Friday, September 19, 2008

Surprisingly Inconsistent Sunday, Including Bookfool's Entry into The 21st Century

Hi Everybody!!

First things first. Before I babble, I must share a lizard pic because it's been too long since you've gotten any lizard love from my blog and that's just wrong:


All together, now. Awww, so cute! We also have a huge, hairy spider hanging out at our house, but I didn't think you guys would appreciate him.
Second . . . good news! Thanks to Trish's wonderful post (I have no earthly idea how I found that post, in the first place, but it sure helped), I have finally figured out Google Reader!!! Bookfool has entered the 21st Century!! Squeee! Many thanks, Trish! Now, if I can just catch up with all those posts. There were two problems with the process of adding everyone currently on my blog roll (plus a few extra blogs I happened across whilst bopping around the blog world) to my Google Reader:

a.) I had to really fight my urge to stop and read every post as I loaded, and
b.) I ended up with 634 entries to read.
c.) Yikes. Look at (b). That's scary.

Third, although this really should be first, simply because it's been a few days: A squillion thanks to Care of Care's Online Book Club for bestowing this bit of bloggy coolness upon my little self:


Since I think everyone who visits my blog is cool, I'm going to be lame (again) and not pass this on to any specific people. You're all automatically inducted. There. Isn't that cool? Or, rather, kool. No, let's go with "cool".

Bookish quote moment:

The summer of 1997, Hale-Bopp rode the sky above Hollyburn Mountain every night for weeks on end. Sometimes it was buttery and weak, and sometimes it looked like felt cut with blunt kindergarten scissors -- but not once did I ever get used to seeing the damn thing up there. It wasn't natural. Nothing in the sky seems natural to me except the sun and the stars. Even the moon, for lack of a better word, is on probation. Why the thing can't just stay full all the time drives me nuts. Crescent? Waxing? Waning? Oh, just make up your mind.

-- from Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland

Sunday Short Story:

I just finished reading "Inside Information" from The Three Button Trick and Other Stories by Nicola Barker. Oh, Lordy, that was a weird little story. Here's a quote:

Martha's embryo was unhappy about its assignment to Martha. Early on, just after conception, it appealed to the higher body responsible for its selection and placement. This caused something of a scandal in the After-Life. The World-Soul was consulted -- a democratic body of pin-pricks of light, an enormous institution -- which came, unusually enough, to a rapid decision.

"Tell the embryo," they said, "hard cheese."

In case you're interested, that is one smart little embryo and he eventually comes up with a clever solution to that troublesome poorly-assigned mother issue.

Because I am one scattered chicky:

Apparently three books at a time is not enough. Is not enough? Are not enough? Oh, help. I'm losing my grasp of grammar. Point being, I happened to be sitting on the futon and therefore away from my little stack of current reads. And, I didn't feel like getting up. So, I began reading a fourth book, which just happened to be nearby: Mozart's Sister by Nancy Moser. Earlier in the month, I attempted to read Mozart's Sister and it just didn't "click" for me. But, this time the book glared at me and then unaccountably and suddenly screamed "Pick me up!!!" And, in a softer voice,"Go ahead, you know you want to . . . " In this manner, the book ended up getting 50 pages of itself read. Amazing how insistent a little book can be. And, this time I'm enjoying it thoroughly. Mozart's Sister is just what it sounds like -- historical fiction about Wolfgang Mozart's equally talented big sis, Nannerl, told in first person.

Dangerous Capitalization Fever:

That High Altitude Leadership review I keep talking about is halfway finished . . . and on hold because the husband is not being cooperative. He claims he's stuck on Hawaii time and (whine, fuss, wail) has The Misery. It should be done by tomorrow, though, or someone's going to get a swift kick back into Central Standard Time. However, it's a little hard not to forgive a man who brought home chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. They are a serious Negotiation For Forgiveness tool.

But, watch out -- chocolate-covered macadamia nuts can be a deadly choking hazard:

I popped one into my mouth, last night, and sucked it right into my windpipe. Fortunately, I just leaned forward and it popped back out or you'd all be putting up memorials to a dearly-departed Bookfool (or maybe not, but you get the point). At the moment that piece of candy lodged in the wrong place, I had this little flash of intuition during which I realized choking would be a very sucky way to die.

Favorite place name to say out loud, repeatedly:

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Seriously, isn't that just loads of fun to say aloud? I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly, but I could repeat that name all day. I'm not bored, just goofy.

I have no right to covet books because so many have walked into my house, lately. But, still. My son wanted to go to the bookstore while we were out and about; and, how do you tell a kid, "No, you can't go to the bookstore! No, no!" Well, you don't, especially if you really want to keep the joy of books alive in him. So, I wandered around and found a couple of novels to covet:

Searching for Eternity by Elizabeth Musser and

The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka

Has anyone read either of those titles? They both looked interesting for entirely different reasons. Whilst doing a quick search to make sure I wrote down the latter author's name correctly, I happened across this review of The Legend of the Firefish. The words "ripping yarn, full of grace in style and content" just served to reinforce my covetous inner book ninny.

