another bout of super secret secretness

so, I got another book from Harlequin for review but as last time, I agreed to share no information about the title. However, I took the time to read it so I'm counting it for the 100+ Reading Challenge even though I cannot share the story with you. Ironically enough, this time I really enjoyed it and wish I could tell. They sent me one in the mail and one ebook. I don't like reading off the computer, but I am persevering!

yay!

A/C is fixed and the building is cooling down quite nicely! I can't believe they got out here to fix it that quickly as I had envisioned a day of abject misery since it is supposed to be in the low 90's today. The day's looking up!

no air at work

it has been off since the storm passed through friday night. Alabama in June with no air is not the most pleasant of sensations, I assure you. We were allowed to wear shorts and flipflops today AND I brought a little squirt bottle of water for a refreshing mist every now and again. we have box fans out. In the same breath, one patron complained about the heat and asked for coffee. I have been at work for 40 minutes, it's going to be great!

contemplating the worst

I would very nearly consider offing someone to possess this cabinet:

cover (and content) snark..coming soon!

found THE BEST book to make fun of today and as soon as we are through using it to play a joke on a coworker, oh yeah, there will be quotes! As a teaser, I'll tell you that there are helpful phrases offered for "approaching strangers" and "gauging intent", also here's the socially impacting cover!

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

This is a re-read for me as I read it early last year but it was the pick in one of my book groups and I was SO not sorry to read it again! This is a very short, VeRy delightful tale of what happens when Queen Elizabeth (the current one) becomes a voracious reader. A great little book to while away a summer afternoon! I reviewed it previously back in Feb 2008 so click through if you'd like the whole review!

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips

I’ve heard about Gin Phillips’ The Well and the Mine here and there over the past year, but was really exposed to it when she won the Alabama Library Association Award for Fiction this year at the conference in Auburn. She is a great speaker and this in addition to the stories she shared with us about the book made me stand in line to get a copy of my very own autographed.

In Phillip’s tale, Carbon Hill, Alabama during the Depression was a somewhat dingy place. Worse off than some, better off than others. Tess’s family is doing fairly well. They don’t have meat to eat except a couple of times a year, but there is always food. The patriarch of the family, Albert, has a good, solid job in the mines and works his way up to a supervisory capacity. Her sister Virgie is smart, pretty, and being courted by a son of one of the richest families in town. Her brother Jack is healthy, strong, and smart as a whip. Tess loves her life, and the part she loves the most is the quiet of the back porch overlooking the woods. There is a well on the back porch and she believes it is her well. Life giving water and dim coolness make it one of her favorite things on earth. This changes one summer night when, in the darkness of night, an vaguely seen figure approaches their well, opens the lid, and drops a baby in. Tess remains unseen in the deep shadows of the porch and it’s over before she can say anything. She does tell her sister and her mother but they believe it is just Tess’s imagination until her mother brings up a baby blanket with morning’s water. So begins a momentous summer for Tess and her siblings full of mystery, heartbreak, and the beginning of the end of childhood.

This book does have its somber moments but overall I found it be charming and quite reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird. Another great summer read!

Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

Since I obviously don’t read enough, I joined a third bookgroup, Inner Worlds! This is a sci-fi/fantasy bookgroup and I’m terribly excited and a little nervous. Will I be smart enough to keep up? These are math/science/computer people, plus one librarian I happen to know! So, I joined the group because one of my friends is a member and I saw on Facebook that they would be talking about the latest book in one of my favorite series, A Feast for Crows from the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. I had a good time and decided to stick around and see what else I could read. This month’s book was Michael Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, a book I’ve heard about plenty during my library career but always assumed was over my head. SO WRONG! I’ve read similar storylines, most memorably Tess Gerritsen’s Gravity, and have loved them all. This was no exception.

So, there are little low orbit satellites around the earth that are sent up to take samples of the atmosphere then brought back down for study. A team heads out to pick up the most recently returned satellite, which fell a bit off target. The town is silent, dark, and otherworldly still. As the van gets farther in to town, the bodies start appearing. Just as they start to believe the whole town is dead, a lone figure staggers into view. Not long after this, both members of the team are dead and a series of medical and scientific experts are assembled to find answers.

I read this book in one day and am now heartily suggesting it to everyone who comes to the desk looking for a good book. There was only a scant handful of times when the fact that this book was published in 1969 became apparent, mainly when they talked about the new and superefficient new thingamabob, the computer, that now made all these scientific tests so fast and efficient. That, and no references whatsoever to cell phones, emails, PDAs, etc. Good fiction stands the test of time, and this is great fiction!

¡soy un perdidor!

I won Biggest Loser again at work this week!  woohoo!  

Another $4 in my pocket and another week at the dumpster :-)  I wonder how long my streak will last?

forgot to mention!

I did not have to pass on my dumpster crown last week because I won Biggest Loser for the week again!  Two weeks of dumpster parking, woohoo!  I anxiously await results for this week today.  I'm feeling pretty confident because I lost another 5 pounds according to this morning's weighin!  Also, for general information, I exercised 28 days in May!  I printed out calendars for each month and have them taped on the door of my exercise room so I can jot down what I do each day.