It's Pouring

Today I wrote a letter to a Republican senator. No, I didn't call him any rude names. And no, I haven't hit my head.

See, Texas is on the verge of an economic crisis. Many would argue that we're already there, but really, it can get worse. The state is broke, and there are budget shortfalls in every branch of government. The state will likely have to lay off 9,000 employees. And many teachers are going to lose their jobs (1,500 in Austin Independent School District alone). They may even have to close schools. And it's not because we don't need the teachers and the schools. Even though Texas is like 49th in Education in the country, we can't even afford to maintain that level of abysmal quality.

We have a despotic governor that has been driving the economy into the ground for years because he refuses to consider raising taxes, for fear of alienating his donor base. We're a diverse state, but less than half of the population votes, and the ones who do vote tend to be conservative. And we have no term limits in Texas.

I'm not pretending to know how to fix this problem, but it seems like common sense that when you're out of money, and you have no way to pay for the necessities in life, that you need to do whatever is necessary to raise money.

Dear Senator Deuell-

I wanted to thank you for your stance on raising taxes in order to address our current economic crisis. It's time to spend the Rainy Day Fund and it's time to raise taxes. These are hard times, and cutting education and firing teachers and state employees wouldn't have to happen if we were willing to pay a little more in taxes. As a parent who can only afford public education, I'd like my child to get a better one that what's being offerred in this state right now.

My mother is a state employee and my step-father is a teacher and neither of them is ready to retire. It's shameful that they could both be unemployed, due to no fault of their own, by Summer.

Your constituents expect you to defend education and public service and to be realistic about how it needs to be done. I hope you'll continue to support raising taxes and I hope the Democrats I voted for will stand with you on this issue.

Thank you-
Kandis S.

100 Books for 2010... the first 6 months

I've been really into the Anita Blake series so far this year. However, I'm now on book 10 and it's growing increasingly intense: "porny-er" (as my friend Heather calls it) and also just really disturbing with its villains and crimes. But the reason I continue to stick with the series is that I really just love Anita. She's tiny and tough, and she worries a lot about whether she's becoming a sociopath because she kills so easily. But really, she nearly always kills to protect herself, and more frequently to protect others. She's always defending those that are weaker than she is, and hardly ever with her limited powers. She's much more likely to defend with her huge arsenal of weapons that she's adept at wielding. And I'm okay with that.

#1 - Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#2 - The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#3 - Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 3) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#4 - The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 4) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#5 - Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 5) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#6 - The Killing Dance (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 6) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#7 - Burnt Offerings (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 7) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#8 - Blue Moon (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 8) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#9 - Obsidian Butterfly (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 9) by Laurell K. Hamilton
#10 - Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10) by Charlaine Harris
#11 - Going in Circles by Pamela Ribon

This list does not include the number of books I've re-read (including the entire Twilight series- it's a sickness I tell you!) which I do over and over again, every year.

Maybe I should be shooting for 50 books in a year?

100 Books for 2009... or not quite

Okay, here's the part where I stop pretending that I'm ever going to finish summarizing the books I read in 2009. So the final additions are:

#60 - Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts (straight modern romance)
#61 - The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (sad and disturbing)
#62 - Rainwater by Sandra Brown (lovely and unexpected departure from Sandra Brown's usual romantic suspense and scary ass killers)
#63 - Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris (final satisfying end to the Harper Connelly series)
#64 - My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler (silly and entertaining)

2010 Oscar Picks at 6:49 p.m.

Say what you will about James Cameron, and hell, I've said it too- but Avatar was a crowning achievement in filmmaking. And who says we didn't need a 3D Dances With Smurfs? And I adore Sandra Bullock. I think she's lovely and talented (in certain roles) and an incredibly good sport who seems like she'd be great to hang out with, but I just don't see the Academy taking her seriously for Best Actress.


Best Director
James Cameron 'Avatar'

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges 'Crazy Heart'

Best Actress
Meryl Streep 'Julie & Julia'

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz' Inglourious Basterds'

Best Supporting Actress
Mo'nique' Precious'

Best Animated Feature Film
'Up'

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal 'The Hurt Locker'

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner 'Up in the Air'

Best Documentary Feature
'Food, Inc.'

Best Cinematography
'Avatar'

Best Costume Design
'Nine' Colleen Atwood

Best Picture
'Avatar'

excuses

Hi, I'm behind. I KNOW. This whole life thing has totally been keeping me from doing just about anything, but especially from summarizing the trash I've been reading. I'll get right back on that as soon as possible.

Book # 59: Kindred in Death

Kindred in Death is Nora Roberts' (writing as J.D. Robb) 30th novel in the In Death series (also referred to as the Eve Dallas series).

We return to kick-ass homicide detective Eve Dallas in 2059 New York City. Eve's rare holiday weekend with her hot husband is interrupted by murder as usual. This time a fellow cop's teenager daughter has been brutally raped and murdered in her own home, and her father has requested Dallas take the case.

Eve and her team pursue the needle in a haystack by trying to find who would want to harm a cop's family, before he goes after others. She also has to squeeze in her matron-of-honor duties for Louise and Charles' impending wedding. And as has been established numerous times, Eve handles vicious murder far better than social obligations.

The later novels in this series have lacked the grit and drama of the earlier stories. The cases are getting fairly predictable, but it seems like it would be impossible for that to not happen after 30 books. However, this series continues to be a solid entertainer.

Book # 58: An Echo in the Bone

An Echo in the Bone is the seventh novel in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’ve been reading this series since high school and it’s one of my all time favorites. It centers around World War II combat nurse Claire Randall, and her accidental journey back in time to the 1700’s and Jamie Frasier, the Scottish warrior she falls in love with there.

Outlander novels are a big commitment, with nearly all of them topping 800 pages. They’re also an extremely dense combination of historical fiction, war strategy, political intrigue, botany, and medicine. The newest one in the series takes place 33 years after the series begins, and unless you’ve read all of the previous ones- and even if you have- you could find yourself hopelessly lost.

Gabaldon spends a lot of time taking her characters on solo journeys, which can get a bit boring, to read only one person’s thoughts and observations on the landscape for such a long time. She catches up with her sprawling cast of characters and even adds some new ones in the form of an adult William Ransom (Jamie’s illegitimate son) and a Quaker brother and sister. The entire first half of the book was a bit tedious to get through, but the second half had tons of twists, action and surprises.

The book did end on a nearly absurd cliff-hanger (given the frequency of hair-raising adventures amongst this family). Which seems a bit cruel considering it takes Diana Gabaldon about four years to write the next Outlander novel.

Book #57: A Touch of Dead

Charlaine Harris' A Touch of Dead is a collection of all of her Sookie Stackhouse novellas. They have all previously appeared in other compilation collections featuring various authors.

I had previously read two of the five short stories in A Touch of Dead. Harris writes these to fit in between books in the Sookie series. So unless you've read the entire series already, the circumstances in the stories might not make as much sense.

These were mostly light entertaining fluff. There's not a whole lot of details in this collection that you couldn't live without, though they do help provide a little backstory. Like I always wondered when reading the series, when had Sookie met Claude the fairy, or found out Hadley was dead, or gave her grandfather a tie for Christmas? Now I know!

The only story that really didn't work for me was 'Dracula Night'. The whole situation just seemed too far out of character for Eric. Don't re-write my Eric, Charlaine.

Book #56: Desperate Duchesses

Eloise James' Desperate Duchesses takes place in 18th century England among the landed gentry and London's notorious "ton".

Robert St. Giles is intent on marrying the Duke of Villiers. Why? I'm not quite sure. He's rude, quite possibly gay, and has hardly noticed her. But he's the most sought after catch in England and Roberta is tired of living with her father in the country, and tired of being a laughingstock thanks to her father's horrendous poetry and scandalous liasons with showgirls.