I have forged a path into our spare room, which, upon the husband's irrational decision to completely empty a room and recarpet it while I was away (and then finding out that Home Depot's independently hired room-measuring chick either can't measure or is into fraudulently adding nonexistent square footage, deciding to put down hardwood flooring instead, then discovering the flooring is uneven), became rather a glorified closet. For 10 months we have been unable to set foot inside that room. Even the cat lost interest in exploring after a few perilously perched books came crashing down one day.

In celebration of the newly forged path, I filled two boxes full of VHS tapes and (it's okay; I'll never read them) books to donate to the library's perpetual sale corner. Plus, I can now actually reach some of those books you guys keep recommending. How many times have you heard me say, "I have a copy of that, but it's buried," in recent months? Well, I'm proud to say I don't have to repeat that same stupid comment about every single book in that room, now. Just . . . maybe 25% of them. There's still a part of the room that I can't get to. I suppose that's what I'll work on, this week. It's like hacking your way through a jungle.

And, now, I'm off to bed. Forging a path is hard work. I hope to catch up on blog reading and commenting (at Google Reader!!!), along with the completion of those two reviews that have been languishing in the draft box, this week.

Happy Sunday! Or, Monday. You know, whatever works for you.

Bookfool, Proud Cleaner of Spare Rooms, Forger of Paths, Reader of Fine Books and Discoverer of a New Century

27 comments:

  1. Hi Nancy
    I have Searching for Eternity. It was really good. Do you want me to send it to you? Let me know :)
    The Legend of the Firefish I have not read but I have seen lots of rave reviews.

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  2. Hi Brittanie,

    You do? And you liked it? Good heavens, yes! Thank you! I'm not one to turn down an offer like that. ;)

    Oh, super on The Legend of the Firefish, too! I'm so tired (Hey, you're pretty fast; I planned to shut down immediately and here you are!) that I just read one review and told myself not to go on, so I'm glad to hear you've read some positive reviews!

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  3. It's not like it's 634 NEW posts! a LOT of them is old news, stuff you've read! you can read down to that point then hit the button to mark them all read and poof! 7 or 8 or 9 posts read all at once!

    Sounds like a busy weekend for you!

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  4. Lisa,

    I know, but I was sort of "behind". I hit "mark as read" on a few blogs I've managed to stay caught up with (or for which I quickly read and commented on a recent post or two) or it would have been more like 1000 posts. I love to mark them read. It's a cleansing sensation. LOL

    Busy weekend, yep. And, the week should be a pretty busy one, also. Not a bad thing, really. :)

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  5. I was really hoping to see more lizards in Hawaii. We only saw one. We did see a turtle napping on the black sands beach though. That was adorable. :-)

    Welcome to the world of Google Reader! Thanks to BBAW, I added quite a few new blogs to my feed. I don't know when I'll get time to read them all!

    Inside Information does sound like a weird little story--but a fun one. :-)

    Be careful of those chocolate covered macadamia nuts! We can't have you choking now. Hubby and I bought a box of dark chocolate macadamia nut turtles while in Hawaii. Boy, are those good!

    Can I hire you to create a path in my TBR room? What with our trip to Hawaii and the use of the room as temporary storage, it's gotten kind of full in there.

    Have a great week, Nancy!

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  6. I've been hacking my way through my guest room at well. I have a deadline to clean by because my in-laws are coming to visit and I'm pretty sure they want some place to sleep.

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  7. I missed your lizard pics! Glad to have them back :)

    Google Reader is fantabulous. I don't know what I'd do without it (well I'd probably just read blogs the way I did before)...Once your Reader gets to that 600 post mark, that's when you just click "mark all as read" ;) It's just a tad overwhelming!

    And I'm so glad to hear that you didn't choke on chocolate covered macadamian nuts!! Sure it would have been a delicious way to go, but I would've missed you terribly and been very sad!

    And finally, congrats on cleaning the room! I have a room that I need to clean really badly too...my bedroom...

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  8. Wendy,

    I don't remember seeing a single lizard in Hawaii. Disappointing! But, there were plenty of other terrific sights, weren't there? The turtle sounds like a fun fellow to spot! :)

    I'm working on catching up at Google Reader, so that I can (hopefully) go there and only see one or two posts at each site, each time I visit. I think it will work out nicely, but I'm not quite done weeding older posts, yet. I'm glad I've figured it out, though!

    Inside Information was definitely weird, but I enjoyed it.

    I'm chewing up carefully, now, I promise. My hubby brought home some of the turtle version, too. I can't remember where he said he went, but he brought home two six-packs full of chocolate stuff. I think my friends are going to benefit. LOL They're good, but we sure don't need 12 boxes!!!

    I suck at housework, so you'd better not hire me. What I'm really good at is packing to move. And, wouldn't you know, we've been here for 17 years -- same old house. I'm ready to move on. You can purge nicely when you move; it's practically a prerequisite.

