Well, I didn't quite make 36 books in 2024, but I read 27

I'm going to go for 36 again this year, and really work on making it.

I've already started and completed the first book for 2025:

1. The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene. Grossett & Dunlap, 1930 [2014 edition], 192 pp. ISBN: 978-0448479699

Nineteen

Citation: Kerry Greenwood. Cocaine Blues. Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen Press, 1989. 198 pp. ISBN: 978-161593547

Ah, nature....

and (thanks to YKWIA, who will now look away, as a spider is pictured....)



and I'm assuming you've seen this:

The mystery world has lost a prolific and beloved writer

The Cat Who author Lilian Jackson Braun dies

Lilian Jackson Braun - the author of 29 The Cat Who... books about a crime-solving journalist and cat owner called Jim Qwilleran - has died aged 97.

Although I love mysteries, I've never read this series, but I've seen the books and knew about the author. The first is The Cat Who Could Read Backwards. I may see if it's available at the library.

I've been following someone on Twitter

but am now following his blog because, well, of the Persian FBI post. But then there was the graph showing Hewlett-Packard ink as costlier than blood, and then I read his apostrophe post (yes, it really is s', not 's after an s as far as I am concerned [not to mention after x and z, or at least that was how I was taught]; I think people just aren't taught properly anymore and have no idea of proper grammar--sorry Stephen King). Well, you get the picture. A dead man fell from the sky... is a blog by Gary Corby, who writes historical novels set in Ancient Greece. Once they're published I definitely must check them out, and not just because I majored in history and classics, love reading, and love how the English language flows when well-written--he's got a great sense of humour, too.

Anyway, go read his blog...or follow him on Twitter (http://twitter.com/GaryCorby). Here's the blurb for his first book, due to be released in Fall 2010:

Nicolaos, the ambitious son of a minor sculptor, walks the mean streets of Classical Athens as an agent for the promising young politician Pericles. Murder and mayhem don't bother Nico; what's really on his mind is how to get closer (much closer) to Diotima, the intelligent and annoyingly virgin priestess of Artemis, and how to shake off his irritating 12 year old brother Socrates

Oh, and Socrates? He's that Socrates. :) Book 2 is in revision and he's currently writing Book 3. I must say I'm intrigued. So keep an eye out for more.

Shoe crisis averted...whew!

Listening to: Three Days Grace 'Never Too Late' (embedding disabled)
Reading: Detection by Gaslight: 14 Victorian Detective Stories, edited by Douglas G Greene

No, the shoes weren't mine. But if they had not been found, I would have been getting up at 6 am and probably would have been late for work. Don't ask, I'd only have to kill you.

So I came home, took a shower, and had spa Lisa time, especially working some lotion into my feet. They feel much better. It was quite a long day, and I spent a good part of it in the car, mostly sitting waiting for my passengers to come back out of various buildings. Fortunately I mostly found parking in the shade and there was a breeze. But after about three hours I was starting to feel like a dog abandoned in a car.

It's also been an odd day. This afternoon I looked at the clock, thought it said 2:30 pm, and so I signed off my computer, turned off my desk lights, and headed out the door. I was halfway out the building when I passed a clock that said 1:30. I thought, oh, that one's wrong. Then I passed another. At this point I realised I did indeed have an hour more to work and turned back to the library, preparing to call my errant clock into maintenance. Then I got back to my desk and lo, the clock was right. I just had momentarily lost the capability of telling time. But it was a beautiful, gorgeous day outside, the type you hate to spend inside, and apparently someone was thinking very strong thoughts that I should leave work early. :) But I stuck it out and then went through a series of events that led to the shoe crisis.

I'm glad to be home. I'm going to sleep now.

A nice day so far

First of all, I slept until 2:30 this afternoon, giving me 12 hours' sleep. I apparently needed it. I dreamt of a bridge that went to a friend's family home. It was a nice size, about 8 feet wide and 14 feet tall to the timbered ceiling (yes, it had a ceiling, read on), and it was stone or light brick, with space on either side for displays. It was covered with a cedar shingle roof. The neighbours had tried to take it over, so we were arranging their plants artistically along the way. It was over a small ravine. It had all sorts of jars and a small lab or gardening bench where things could be mixed or pots planted. Okay, so it was a little weird, but very real, and I woke up several times and went right back into it.

After I finally did wake up and stayed up, I got ready, took Cerys out, and then headed to Hamburg. No, I don't normally do that, as it seems like the world's largest strip mall (okay, we're not a big city, there probably are others, but it's not laid out well at all and I'd almost prefer a super mall to what they did with the remains of a farm). I went to Backyard Burger for breakfast/lunch. Yes, you're wondering, a vegetarian (or pescatarian, actually) in a burger place? But they have a garden burger combo that has the burger cooked on its own George Foreman grill. Yay. I went ahead and transferred some addresses into the new planner while I was at it.

Then I went to Half-Price Books. It's a treasure trove of books, CDs, DVDs, computer programs, even vinyl records, all half the original price, plus a decent clearance section as well. They have a nice selection of various types of all of the above, including roleplaying books. I must mention that to our gamemaster--especially both old and new White Wolf titles. I got a couple of Julian May books (I did not have the Nonborn King or the Plicocene Companion, and I enjoyed that series quite well when I was young. I think I have the other two that begin it. There were a couple of paperback mysteries, one by Ellis Peters (not a Cadfael book, but from another series, but it sounded interesting) and one by Barbara Michaels (who is the same as Elizabeth Peters), a book on growing orchids, an astrology text, and a hoodoo one. Plus I got a 25-disc set of radioplays of Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (my favourite Holmes and Watson), and a landscape gardening CD that allows you to do both 2-D and 3-D planning, ages plants throughout the season so you can see how they'll look together, and you can do the platts and elevations. I'll need that this winter. All told I made it out of there pretty cheaply. There were many more I'd have love to have had. There was even a history of cannibalism--you don't see that every day. The books were in really good shape for the most part as well. They buy books, too, which I may keep in mind because I have a few duplicates (I think I bought one Anne Perry book three times). They have a really nice Judaism section. I considered getting an encyclopaedia of Jewish myth, mysticism, and magic as a gift (it is after all between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), but decided the person I would have given it to knew it all anyway.

Then I went to Kroger and stocked up on grocery staples. I went ahead and got three of those 99 cent canvas bags where they give you a rebate off for using them. I really don't need any more plastic bags--my cubby hole where I keep them is full, and since I don't have a cat box anymore, I should probably just take them in and recycle them or give them to Good Foods. I came home and cleaned out the refrigerator of some frightening things and then put the new stuff in. Now I'm blogging, of course. I'm going to put my foot up for a little while and then go do notes for the night and do some laundry. I didn't get much done on the house (I'd like to have it in good shape by Wednesday, when both the exterminator and carpet cleaner come.) It's not too bad, but the bathroom needs to be cleaned, dishes need doing, and a little picking up wouldn't be amiss.

That's all for now. I guess we could entitle this 'How I spent my Saturday off'. I didn't go into the store once, not even to get a drink. I'll probably write later tonight--I have a few things saved up to blog about that are library-related. In the meantime, I hope your weekend is going well.