The Beauty and the Mess

Both Sides of Time, Out of Time, Prisoner of Time, and For All Time by Caroline B. Cooney (re-reads)
I love this quadrilogy (? :)), but had never read all four books in succession. They're good time-traveling romps. Annie unintentionally travels back in time to the late 1800s, where she falls in love with a nice Victorian guy, thus meddling with not only his life track, but that of his spunky younger sister, weak-willed stepmother, Lionel Luthor-esque father, and plain, sweet girl friend who also loves him. Then Time brings her back to the present. So in the second book she goes back again to clean up the mess she created. In the third book the spunky sister, finding herself in an unrelated mess, travels to the present day and ends up in the care of Annie's brother. Finally, Annie attempts to go back in time once more to be reunited with her love - except Time doesn't cooperate and sends her to ancient Egypt instead. They're great books and don't take long to read. I highly recommend them.

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
The newest, next-to-last volume in the Wheel of Time. A couple of storylines were resolved, but there are still about a million to be tied up in the last book. While I enjoyed this book, the ending left me feeling completely unfulfilled. I was shocked to turn the page after the last part and find that that was the end. But that's my own fault for expecting otherwise from Robert Jordan. :P I've told many people that the biggest plus of reading Wheel of Time is that it gives you tons of inside-joke vocabulary with those who have also read it. It is fun to greet friends by saying, "I see you. May you always find water and shade."

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (re-reads) ( Cut for those bothered by HP - major spoilers within )

More next month.

Today is my brother's sixteenth birthday. Why don't guys get Sweet Sixteen parties? It seems unfair. You could change it and make it Slammin' Sixteen or something. Anyway, it's hard to believe that in a couple of years he'll be an adult. To me he will always be little Kev-Kev. :) My parents are taking him to dinner tonight, but I can't go because of tutoring. Evan and I will go to the house later and have cake with them. Also, in all the birthday and Valentine's excitement, I almost forgot that today is our five-monthiversary. :D

steveisright asked for my thoughts on Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time books. My general opinion is that you shouldn't start reading them unless you have a lot of time. They're enjoyable, but Jordan has two main flaws. One: too many characters. I know a twelve-book epic requires many people, but there are limits. He spends tons of time describing random barmaids whom you will never see again (except maybe briefly, five books later, after you've forgotten them). Two: unnecessary rambling. He re-summarizes major plot points every two pages. To put this in perspective for the girls: remember in the Baby-Sitters Club, how every book had a long, boring chapter with restated fun facts about each of the Baby-Sitters? Now imagine a book where that's going on constantly. Yeah. Bottom line, the plot is interesting, and you'll pick up a lot of fun catchphrases like "May you always find water and shade." But I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.

Kathy and I had an interesting conversation about therapy the other day. Apparently studies have shown that the healing factor of therapy is that people just need someone to listen to them, without motives or judgment. So people who benefit most from it are people who can't find that support in their own families or social groups. I thought that was really interesting. When you look at it that way, LJ is sort of like self-therapy. :) It wasn't so long ago that I was in a situation like that, so it makes a lot of sense to me. Thankfully things are all-around better now.

Hey, I'm sure you're all wondering what came of my brief flirtation with French Riviera Spa. On Robin's good advice, I decided to check out the YMCA instead. But it's $35/month and there's a $90 joining fee. Sadly, I do not have that kind of money. So I will continue doing aerobics tapes once a week and hoping for the best. :P On a related note, Pilates is now making my stomach bigger. It's solid muscle, but it's definitely not flat and nice. I don't think this is what's supposed to happen. I'm sure you really wanted to know about that.

I can't wait for Return of the King. I need to start re-reading, in preparation, but I'm still bogged down by Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos. Incidentally, I think that's one of the coolest book titles ever. It lets everyone know that you're not a sissy. "What are you reading?" "Lord of Chaos." "Awesome." :)

Some bad news: Evan got in a wreck last night en route to my apartment. He was trying to cross Poplar from a side street with tall bushes- it's a major blind spot and I've always found it nerve-wracking- and pulled out too far and got hit by an oncoming Suburban. I'm so glad he wasn't hurt. There are a million ways it could have been so much worse, so I'm trying to look on the bright side. Amazingly the car is still driveable, but maybe not for long. If any of you hear of another $500 car for sale, please let me know.

Fridays are good.

( A Jessica survey: Families and Nice Things )