Reading Recap

I read a total of 124 books in 2013 (so far), and of those, I gave eighteen of them five stars on Goodreads. Most of the books I read I rate four or five stars; there is the occasional three star book, usually an entry that I didn't care for much in a series that I generally like. If I start out reading a book and don't like it, I don't finish it, so consequently I never rate anything one or two stars.

Most of them are the most recent books in a series, which I love. I love long-term series' and I love discovering new ones.

So, in descending order of date read, the best books I read in 2013:

1. Night of Cake and Puppets - Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone 2.5)
   
2. Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1)
   
3. The Brahms Deception - Louise Marley
   
4. The Glass Butterfly - Louise Marley
   
5. Love Story With Murders - Harry Bingham (Fiona Griffiths #2)
   
6. Just One Evil Act - Elizabeth George (Inspector Lynley #18)
   
7. The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith/J. K. Rowling (Cormoran Strike #1)
   
8. Doctor Sleep - Stephen King
   
9. Chimes at Midnight - Seanan McGuire (October Daye #7)
   
10. Fair Game - Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega #3)
    
11. Countdown City - Ben H. Winters (The Last Policeman #2)
    
12. The Eldritch Conspiracy - Cat Adams (Blood Singer #5)
    
13. The Cat Sitter's Cradle - Blaize Clement (Dixie Hemingway #8)
    
14. Trail of Dead - Melissa F. Olson (Scarlett Bernard #2)
    
15. Wicked as She Wants - Delilah S. Dawson (Blud #2)
    
16. Graveyard Child - M. L. N. Hanover (The Black Sun's Daughter #5)
    
17. Wicked as They Come - Delilah S. Dawson (Blud #1)
    
18. Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #13)
    

I keep my Amazon wish list as a record of upcoming books that I want to get, and I also keep a list in Evernote, by date, so I don't miss anything. These are the books (coincidentally, eighteen of them) that I'm looking forward to in 2014, with their current release date:

1. Wicked After Midnight - Delillah Dawson - 1/28/14 (Blud #3)
   
2. The Drowning Spool - Monica Ferris - 2/4/14 (Needlecraft Mystery)
   
3. Teen Spirit - Francesca Lia Block - 2/4/14
   
4. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch - 2/4/14 (Peter Grant #4)
   
5. The Undead Pool - Kim Harrison - 2/25/14(The Hollows #12)
   
6. Blackberry Pie Murder - Joanne Fluke - 2/25/14 (Hannah Swenson Mystery)
   
7. Night Broken - Patricia Briggs - 3/4/14 (Mercy Thompson #8)
   
8. Half Off Ragnarok - Seanan McGuire - 3/4/14 (InCryptid #3)
   
9. Edge of the Water - Elizabeth George - 3/11/14 (Saratoga Woods #2)
   
10. Watching You - Michael Robotham - 3/11/14 (Joseph O'Loughlin #7)
    
11. Missing You - Harlan Coben - 3/18/14
    
12. Destroyer Angel - Nevada Barr - 4/1/14 (Anna Pigeon #17)
    
13. Dreams of Gods and Monsters - Laini Taylor - 4/8/14 (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #3)
    
14. Catnapped - Elaine Viets - 5/6/14 (Dead-End Job Mystery)
    
15. Field of Prey - John Sandford - 5/6/14 (Lucas Davenport #24)
    
16. Sixth Grave on the Edge - Darynda Jones - 5/20/14 (Charlie Davidson #6)
    
17. Mr. Mercedes - Stephen King - 6/3/14
    
18. No Safe House - Linwood Barclay - 8/5/14
    

Fractured Weekend

We had made plans to put our Christmas tree up on Saturday evening. We were going to do our traditional "feast" of boiled, spiced shrimp and cheese fondue. Bob was off this weekend, which is a rare enough occurrence, but especially this time of year. So the plan was that I would go run my errands on Saturday and go to the store, get the stuff we needed, come home and prepare the meal, and we would put up the tree.

On Friday my sister called me at work and said that my mom was in the hospital. She was running a fever and they thought she might have pneumonia. It turned out that she didn't have pneumonia, thankfully, but they were keeping her over the weekend, after spending most of the day in the emergency room. I thought about going out to see her on Friday night, but my dad worries when we are out after dark, and I knew Mom would probably be sleeping, so I decided not to go. I'm so thankful that my sister was able to take off work and help them get through all of that.

On Saturday morning I talked to my dad, and he said my brother was going to come over and pick him up and take him to the hospital, so I told him that I would come out in the afternoon. I had an appointment for a manicure at noon, which seems sort of frivolous, but I didn't really want to cancel it. So I did that, grabbed a quick lunch, then headed out to the hospital. When I got there both my mom and dad were asleep -- it had been a really long day for both of them.

I guess I was there for a couple of hours, then I took Dad to pick up some prescriptions and some things at the store, then took him home, then went to the store for groceries for us. By the time I got home, it was around 7:00. Bob had put up the tree, and while I was making fondue, he started the shrimp boiling and put the lights on the tree. We had our dinner in the living room, listening to Christmas music on the radio. And then we decided we were too tired to actually decorate the tree, so we went to bed.

On Sunday I went out and ran a couple of errands, then headed out to the hospital and sat with my dad awhile. When my two nieces and my grand-niece got there, I left so there weren't so many people in the room, and did some more errands. It was just kind of a fractured weekend. They said they might release my mom from the hospital today (Monday), but I haven't heard yet. She had her 89th birthday last week, so as Bob says, we're in the bonus rounds.

