*laughs*

Adventures in my apartment complex!

Adventure 1 - relatively low key but I sat next to a woman about my age on the shuttle home and we both pulled out books to read.  At the same time, we both lowered our books and exclaimed "I love that author!" at each other.  (She was reading Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and I was reading The Protector's War by S.M. Stirling.)  We proceeded to babble a little about the books in question before falling back into our own books, content in the knowledge that we had kindred spirits on the shuttle.

Adventure 2 - I'm heading down the l-o-o-ong hallway to my apartment when I notice one of my neighbors just kind of ... hanging out in his doorway.  I've met him before, we've said hi but this is a bit odd.  We say hello, I assume he's waiting for someone and make it to my door.  As I'm fishing out my keys, I look to my right at the fire exit and there's a blob in front of the fire exit.

I blink.

The blob blinks back and smushes in on itself.

Suddenly laughing, I turn back, raising my voice to be heard "Sir, are you looking for your cat?"  At which point, he trots down the hallway, calling out her name and she starts to slink towards him - half running in that "Oh my god, THERE YOU ARE" way but also "I'm totally meant to be DON'T PICK ME UP CLING TO THE CARPET WITH MY CLAWS!" sort of deal.  He's thanking me as he pries her off the carpet and I can't stop giggling as she glares at me over his shoulder.  Gorgeous, sleek silver girl with orange eyes.

Icons and Books for August

So with me winging off to California tomorrow, I'll be doing the rest of the icons for people when I get back. :D  And now, my books for August.

I really do have to get over the "only really read during commutes" thing as August was sadly depleted (well, okay, Dexcon, moving, furlough - I only really had two weeks where I did any reading).

1.  Jericho Moon by Matthew Stover.  I had actually started this in July and it did make the trip up to DexCon with me - saved my butt during the boring wait at the border, that's for sure.  Doqz managed to get through half of it on the car ride though I don't know if he was cheating and just skimming. ;)  This is a direct sequal to Iron Dawn and I do have to say that I enjoyed the first book in the series more and I don't quite know why.  It's still an incredibly good read and nute was right in that I cried during the Jericho scene, the bastard.  I do really enjoy that both books do not make it easy for our heroes - they are beaten down, broken and pounded into dust before they can get back on track.  I'm not really up on my Bible history, though the names were familiar, so I'm not sure what vein Stover took them in but I will admit that I started to skim the sections that didn't include our trio (Joshua was awesome but I grew weary of slogging after a while).  Over all, I really enjoyed it but I didn't devour it like I did the first book.

2.  A Madness of Angels: Or the Resurrection of Matthew Swift by Kate Griffin.  This was apparently Griffin's first foray into adult fiction and I think it was a really successful first book.  It was ... okay, the beginning was very strange and it did take me some time to get into it.  Matthew Swift - dead for the last two years - has been brought back against his will and brought back changed.  The confusion of the main character so off the bat, where he tries to come to terms with what happened and even who he is, really threw me off but in a good way, I think, as I was just as confused as Matthew was.  And the way he talked "I was walking but then we noticed someone was following" for example was grating until you realized there was a reason for that and then you started to pay attention.

Also, in a time where urban fantasy is the new It thing in writing these days it's wonderful to come across a magic system that's similiar but fresh at the same time.  I finished reading the book and felt like I'd been emmersed in London for the past week.  Griffin falls into the listing issue quite a bit but for the most part makes it work.  Her secondary characters are wonderful even if they aren't likeable and you love them all the more for it.  Also, not many books have you sort of rooting for the villain (in a sense).  A book to pick up if you like urban fantasy, London and plots that are twisted.  I can't wait to see what she does next.

3.  A Monstrous Regement of Women (Mary Russell Series, #2) by Laurie R. King.  I can see some of you roll your eyes and the others wave your hands about with me. ;)  I read this (and the first one) back when I was in HS and I just fell in love with it.  I can easily overlook the Mary Sue tendancies of Mary Russell simply because King just brings Sherlock Holmes to life in an amazing way.  There are some things wrong with the book but like I said in that one post, it was like finding that well worn coat in the back of your closet - there are holes in the elbows and in the pockets but it's warm and comfortable.  And then you find the $20 bill you forgot about.  I had completely forgotten the majority of the real plot, apparently, and was delighted to be surprised all over again.  The writing is very solid, the main characters so well fleshed out - I wish for more secondary characters but this was written some time ago and she is still producing so I'm going to have to check out the rest of the series, I think.

4.  The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern William Goldman.  So I was glad when Ben told me he had done the same thing - I originally had tried to read this when I was younger but was horrified that this Goldman character was taking out what he thought were the 'boring bits'.  I couldn't believe someone could do that and so I just never read the book.  XD  Overall, it was a cute book but I have to say this is the one instance where I enjoyed the movie more.  Buttercup wasn't the best character in the movie but man, I couldn't stand her in book.  Everything else was more or less the same but I'll stick to the movie in the future.

What do I recommend?  Without a doubt pick up A Madness of Angels: Or the Resurrection of Matthew Swift and check out Jericho Moon if you like the grittier higher fantasty stuff.