What I’m Listening To

On a recent car trip I had Stacey O’Brien’s book Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl  and His Girl to keep me company. I am a sucker for animal stories and fell in love with Stacy and Wesley’s story. While working at CalTech, Stacey adopted an injured owlet, and the two of them go on to forge a life together.  It’s an entertaining and fascinating tale. Of course, after listening to this book I have new appreciation for my more conventional pets. Sure, my dog does insist on two morning walks and he has some weird rituals when it comes to treats, but I can buy his food in a bag at the grocery store. In fact none of my pets actually insist that I personally kill their dinner for them. Owls, on the other hand, eat mice, a lot...

It’s been a busy week. Here are a few of the things I’ve been doing: Read What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell, and you should too. This YA book won the National Book Award. Even though,historical fiction is not my favorite genre, I decided to give this one a try, and am glad I did. It’s set in post-World War II America, and does an excellent job of capturing the mood of that time in a coming of age tale. Judy Blundell has been writing some different series books under other names for years, but this is the first book she published under her own name using her own original idea. Something tells me that this will be the first of many Judy Blundell books. Laughed out loud while reading The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk. I had...

Alita over at  Alita Reads is having a quick mini-challenge. Choose a book that you are currently reading or have recently finished and then select a song that goes with, then answer a few questions, but hurry this mini-challenge is only up for a short time! I just finished reading What I Saw, and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, and here is the song I have chosen for the soundtrack: The song is “In the Mood” and in this clip is performed by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. As for why I chose the song, What I Saw, and How I Lied is a YA historical fiction set just after World War II. The main character’s stepfather has just returned home to New York after fighting in the war. “In the Mood” fits the time period of the story, and I believe...

The internet is a scary place. I only went online to look up who the woman was who covered Crimson and Clover (Joan Jett, if you were wondering) and on the same site where I found this info learned that Pat Boone did a cover version of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, and it is as horrible as it sounds. Obviously, this was all very important research.

Some people discover new music by hearing it on the radio or reading about it in a magazine, but for me my father has always been my source for new music. Whether it was Nirvana and Pearl Jam when I was in high school or Liz Phair when I was in college, my dad always seemed to be the first person I knew to discover new performers. He is not in any way involved in the music industry, though he does have this dream of starting an internet radio station when he retires. This is a hobby, a sometimes expensive hobby, since he has been known to buy several CDs a week. (Yes, there are still people out there who buy CDs.) Anyway, a CD he bought a little bit before Christmas and which he and I have decided is awesome is Fortress ’round My Heart by Ida Maria. So, this...

I was planning on making it an early night last night, since I am still getting over the remnants of my flu, though I was hoping to do some reading or writing in bed before I finally turned in. That didn’t happen. I was getting ready for bed and had just spit the toothpaste out of my mouth when our power went out. It had actually gone out for a minute or so earlier yesterday morning. So, I wasn’t that alarmed. I patiently waited in the pitch black bathroom for the lights to come back on. They didn’t. Finally, I decided I was going to have to find a light source. I knew there was a flashlight in the kitchen drawer, but I didn’t like the idea of going down the stairs in complete darkness. So, I felt my way down the hall to my bedroom, grabbed...