What Mama's Readin'

Ah, I am alternately enjoying and slogging my way through The OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH SHORT STORIES (yes, they made it all caps in the title, I'm not being pretentious). This is a fun little sampler platter. It's an easy introduction to new authors, for those of us who wouldn't know where to start otherwise. It's also nice in the short story aspect, as I don't feel compelled to sit down for the entire sixteen course meal. I can snack. Sample. Wander off and digest a bit. Come back for a little o' this, a tad more o' that.

I must find more G.K. Chesterton! Evelyn Waugh seems eminently enjoyable, as well. Still can't stand Huxley, though. Just as I began thinking, "Hey! This really is a handy way to find new authors to read!" I was thwarted by a Kipling story that just had that strange spice you can't quite put your finger on. It felt as if someone had slipped a Thai food into the Chinese buffet... And it's not anything against Thai food (I love Kipling), but when you're expecting a sweet orange sauce and you get a snout full of curry and that painful red pimento-looking thing...

You go running for a big glass of O'Brian to wash it down! Book Twenty. WHAT?!?!? (Mild vexation with the layout of the universe, here, I cannot believe he passed on and left us with only three chapters of Book 21. *painful, closureless sigh*) However, Blue At The Mizzen is simply another in a long list of Favorite Drinks for me. Whether we're heading out to sea, or trekking across India, O'Brian is the guy to take along. Eminently palatable, always refreshing.

Forrest McDonald offers up a little meat 'n potatoes, stewed up with rich gravy in the form of a biography on Alexander Hamilton. I'm not done with this one yet, but I have to say that if anyone could make Hamilton appetizing to a States' Rights oriented, decentralized gov't loving, Libertarian coffee swigger like myself, it's McDonald. The man just oozes the talent of confident, delightful conversation. Reading his writing is like having Sunday supper with your favorite uncle.

Ever try the jerky your strange cousin made that turns out to be pretty good, afterall? That would be this week's HOME Improvement 1-2-3, published by and for Home Depot. It looks cheesy as all get out (and you find yourself thinking, what meat is this?) but it's very good. Thorough, humorous, great pictures, no Engrish, and it's well laid out. For a step-by-step guide that actually offers good steps, try the jerky.

That's about it. I need a good dessert book, folks. Not enough sweets lately. Any suggestions for a good dessert book? This would be one that tops off a nice day, won't give me weird dreams, or make me get out of bed to reference other materials. Preferably one that won't make me cry, either. ;-)

Since Zorak is gone *evil, world-conquering laugh*, we have transportation, so we're going to the library again tomorrow. I feel SO decadent!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy