Days 2, 3, and 4: Old Paperback Novels
So as I expected this week has just flown by. I can’t believe it’s already Thursday and that it is in essence my last day at home since I’ll be traveling to Pueblo for my brother’s wedding tomorrow.
Tuesday was strange. I woke up way later than I had been planning on and barely made it across town to my mechanic for a car care appointment. My mechanic is awesome. He specializes in Hondas and Acuras, and from what I can tell is a really honest guy. Him and his wife run the shop together and I’m always impressed at how professional and organized they are. That is why I go back into my old neighborhood to get an oil change and not just to my local Grease Monkey.
Sitting in the very tidy lobby of my mechanic's shop.
But going back to my old neighborhood is just weird and filled with memories of my former life with Brian. Not that that is a bad thing, because it’s not. I was obsessed with what was new, what had gone out of business, the conditions of the road, and even the price of gas.
Thankfully, I brought along a book because the service took awhile. I brought The Alienist, which is one of the books I picked for the Chunkster Challenge. I ended up finishing it later that night. I knew that once I hit the last 150 pages I wouldn’t be able to put it down, so thankfully I had the time to sit down and read it. It turned out to be a fantastic book. Caleb Carr is such a great writer. Every sentence was flawless. I did notice he tended to care a great deal about when the characters ate and got rest, as if he felt on the hook for explaining to the reader when his characters took care of themselves. That was probably unnecessary. I’m finding out in my writing that I don’t always have to explain when they rest and when they eat unless it fits importantly into the story. I think readers will grasp that characters will take care of things. I mean, even the television show 24 doesn’t actually show Jack Bauer taking a bathroom break.
What I really admired was how Carr made me smell the setting. New York City in 1896 isn’t going to smell good and he made sure to remind readers of that. Smell is something often forgotten in fiction, so it was a nice element that really made me feel like I could put myself into his settings. Speaking of smell, I’ve owned this book for around five years, and it had that musty old paperback smell, which for whatever reason added to the experience of reading it.
A great way to spend the afternoon.
Anyway, I would definitely recommend it if you like mystery. It was like Law & Order SVU old school and way more intricate. It, of course, would make an amazing movie.
Late Tuesday night we watched the Biggest Loser three-hour finale. I loved seeing Alison Sweeney, who looked divine, and it was great to see all the other contestants. Sadly, I was unhappy with the results for both prizes. I really wanted Tara to win and she only missed by five pounds. Jerry winning the take-home prize was even worse. I would have loved to see nearly every other person get the take home prize, especially Filipe, Sione, or Kristen. Even Ron would have been great. But Jerry? Ugh.
Wednesday was less productive, but nice overall. I woke up at 8, which was what I was hoping for, and then came downstairs and got on my computer where I pretty much stayed all day. I spent the morning editing and then the afternoon working on an EJami mvid (blush), and it took me forever. But it’s a good one. Kind of epic and a little bit emo, but good. I think it made my FL friends happy, so that’s what counts. I like to make my little contributions to that community.
Of course there was fruit through out the day.
I finished the day with some amazing Chinese take out and then we watched five episodes of lost, including the two-hour finale. Holy Jacob! The finale blew my mind and really put the puzzle together in terms of what’s going on at the island, but of course created whole new questions that will need to be answered. I have literally no idea what will happen next season, not even a little bit. Lots of Lost equals lots of strange dreams, so I didn’t sleep well last night. But it was well worth it!
Today has been much more low key. I slept in until 10 and have spent most of the day cleaning and getting ready for my brother’s wedding. It turns out that I will get to light the unity candle with Jennifer’s mom since my own mom won’t be attending. Don’t even get me started on all that drama.
Tonight we’re going to the midnight show of Angels & Demons in Boulder. I’m really looking forward to it, and especially looking forward to Ewan McGregor. He’s always a pleasure to watch.
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ohhh I hate you…oh wait..that sounds mean like I mean I ‘hate hate” you….but ohhhh I hate that you have read a book for the chunkster challenge and I….I have NOT.
Must eat more fruit….thats thekey to reading big big books I believe.
Kristy! I can’t believe you haven’t yet. I thought for sure you’d be done by now. But I’m also sure that even if you haven’t you’ve read three times as many books as I have this year, if not more! The fruit does help though