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  9. Nikki,

    That's what has always worked best for me -- I need visitors to motivate me to clean. Unfortunately, we don't really have visitors, anymore, so I have no choice but to play bulldozer and plow my way through the room for the sake of stopping the claustrophobia nightmares. When my house gets too messy or cluttery, I start having the same nightmare over and over. It's really annoying!!!

    Have fun with your in-laws. :)

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  10. Hi Chris!

    I missed my lizard pics, too. LOL I know that sounds ridiculous, but I just haven't taken many photos around the outside of the house, lately. I saw the cutest little hatchling, the other day -- maybe an inch and a half long (tiny, tiny thing!) and he was missing his tail. So, he was just a smidgen. So cute!

    I'm going to have to learn to just go through and empty everything at Google Reader, now and then. There's only so much you can keep up with. But, I like it, already! It's definitely easier than clicking back and forth from the links list.

    Thank you. I wasn't quite ready for death by macadamia, so I'm glad I didn't croak, too. You're so sweet.

    I'm not done with that room (that's how bad it was!) but I've made serious progress and I'm so pleased. I literally could not walk into the room but yesterday I made it all the way to the cabinets and cleared off the reading chair (a fat leather chair my husband had completely buried in books). By the time I got to the leather chair, I was so worn out that my husband said, "Just sit there," and brought me a sandwich and a bottle of water. He was pleased, too. :)

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  11. But, watch out -- chocolate-covered macadamia nuts can be a deadly choking hazard.

    Phew!! Glad you survived the choking hazard. What would we ever do without you??!!

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  12. Yay for google reader! I love/hate google reader. If everyone just posted once or twice a week I think it would be fine, but sometimes after being away for a day or two it is crazy coming back. I am compulsive about my reading--want to read everyone's posts, but sometimes I just have to draw the line. Seriously--hubby is feeling mighty neglected lately!

    And I bet most of those 600+ posts you can toss--when you subscribe to a person's blog it gives you the last 10 posts. Most I'm sure you've already read. Have fun playing around--and folders are highly helpful in organizing. But [Other] Trish already said that in her fabulous post.

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  13. Les,

    Thank you. I ask myself that every day. What would they do without me? Kidding, kidding.

    Trish,

    I'm making pretty decent headway at checking those blogs and making sure I'm update, I think. But, yeah, a couple of days' worth of posting alone can be overwhelming.

    Poor hubby.

    I haven't played with folders, yet. That's another day's fun. :)

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  14. Anonymous5:59 PM

    I have really been trying to leave you a comment! It's being eaten. This is my 3rd attempt...

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  15. Care,

    Well, that's weird. Thanks for being persistent!

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  16. I'm guess that to keep up with the blogs you read.. the trick is to keep the list under 100 lol lol

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  17. I'm sure glad the renegade macadamia nut didn't succeed!
    And welcome to the 21st century! :)

    I have a small room that is in serious need of some attention. You can't walk in it at the moment without banging your leg on something or some piles toppling over. Sigh.

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  18. Awww, so cute!

    and thanks for leaving out the spider


    Sincerely,

    SuziQ (who hates spiders)

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  19. Deslily,

    Now, there's a thought. :)

    Nat,

    Me, too. I wasn't ready for death by macadamia. And, thank you! It's nice to be here. It doesn't look very different in the 21st century, it just feels . . . warmer (global warming joke).

    We have several rooms like that. I've got more paths to forge. Fortunately, we can at least walk into the other rooms. Last week, if you tried to enter the room I just worked on, you faced a wall of boxes and stacks of books. It was quite something.

    Suzi,

    Lizards are somewhat nicer to look at than spiders, if you ask me. We don't mind our big, hairy spider, though. It was annoying when his web was on the porch because we usually had to hack a piece of his web down in order to get to the sidewalk. But, he's moved on and has new digs under the oak trees. As long as I don't forget he's there when I'm doing yardwork, all is well! :)

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  20. Anonymous2:22 PM

    My Google Reader was totally manageable until BBAW came along. Now I blame its out-of-controledness on Amy. ;-)

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  21. Softdrink,

    Amy has earned the love of the adoring book-blogging masses, but yeah. She's probably also responsible for a bit of extra time suckage. LOL

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  22. LIZARD LOVE!!! I got ridonkulously excited when I saw the little fella. I just wanna tickle under his chin.

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  23. Andi,

    I know, me too. Aren't they just darling? LOL

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  24. Sorry you're feeling lousy...but nice job on the clean-up. I should really attempt something like that myself.

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  25. Tara,

    Thanks. I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I have an infection, but he didn't call anything in!!! He was in too big a hurry to write out a prescription. Argh. I think I'm going to croak. LOL

    It was such a nice feeling to clear that space. :)

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  26. I seemed to have missed this post of yours. So I owe you a belated CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the 21st century. ;-) Mmmmmwah!

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  27. Trish,

    Why, thank you, dear! Mmmmwah, right back at ya! Thank you so much for your terrific post -- it did wonders!!!

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