Reading list

I keep a log in the front of my daily journal of books that I have finished with the date I finished each one. So far in January I have finished 5 books...and I'm on #6 and #7. In a good month I finish 8...the most I have finished was 11. I knew a woman who claimed she finished a book a *day* (one of my mom's real estate agents, back in the day, who coincidentally did not sell much real estate...) but I don't think that will ever happen for me. The last book I finished in one day was Austenland, by Shannon Hale, and I feel I read it quickly because it wasn't that good (ditto on The Bridges of Madison County...never did get the appeal of that one).

Right now I'm wading through The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White (really? she couldn't put a middle initial in there somewhere? that is a seriously dull pen name, LOL)...I say "wading" because it's second in a series, and I'm breaking my general rule of reading books in order. It was 50 cents at a used book sale for Make A Wish, and it is about (1) Charleston, S.C. -- a city I've been to a number of times and am weirdly fascinated by and (2) ghosts. My Novel -- yes, caps on that, the same damn idea I've been writing bits and pieces of for oh say 18 years now -- involves ghosts, so I read anything I can get my hands on to see how others handle the topic...my ghost world is a bit different from the usual fare so I'm always curious as to whether or not anyone else had the same idea...so far, so good. Now if I could just get the rest of My Novel down on paper...and researched...and edited...not even thinking about publishing at this point ;)

I'm also reading The Wind in the Willows for the first time...Tess brought it down last week and declared she was going to try it...then gave it up (again) after 2 pages. Part of it might be the language -- published in 1908, it can be a bit stodgy -- and the other part might be that it is all about boy animals (so far). Now, Tess loves animal stories, but there had better be a girl animal in there somewhere for her to identify with, else she tosses it aside. I'm about 60 pages in and so far, no female animals, but I am enjoying the story, especially considering we are in the throes of winter and that is right where I am at in the book.

Well, no time for reading right now...Ben is at a neighbor's (thank you Karrie!) and I need to organize for crop tonight...finally feeling human, almost lighthearted, after another roller coaster ride on the Hormone Express over the last couple of days...dang, getting old really sucks.