Catching Up...

So, what have I been up to for the past week? Job stalking, reading, cooking, cleaning. All normal stuff. Of course, I've spent a huge amount of time at the local library. It's a great place to escape--quiet, full of books. What else could a girl want?

Lately, I've been waking early--earlier than normal. Some of it's stress. Yes, dear friends, I'm admitting it out loud. There are chinks in my armour. Some of my early bird rising is because I've been reading fab books and couldn't wait another minute to finish the story. Then, there's always the fact that I'm wired to wake with the sun. When I lived in Alaska, I didn't really sleep in the summer. I just sort of paused and then did everything all over again. Man, I miss that place. For those who've never been, that's a do-before-you-die sort of thing. And do it in the winter! The snow sparkles, the Northern Lights twist in a ribbon dance across the sky, and you can taste the quiet. I didn't mean for this to become an ode to Alaska. It's just one of the few places in my life that's felt like home.

Home. Amazing how trite it sounds 'til you're searching for one. I've developed too-late syndrome. I fall in love with a house too late. Someone's already snagged it and I have to move on. I just remind myself that if it were perfect for me and mine, I'd have it. There are no coinky-dinks, which means perfection looms around the corner. Sounds scary. Even scarier is the thought that I'll have to unpack all my crap and find (you guessed it) the perfect place for it.

The point in my urge to blog today was to share some of the amazing books I've read. Once I had that library card in my hot little hand, there was nothing stopping me. I checked out Plum Lovin' and Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. I laughed, and then felt sad when the adventure was over. Typical me. Good thing book 13 is around the corner. Next, I read Terry Goodkind's Phantom. Now, I used to be a bit obsessed with his books. Love the philosophy, though the author says it's not a purposeful injection. In my mind, this goes back to all fiction having some autobiographical roots. We can't help put that little slice of self into our work, and I'm glad. Otherwise I might have missed out on so many amazing thinkers.

I read through Phantom like it was my life source. I'd waited too long between books, you see. Plus, when it came out, I misunderstood that this was to be the last in The Sword of Truth series. I've never been so glad to be wrong. As I neared the end, I kept saying to myself, "There's no way he's going to be able to tie up all these loose ends. There are too few pages and too much stuff that has to happen." I was right. Guess it's good for me that he has the other book coming out this fall. I love the world he constructed, the characters, the conflict and the fact that it is more broad than the typical man-and-his-journey story. The appeal for me is that the characters are not unlike me--even though in their world magic is as real as the air they breathe. If you haven't read these books, please do.