Roberta goes to London and shows up uninvited on a distant counsin's doorstep, desperate for entré into the Duke of Villiers' social sphere. Luckily her cousin Jemma is just eccentric enough to take her on.

After that, there are sexual escapades, confusing social politics of the time and chess, chess and more chess. This novel is 400 pages and I hardly remember a thing except that those people were obsessed with their chess.

Book #55: Touch the Dark

Karen Chance's Touch the Dark was my second attempt at urban fantasy. This was also the first in a series, but I don't think I'll be continuing with this one.

Cassandra Palmer has spent half of her life as an unwilling member of the vampire royal court, and the other half of her life on the run. She is sought for her clairvoyant abilities. Beyond that, everything is extremely muddled.

The author spends pages explaining some things, and then no time at all explaining others. Her vampires are also able to feed off humans by absorbing blood (sometimes from across the room) and no biting is necessary. That was a little too much artistic license for me to swallow. It kind of completely eliminates one of the things that makes vampire legend so compelling.

The main character also seems to jump around in time to a dizzying degree and I rarely wanted to follow her.

Book #54: Dead Witch Walking

Kim Harrison's Dead Witch Walking is my first foray into urban fantasy. The Sookie Stackhouse novels would probably fit into that category if they weren't, you know, rural.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter for the government, ends up on the run when she quits her job. She's wanted dead or alive, gets kicked out of her apartment, and has to move in with her new partners: a vampire and a pixie.

It was interesting to read something from the witch vein instead of vampires for a change. Though the book feels a bit vague on whether or not witchcraft is inherited or anyone can pick it up. The fact that charms can be purchased in stores and witches have to train in school, takes away some of the mystical aspect.

This is the first in The Hollows series and I will likely continue on in the series.

Book #53: Smash Cut

Smash Cut is Sandra Brown's newest novel, using her newest formula. Two main characters meet, become intimate ridiculously fast, and then get to know eachother and solve a mystery. (See: The Switch, Exclusive, and Play Dirty)

Criminal lawyer Derek Mitchel and gallery owner Julie Rutledge are drawn together by the murder of her lover and benefactor. Of course many things will throw a wrench in their relationship, including psychopathic stalker Creighton Wheeler.

This was fairly quick paced though I found myself irritated by Sandra Brown's ability to write flawed and complex men, but mostly bland fragile women. But what she does is exceptionally well is psychopaths. (Her villain in Unspeakable will scare the crap out of you.)

What the hell am I doing?

Currently re-reading the entire Sookie Stackhouse series because I am crazy like that, and contemplating revamping myself into rockabilly style.

Be back soon with something new.

Book #52: Black Hills

Black Hills is Nora Roberts' newest romantic suspense novel. These are typically enjoyable though after you've read all of her books, the formula can get tiresome.

Lil Chance and Cooper Sullivan have been friends since their childhood summers in South Dakota. They fall in love one summer before they go off in their separate directions, he to become a New York City cop and she to become a wildlife biologist. They meet again ten years later when Lil and her Wildlife Refuge are in danger from a deranged stalker.

Roberts follows one of her formulas (previously seen in The Reef, and River's End) where the couple fall in love very young, he breaks her heart (usually for her own good) and then they reconnect when they're both older, wiser, and more bitter. Of course they fall in love again, but he has to apologize, grovel, and win her back first.

I thought the mystery was a bit lacking in this one, once you realize who the killer is, he seems so beneath them. But I did enjoy the Deadwood setting.

Book #51: Crazy for You

Jennifer Crusie's Crazy for You shares a title with my favorite Madonna song. The Madonna song is better.

Quinn MacKenzie is a high school art teacher who's living with the town's favorite baseball coach and pretty much just coasting through life. When she and her coach boyfriend have a disagreement about a stray dog she wants to keep, it spurs Quinn to finally make some changes in her life. She moves out, buys a house, cuts her hair, and keeps the dog. She also decides to pursue her sister's ex-husband Nick.

