What Adrienne Thinks About That

Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge.
Best damn book of the year, bar none.

I read Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad," an insightful travelog of a ship journey from Portugal, the ports of Europe, Africa, Turkey and the Holyland. It may have been written in the mid-1800s, but it shows that people haven't at all changed...
- Heidi

I'm listening to "In Their Own Voices," at least I think that's what it's called, which is a collection of memoirs, interview transcripts, and letters home from people who were in each of the 5 major American wars of last century.

Fuse #8 doesn't bandy around phrases like "best damn book of the year," so I had to put Fly by Night on hold. I should also note that the book's a fantasy and has a fun cover, sure things to incite my interest.

I love reading travel books, too.

Chuck, I have to ask, when do you listen to your audiobooks? Don't you have the world's shortest commute? And, aside from your short commute, I can only assume that it would be difficult to hear an audiobook while on the motorcycle. You must solve this puzzle for me.

I am in southern New Jearsey (South Jersey, if you're a local [and I'm beginning to feel like one])for the entire freaking summer, so I have 4.5 hours drive back and forth to Syracuse some weekends (flying takes WAY longer b/c it's delay season). In the evenings I like to drive around and see what NJ looks like and listen to either NPR or David Sedaris (who always accompanies me on trips now, ever since the two delightful weeks we spent together in Italy), or some other audio book. Sometimes I listen in my hotel room while I'm on the Internet.

Speaking of driving around aimlessly, if anyone is interested in a new car review, the Chevy Malibu hatchback (it has some name, I don't know what it is) is a delightful car that gets great gas mileage and is really zippy and corners really well. It can be bought with a factory-installed remote starter. The air conditioner is okay, but doesn't get as cold as I'd like it to on really hot (101+) days. I had one for three weeks but had to return it because I had put almost 3000 miles on it and it needed to have scheduled maintenance.

The Ford Matrix is an absolute piece of shit.

The one I have now has les than 1100 miles on it and it shudders at 45 mph and above, like the transmission is about to fall out. I know people are hard on rentals(I never missed a puddle or pothole with the Malibu), but what can you do to a car in 1000 miles? And Ford just put things in weird places. Who thinks to look for the headlight switch on the dashboard? And why does cruise control require

I did get an MP3 player and wired in to my helmet so I could listen to music, but then I found that it gets FM, so I can listen to NPR while I ride. That is, I could listen to NPR while I rode last month, b/c I've been in a different state than my bike.

Oooo! That reminds me! I got invited to a wedding yesterday!!!

It's all very exciting.

But I worry if the rules of etiquette allow us to refer to Chuck as a “man-bitch” and/or demand that he make margaritas at his own wedding. Maybe we’ll have to have a pre-wedding event where Chuck teaches us all how to make margaritas as good as his.

(For the record, I googled "watat chuck man bitch margaritas" to find the link in that last paragraph. Worked like a charm. Didn't even need his last name.)

Moby Dick
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (Michael Dorris)
The Anarchist (Daniel A. Coleman)

Actually the car I have is a Ford Fusion. I think the Matrix is a Toyota and I've never driven one of those.

I cringe at thinking of how delighted the "watat chuck man bitch margaritas" thing will make jj.

I know! Except, for me, you'd have to substitute "giggle" for "cringe." I hope she doesn't miss it!

Maybe I should email her....

I just finished listening to Me Talk Pretty One Day and now I'm listening to Naked. I also just finished reading Homebody by Orson Scott Card. You would think that this book was written by a completely different person from Ender's Game but oh well, I read it. I also just finished the Young Merlin series by Jane Yolen. Just delightful!
I am SO happy that I have somehow found time to read again. It makes me happy. Oh! I just started The end of the beginning by Avi. It looks like it'll be a lighthearted easy read. I love reading! Yippee!

Im recently read Envy by Katherine Harrison. It was pretty good. She's my occasional popular contemporary fiction guilty pleasure. Other than that, comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (sometimes I have to put on the subtitles because Giles mumbles a lot...)

I just re-read one of my coments and realized I sent it in the middle of a pointless rant. Why does the Ford Fusion need five buttons to operate the cruise control?

Chuck-I was wondering about the cruise control thing but working on a laptop that happens to me too.

I have not been able to read much this summer other than books I read to Lucas and Max, which I must say all the picture books recommended on the MCLS website have been wonderful but just not the same as say Doomsday by Connie Willis, or the last Bridgerton book by Julia Quinn, or even the book about literacy and urban education that I won at a workshop at the end of June. I forgot that babies do not allow much time for reading. Although Lu & I are enjoying the Silver Chair, I think Max is too but only because we read it on the floor in his room with a flashlight so he will go to sleep without a fuss.

Better late than never!

Oh I LAUGHED OUT LOUD that Chuck can be googled that way!!!

HA!! Forever stamped in cyberspace as our man-bitch.

I LOVE IT!!! : )

The only things missing are the peeps...