Today's rambles

I haven't posted much lately because I've spent the last three days either working (that's what they pay me to do, after all), reading (four books to finish & review before the end of June), sending May's reviews from HNR along with letters to publicists (I'm working from a mock-up of the issue because the darn thing still isn't back from the printer after 6 weeks), and packing up review books to mail. I even took this morning off, in the hopes that I might finish Jane Harris's The Observations, the fifth and final book I promised I'd cover for my NoveList column. (No such luck. I finished it this evening instead.)

Instead, because I felt guilty about letting the piles of review books just sit there, I started packing, taping, and labeling the jiffy bags, but I only got halfway done before lunchtime, and I had to get to work for my afternoon reference desk shift. Then when I came home at 4pm, $60 poorer after my post office jaunt, I commenced wrapping the remaining 20 packages only to run out of both jiffy bags and tape. This means a trip to Walmart or Staples tomorrow to get more rolls of tape, yet another trip to the post office with my overstuffed mailing bin before they close at noon, and plenty of dirty looks from the people behind me in line. I am used to this.

Anyway, such is my life at the moment - plus, the campus decided to do some kind of unannounced maintenance to the email server this afternoon. This is my guess, because they never tell us anything, and I'm usually the first person on campus who notices because I'm obsessed with email. Anyway, things have been mighty quiet on that front all day.

In any case, back to books. Thanks to Mary for her recommendation of The Observations, which was fabulous - the narrator's voice was a hoot! I'd also like to put in a good word for Mary's own novel, The Vanishing Point, which I had the pleasure of reading in galley form prior to doing an interview with her for the August issue of HNR. It's a June publication, a Mariner trade paperback (gorgeous cover, too). I grew up in New England and love the colonial period, but the 17th century Maryland setting was completely new to me. It's a superb novel I highly recommend, and I'm sorry I'll miss seeing her on her living history tour. Hope it goes well, Mary!