Arrivals and Departures

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks at Chez Beepy. As almost all of you are aware, I adore my 47 dogs, but what only a few of you know that I also love guinea pigs. They are sweet, charming, cuddly, funny little creatures and they make me immensely happy -- until they pass away. Last week my little Alice passed away at the age of six years. She and her twin sister, Fanny, came to me as young adults, after having been found in a dumpster by a friend of a friend of mine. She was a dear little thing and I'll miss her.

Although my plan was to hold off before bringing another animal into my life, fate wasn't listening to my plans. On a trip to see my mom, I stopped at a Petco for supplies and came out with an adorable little guinea pig, which I named Fender. He was free. According to the manager he had been for sale, but had grown up before being sold. Now no one wanted him. (Apparently many customers are turned off by white animals with pink eyes. Whatever!) He is incredibly friendly and has already wiggled his way right into my heart.

Anyway, between mourning, celebrating and visiting my mom, I haven't had a chance to post. If anyone at all has been here looking for a new post, I apologize. I have, however, been reading (aloud to the dogs and the piggies no less) and have finally finished "Master and Commander." Let me repeat that - I have finally finished "Master and Commander." Finally. I finally finished it. Yes, finally.

I'm not sure what to say about it because my reading experience was so bumpy. I found the language created a barrier which kept me out of the story. With too many naval terms paralyzing me, I'd often fall asleep right in the middle of an "action" scene. I never got exited during the battle scenes; my heart never skipped a beat nor beat faster. Sometimes reading it was as much work as walking through waist deep jello. As a result, not once did I imagine myself as part of the story (it's hard to imagine being under the bosun when you're not sure what a bosun is), which I almost always do with a good book.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the parts that were about the men themselves. I appreciated the historical details that were not naval. Oh how I perked up and paid attention when a young sailor fell overboard and was saved from drowning by being hung upside down and having cigar smoke blown into his lungs. Oh how I cheered (and gagged) when Maturin picked up a knife used for cutting up corpses, wiped it off and used it to cut his meat. Oh how I wished the book had contained more of these touches.

So where does that leave me? As much as I hate to say it, I have to rate this first of Steve's recommendations a failure. I see that it would be a wonderful choice for someone else but not for me.

Up next: "Love Among the Butterflies" (finally)

More alike than not

It has been pointed out to me that my blog is just like Steve's blog. Okay, that is true but my defense is that Steve and I are so very similiar in life as well. Let's take a look at the evidence.

1. Steve and I have both worked in more bookstores than most of our colleagues have read books.

2. We both have one too many dogs.

3. We are both Paris catwalk hot.

4. We both like to spend long hours in the tub (I prefer Sandelwood bubblebath; Steve, Sweet Jasmine - in case anyone is thinking ahead to Christmas)

5. Neither of us smokes.

6. We each have a tattoo which we keep covered and deny when questioned.

7. Neither of us has ever pleased a woman in bed.

8. We are each living in a century that doesn't understand us.

9. We have both fought the law and the law won.

10. We both love the Tudors (although Steve also "loved" the Tudors, if you know what I'm saying.)


If you can think of any other similiarities between me and the great Steve, please comment.



comment anyway...

The New Me

So this is where I am...

In the past few months, I haven't been reading. Let me rephrase that. I haven't been reading successfully. Oh, I've sat with books, I've turned pages, I've comprehended the text, but I haven't been Reading. I haven't been loving it. I haven't been hurrying through my day just to get to the few moments of peace and joy that a book may bring. I've been sampling, reading a chapter here, a chapter there and moving on to the next thing to catch my eye. I've been using books the way Brittany Spears has been using men. It's not me and I don't like it.

In desperation, I've turned to Steve (of Stevereads.blogspot.com and OpenLettersMonthly.com) for help. I can hear the wail rising up "Good Lord! She must be desperate!" but calm yourselves. Steve has very rarely done me wrong when it comes to books. Yes, yes there was the time that he swore I would enjoy "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris but I'm almost over that so you should be too. Even a man blessed with all the things that Steve is blessed with can be wrong once and awhile.

In any case, I've given over my future reading to Steve's command. I read by his will, if you'd prefer. I've promised to read what he suggests and only what he suggests from start to finish with no wandering nor whining. The first book on his list is "Master and Commander" by Patrick O'Brian. From what I can gather, being two or three chapters into it, it is about some men on a boat. I'll keep you all informed if I suss out anything more.

Seriously, it seems like it might be highly enjoyable if only I can get past the "sailorese". I've yet to learn what a "bosun" might be, even after O'Brian has used the word 50 times to describe the action. And don't get me going on the various masts and sails. I feel like I'm reading letters coming out of some government office with paragraphs of information blacked out for security reasons. It's all very confusing and O'Brian offers little help.

As I said, I've only begun to read and I AM in for the long haul, so I'll keep you posted. Surely Steve knows what he's doing... doesn't he?

Welcome

Welcome to Beepy's blog. This is my first experience with blogging and also with writing for the general public, so please be kind. (that means you as well, Steve)

The idea that I have in my head is to create an area where we can talk about what we are reading. That's what I love - finding out what others are reading, what they think of it and what they'd recommend to their friends. In other words I'm more interested in you than in yammering on myself.

And so we begin...