January 2007

The Privilege of the Sword

2007, Fiction /

The Privilege of the Sword was stocked as fantasy but I’m not sure what makes it fantasy. There was no magic or witchcraft or time travel or anything like that. TW says it was fantasy because the story wasn’t set in a “real place” or in a “real time”. But it didn’t feel like a fantasy world to me. Whatever.


A gender bending swordsman story with some gay sex tossed in for good measure. Men ruled the world. Women knew their place or faced disgrace and wanted nothing more than to make good marriages. Fun story, if you don’t mind gay sex or gender bending swordplay. Which I don’t, so this was fun. Fun enough that I’m thinking of reserving the other two books by Ellen Kushner the that share some characters and some settings.

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Dairy Queen

1 Comment / 2007, Children's Literature, Fiction, GLBT /

Dairy Queen was a fun little young adult book. About cows! And girls playing football! And figuring out your place in the world, in your family, in your relationships. Who knew a 250 page book set on a dairy farm in Wisconsin could touch on so many themes?



Dysfunctional family but only mildly so. Lesbians in high school, who knew?! Farm girl falls for popular boy, popular boy falls for farm girl but that sort of thing never works out in high school so everyone gets hurt and of course it is farm girl’s fault for being – awesome. Girls should not be so awesome, it makes popular boys uncomfortable. Bah.


I liked it. I would have liked the last few chapters to be a little different but that’s probably just me.

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A Coffee Explosion

1 Comment / Coffee & Tea /

A friend sent me another Trader Joe’s gift box this weekend, yea for friends who live near Trader Joe’s!  Inside the box was a can of Illy coffee.  I love coffee.  And I’ve wanted to try Illy since Elaine blogged about it in December.

So this afternoon I cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the coffee pot and reached for the can.  I unscrewed the top and found a "pop top" thingy.  As I was pulling the ring, I notice the word "stop" in red letters.  But it was too late to stop …

Before I knew it, I was covered in coffee.  So was the counter.  So was the stove top.  So were the dogs. 

Upon closer inspection, the pop top suggests releasing the air SLOWLY from the can.  It does not say why you should release the air slowly.  I will tell you why.  Coffee explosion, that’s why. 

How does the Illy taste?  Pretty darn awesome, actually.  One of the best coffees I’ve had in quite some time.  I could get used to this coffee.  Except for the explosion part. 

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Dark Angels

2 Comments / 2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Dark Angels is the second book I’ve read from my A to Z list and if they all take as long as this one to read, I may not make it. Dark Angels was longggggg. Also, I’m not sure I read Through a Glass Darkly. I thought I had, but while reading Dark Angels, I began to question that.


As much historical fiction as I’ve read in my life, this didn’t seem like it could be related (aka a prequel) to anything I’ve read before. In some respects, it reads like all historical fiction from that era. In others, it’s completely different.


I liked it. Even if it was really long.

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Just Lick It

3 Comments / Friends & Family /

Have you ever licked your dryer? Have you ever wanted to lick your dryer?

All of those blog posts where women talk about licking things, I never got it.  It seemed sort of silly to talk about licking your iPod or your new blackberry or whatever.  But today, when the dryer was delievered, it all made sense to me.

I want to lick it.

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Daily Dose of Cupcakes

1 Comment / Cupcake Toppers /

Lots happening at work today, least of which are the performance appraisals that are due today which can’t be done today because, well, because they just can’t. Or maybe they can but just not in the way we normally do them. Also, there are the metrics that can’t be done this week, well they could be done but, well, they just can’t be – not in the way they are usually done.

laptop.jpgSo, in honor of all of the things at work that need to be done, but can’t be done, but might possibly get done anyway…. cupcakes all around! Cupcakes with miniature laptops or a miniature mouse! Your choice! I hope your workday is going as well as mine is! heh.

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Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend

1 Comment / 2007, Chick Lit, Fiction /

What a sappy title!  With a different title, I’d have liked Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend a lot more.  Also, with a few odd internet friendship stories tossed in as background, it would have been more realistic. 

Yes, you can find amazing friends and wonderful support online when you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer.  But with every wonderful online support group comes a nutcase or two.  That is reality.  Granted this story stuck to the email correspondence between two women and in 2000 when it was written, I suppose that makes some sense – though to never read your bulletin board list again, well that seems inaccurate.  Anyway.  I liked it well enough.  It wasn’t too mushy.  There was the predictable happy but sad ending.  And some gripes about the idea of preventing breast cancer when obviously we’re just suppose to want to cure it, (which is my very own pet peeve.)

Looking for a breast cancer feel ok chick lit novel, then this will do. 

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I’m glad both dogs are deaf

2 Comments / Day to Day, Pets /

Last month TW started saying Jake was also deaf (Jake is the black dog, his mother Chanel is the old and very deaf almost dead blonde dog).  I didn’t believe her because he mostly responds to your voice and he was barking when people he did not like came to the door.  Stuff like that. 

On New Year’s Eve, when the fireworks started, he didn’t make a sound.  Hmm, maybe she’s right.  But no, he barked at the doorbell on Sunday.  Last night, when the Gator Mania started, he never made a sound.  For 3 hours while the city celebrated (and I tossed and turned and could not sleep due to all of the celebration) the dog never made a sound – except for some snoring and deep breathing.

The dogs, they’re both deaf and last night I was glad – fireworks and horn honking and airhorns are bad enough, dogs barking outside your bedroom door are worse.

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Pink Ribbons, Inc

2007, A to Z Challenge, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I am not a fan of the Pink Ribbon or any other breast cancer campaign. Pink Ribbons, Inc just reaffirmed everything I feel about these campaigns and the people behind them. And the people who buy into them… do yourselves and the people diagnosed with these illnesses a favor and read the book. Your money is better spent elsewhere. Quit buying Pink Ribbons. Quit buying Live Strong bracelets. Write to these companies and tell them to lay off with these types of marketing campaigns. Tell your politicians you see through them and expect better.

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