Believe

This is my favorite Christmas tree ornament at work. It's filled with glitter and fake snow, and I think it's really pretty. I was very sad last year because I thought it had gotten broken when the tree was taken down, but apparently not. I remember seeing glass and fake snow, and I just assumed that was what it was. Or maybe it was broken, but spontaneously regenerated or something . . .

All you have to do is believe . . .

We put up the Christmas decorations at work today. Four trees -- one in my office (small desktop one), another small one on top of a bookcase in the lobby, a slightly larger one next to Anna's desk upstairs on a table, and the big one on the third floor in the alcove where you get off the elevator. And Anna made a couple of wreaths, one for each floor.

---

There has been a meme going around Facebook, and while I never do those, this one was kind of interesting. It was a challenge to list ten books that had meant something to you, that had stayed with you. Most people listed mostly classics, most of which wouldn't be on any list of mine. But I challenged myself to come up with ten, and these are mine, in no particular order:

1. Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler
   
2. Dhalgren - Samual R. Delaney
   
3. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
   
4. Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein
   
5. Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson
   
6. Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
   
7. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
   
8. The Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
   
9. The Talisman - Stephen King and Peter Straub
   
10. 
    

Okay, I could only come up with nine that I thought deserved to be on that list, but maybe number 10 would be the one I just finished reading last night, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor. It was one of those free or $.99 books that I bought on impulse because the cover and reviews looked interesting, but never read. I think it's been on my iPad about a year. I ran across something that said she had a third book coming out next year, so I dug up the first one and read it, and it was wonderful! The story is about an art student in Prague who has a secret life. She lives in an apartment and goes to school, but her second life is with the family who raised her, a group of "monsters" -- chimera with animal heads and feet. Her putative "father," a hulking monster with leathery skin and ox horns, sends her on errands around the world to procure teeth for some unknown (to her) purpose. She only has to open the door of his workshop, and she is wherever she needs to be -- Morocco, Paris, Prague. She has never understood who or what she is, or where she really came from, but on one of these errands she meets an angel, and everything begins to reveal itself. But when she tries to go back to the workshop, she finds the door no longer works, and she is on her own. I started the second book, Days of Blood and Starlight, last night, and the third, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, comes out in April. There is also a novella, Night of Cake and Puppets.

The month of living dentally

I went to the dentist this morning to have the permanent crown attached. It went pretty well, I guess; he didn't have to adjust it, it fit fine the first time. But getting the temporary one off was a struggle. They had glued it on pretty well, which made it stay on for the two weeks that I was waiting for the permanent one, but made it difficult to get off. But it did eventually come off, and they got the new one on, and it didn't take very long. Then they gave me another referral to a periodontist to have he look at something I think he called a fibroma. It looks like a little swelling on my gum. It doesn't hurt or anything, but he said it needs to be looked at, so, another appointment.

I had to be there this morning at 8:00, so I reset my alarm for 6:30 (it normally goes off at 7:30), but evidently I didn't actually turn it on, a vital step. With this cold, I haven't slept very well, and last night I guess Bob had just gotten to sleep and I coughed and woke him up, and he got up. I felt awful, and I offered to go sleep in the basement, but he said no, you have to work tomorrow and I don't, go back to sleep. I ended up falling asleep sitting up, but obviously laid down at some point and slept again, because I woke up and looked at the clock and it was 7:15. Well, on my clock, i.e., "Willa time," it was 7:30, but it was really 7:15.

Fortunately I had anticipated that I wouldn't want to get up early, so I had taken a bath last night, and I had washed my hair yesterday morning, so basically all I had to do was wash my face and brush my teeth and get dressed, but it was kind of disorienting, having to get ready so quickly. But I did it, and made it in plenty of time. The appointment next week -- the only one they had before the end of the year -- is at noon, a very awkward time since it's on the other side of the city from the office, so I'm planning to work from home in the morning, and probably not go in afterwards, depending on what they do to me. More fun!

Sick

I had planned to get a lot of Christmas stuff done over the weekend, but on Friday I felt like I was getting sick, and it really hit me when I got home Friday night. Not flu or anything, just a bad cold that settled in my chest and caused a lot of coughing. Coughing like that is exhausting! So I really didn't want to do much. I ended up going out to my parents' house, though. My mother's birthday was on Saturday. I had talked to my dad and said that I didn't think I would come out, just because I didn't want to risk getting them sick, but he sounded so disappointed that I said I would come anyway.

I was trying to be really careful, but of course, while I was out there the phone rang -- it was my niece -- I picked it up and talked for a minute, then handed it to my mom. As soon as I did, I thought, damn it! My sister said, "Quick, get an antiseptic wipe!" She got one, and when Mom got off the phone, I wiped it off, then she said, "Quick, wipe off mom!" Which I didn't, of course, but it made me laugh.

Bob is off this weekend, so we're going to put up the tree at home and have our little traditional "feast" -- he asked for boiled spiced shrimp and cheese fondue, and I'll get French bread and roast beef and olives and maybe sparkling wine. We'll put on a Christmas movie, maybe White Christmas, and decorate the tree.

I think we'll use the artificial tree this year. We've gone back and forth; we always used to have a real tree, but it's always a worry because we keep them quite a while, and I worry about it drying out. We've been through a couple of artificial ones; the first one Dinah climbed, and sat in, and bent the branches. Unlike a real tree, artificial ones aren't meant to support a ten pound animal. The artificial tree we have now is kind of small, but it's not bad. It fits just fine in our small living room. And I'm just now remembering that last year Dinah peed on the pretty Christmas tree skirt for some reason, so I had to use a fleece blanket instead. So I suppose I'll do that again this year. I would hate to spend money on another one, and have her do it again. It was felt, so there was no saving it.