Time)

9. Perrin (Wheel Of Time)

10.Felix Castor (Mike Carey)

I’m a fucking dork.

Satisfaction

It’s been a really great week.

I am loving my new job and I am throughly exhausted. I am sleeping better and feeling much more energetic.

However, all my wee projects I used to fill my time with are falling by the wayside. I haven’t watched any TV in a week. I haven’t picked up a knitting needle (even though my mum’s birthday came and went…bad me.)

However, I finally got my bedroom sorted, getting my shelves up and unpacking the last of the boxes in the cupboard, sorting what books I am going to keep and which I am going to sell. I have been really ruthless with myself and I am quite proud. I finally feel like I have moved in and unpacked all my shit. Only a year after the fact. Who says I can’t procrastinate?

Snoopy Dance

I got the job! *doing  little snoopy dance in celebration*

I won’t be able to spend as much time watching tv, reading or knitting but hey, I’ll be able to pay the bills this month! Woot!

Rip-Off!

[rant]

I am seriously pissed off at the moment.

I really feel ripped off at this moment in time.

I have been wanting to knit this ‘Baby Surprise Jacket’ for ages, ever since I saw the pattern. It is knit in one whole piece and sewn along two seams and viola! Jacket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See, it’s so pretty and really quite unusal. The pattern is over forty years old and was designed by knitting guru Elizabeth Zimmerman.

I found out you could buy a pattern over the web and what with postage cause it had to be sent from USA (why they couldn’t have downloadable pdf’s) it cost me £5.00. Pretty expensive for a frickin’ pattern.

Then I open it and it’s not so much a pattern but a spattering of loose instructions. ARGHHHH! Just general comments, like ‘AT 5 ridges, inc 9 stitches (K3, M1) across end sections,’. WTF? What so is that (K3, M1) all on the same row 4 on one side, five on the other or is that (K3, M1) across the end over the next 4 rows?

I’m totally fucking bamboozled already and I’m not even past the fourth row.

When I pay money for a pattern I excpect a pattern, not just the scribbles that the designer wrote down when she originally designed it. And because it’s 40 years old, I have no doubt I’m not the first person to have this problem. So I have to ask, does she excpect everyone to dechiper her scribblings. Is it knitting snobbery? Only designing for people who have the knitting chops to decode the secret expert knitters language she has used. Why, oh why hasn’t a comprehensive pattern been done. A revision of the original so us ordinary peons can use it without being made to feel like a fucking idiot!

Perhaps I should be flattered that it is expected that I can decipher this but I feel I have just paid money for something I can’t use. Not without going to Ravelry and trawling through many of the posts there about this very subject, or finding a podcast kint-a-long and take pointers from someone who has already had to decipher this fucking mess of instructions.

[/rant ]

Pacing

I’m bereft.

I sped through ‘Dead Man Rising’ and now I have to wait until Waterstones deposits the next installment on my front door which is going to take 3 - 5 days.

Dagnammit, why didn’t I pace myself. I have absolutley no discipline.

Now, I am going to have to distract myself with something else when all I want is to get on with the next installment of Dante Valentine’s twisted life. Humph.

Would re-reading the first book again be construed as overkill, obsessive perhaps? Ahh who cares, it’s a story. I’m loving it, I’m gonna re-read it.

 

Perfect Day

I’m just having the most perfect day today.

It’s stormy outside, all black clouds and thunder and the wind is whipping the rain in sheets against my window, and I’m all cosy and warm inside with a cup of coffee, enjoying a fantastic book that is so effortless to read. My budgies are sitting, almost kissing and making little love noises to each other which by the way is just the cutest and I think I have a very good chance at getting the job I interviewed for yesterday.

Some days just don’t get any better.

 

Interview with a ….reader.

I have another interview tomorrow with a well known book-chain. Heh. Anything to feed my addictions.

I am LOVING ‘Working for the Devil’ by Lilith Saintcrow. But after finishing the first book it has put me in a real melancholy mood. I have bought the second one but I am not sure how much I am going to like it. Don’t want to spoil anything but one of the main characters dies at the end and I am not sure how the dynamic of the second book will be without them. However the title, ‘Dead Man Rising’, gives me some hope.

I am now tied between who my favorite urban fantasy couple are. I love Jaz and Vayl from Jennifer Rardins’ Jaz Parks series, but I am now also in love with Dante and Jaf from the Lilith Saintcrow books….not to mention Harry and Murphy from The Dresden Files, who knows if they two will ever get together?

Jaz and Vayl are good for the anticipation since they haven’t really started anything yet, Jaf and Dante are a much more tragic couple. Which I also adore.

I’m just a soppy romantic at heart. I better get happy ending for all couples at the end of the series. If not, I’ll cry. *pout*

Quandry

So now I have the Eternal Cardigan knitted, I’m sort of in a knitting funk. I’m not sure what I want to knit next. I have loads of yarn but not enough to make a large project like a jumper/cardigan but I am a little bored of small projects at the moment. Hats, scarfs and the such. I mean there are only so many accessories a girl can have. Two hats for every day of the week is perhaps excessive.

I don’t want to make toys or baby’s clothes so what….

Perhaps I’ll just catch up on my reading. I have more than enough to keep me going. I think I may have to read Lilith Saintcrow’s  ‘Working For The Devil’ next. I came across her novels from a link on Jennifer Rardin’s website. It looks great. It’s been sitting next to my pillow for over a week now, unloved, unnoticed, unread.

I think now is the time.