While Quinn is making the zany changes in her life, and pursuing the ill-advised affair with her sister's ex, who has always had the hots for her, Bill the baseball coach is convinced she'll come back to him. But when she doesn't come back fast enough, he starts breaking into her house and vandalizing things so she'll realize how much she needs him, and he begins stalking her. His cluelessness might have been comical if it wasn't so goddamned scary. As a result, it cast a pall over the entire rest of the story.

Book #50: Poppy Done to Death

Poppy Done to Death is the eighth book in Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. This series is okay, though I still don't enjoy it quite as much as Harris' supernatural Sookie series.

Per usual, quiet librarian widow Aurora Teagarden, has bodies practically dropping at her feet with alarming regularity. How she hasn't been considered a murder suspect yet is simply amazing. This time around, it's her philandering sister-in-law Poppy. Roe and Poppy weren't especially close, but she feels obligated to find out who killed Poppy, while also protecting Poppy's privacy at the same time.

In the midst of all that, she's still navigating her love affair with famous writer Robin Crusoe, an unexpected visit from her teenage brother, and another unexpected surprise.

Not sure if this is officially the last Aurora book, but it had a definite air of finality about it.

Book #49: Deadly Kisses

Deadly Kisses is the final published book in Brenda Joyce's Deadly Series. Apparently she's written one additional book in the series, but her publisher is holding it hostage due to a perceived lack of interest. Bastards.

Debutante sleuth Francesca Cahill encounters her most personal case yet when her fiance, enigmatic billionaire Calder Hart, is suspected of murdering his former mistress.

While Francesca struggles to solve the case, Calder tries to distance himself from her in an attempt to spare her reputation. Since Francesca has finally decided that she's in love with Calder, she makes this fairly difficult for him.

By the end of the book Francesca and Calder are back on track, but her parents are still insisting that they wait a year until marrying. I really would have liked to find out what that year might hold for them.

Book #48: Deadly Illusions

Deadly Illusions is the next to last installment in Brenda Joyce's unfinished Deadly Series.

Turn of the century sleuth Francesca Cahill finds herself on the trail of a slasher. A madman with a knife has attacked several women on the Lower East side of Manhattan, and the victims' proximity to Francesca's close friends, the Kennedy family, has her especially worried.

Francesca also has to contend with the jealousy of her smoldering fiance Calder Hart, as she resumes her investigative partnership with Calder's brother, police commissioner Rick Bragg.

In the later books of the series, Joyce has fleshed out the secondary characters' relationships and those have become nearly as interesting as Francesca and Calder's steamy courtship. Again, mysteries? Secondary.

Book #47: Deadly Promise

Sixth book in Brenda Joyce's Deadly Series, Deadly Promise takes place in March 1902, a mere three months after the first book in the series.

In her latest adventure, Francesca Cahill is searching for several young missing girls from a poor Irish neighborhood in New York. She and police commissioner Rick Bragg begin to suspect that the girls are being kidnapped to work in a seedy bordello.

Francesca and Rick's partnership is threatened by the recent return of Rick's estranged wife, and Francesca's announced engagement to Calder Hart. Calder, Rick's younger half brother and arch nemesis was introduced as a wealthy and reckless playboy, but has become a fascinating character, for the audience, and Francesca.

Now I can't put these books down.

Book #46: Deadly Caress

Deadly Caress is the fifth book in Brenda Joyce’s Deadly Series, and I'm so freaking hooked now.

Turn of the century sleuth Francesca Cahill is on the case after one of her closest friends art studio is vandalized, another artist has disappeared, and her brother's mistress has been murdered.

And can I just tell you how much I dislike the word "sleuth"? It's thrown about all over this series in all seriousness, and it may have been a word in use at the time. But it just makes me think of Nancy Drew mysteries and cheesiness.

So murder mystery blah blah blah. Really, the thing that is making this series better and better, (oh, and hotter) is the love triangle between Francesca, Rick Bragg, the police commissioner she's been on the verge of having an affair with, and his rich and mysterious brother Calder Hart (who is now pursuing Francesca). The mysteries? Way secondary.