Four more book reviews…
It’s been a while since I posted some book reviews so here are the last four books I’ve gotten through since my last book entry…
The Way to Somewhere by Angie Day was actually written by a girl who graduated from my high school a year before me I believe. I do remember her but was not friends with her. Still, I thought it would be neat to read her book and it had gotten good reviews on Amazon.com. I also have a thing for reading books that are based or at least partially based in Houston. It’s neat to read descriptions of places you recognize around the city. The book was indeed a good, compelling read. Recommended chick reading and recommended for those of us who live in Houston.
Afterwards I quickly got through Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno. It’s main characters were punk/alternative kids finding themselves the last two years in high school in 1991. Despite the underlying music theme – the characters compared their lives and emotions to hits songs from the late 80’s, early ’90’s, – I enjoyed it more than I had expected because the characters were the same age I was the year the story was set (I was 17 and a high school senior in 1991). Not a book for everyone but still a fascinating characterization of a teenage boy as he observes the world around him.
Next in the pile was Steve Martin’s second novella, The Pleasure of My Company. Steve Martin does it again! He creates fascinating, detailed characters that draw you into their lives. He is a talented writer and the story does not disappoint. I won’t bore you with details but do recommend it.
Most recently I finished Cuba by Emily Barr. I am always drawn to books having anything to do with Cuba so I picked this up one day. I expected to be a chick book, straightforward story – and although it was a chick book it ended up having a few twists and mysteries. It wrapped up a little too nicely but it still had me drawn in. Recommended for a light summer read.
How could I forget??
OMG! I completely forgot to mention the cab accident we were in while in Chicago! Don’t worry – everyone was OK.
We were heading back into town after spending the day at The Science & Industry Museum. It was Friday afternoon and we were going to catch a couple of comedy shows that night. The Museum is not that easy to reach by public transportation so we had grabbed a cab.
We were halfway back to the hotel, driving in the far right lane along Lake Shore Drive which follows Lake Michigan when I look up and see a stalled car ahead of us. Unfortunately, our cab was not slowing down. The way we were seated only CJ and I had a clear view forward but neither of us said anything in time. Before we know it the cab finally reacts but too late. We are screeching, the brakes are locking up but to no avail. We slam into the back of the stalled car. Bam! The stalled car apparently was not in park because it gets pushed across three lanes of expressway and hits the concrete barrier on the other side. Fortunately its driver had been sitting outside the car and had jumped back when he saw us about to hit.
Needless to say we quickly jump out the cab. After a few minutes we realize the cab driver is still trying to get out – his door was jammed – so we encouraged him to go out the passenger side. At this point the driver of the stalled car (he had run out of gas) came up hollering and a cyclist who had heard the crash rode up. Turns out he was an off-duty police officer and had already called the accident in.
In five minutes a cop car had arrived and in just a few more minutes two fire trucks showed up. No one was injured except for me – I had a big old bump on my shin right below my knee. I had been in the back seat straddling the hump in the middle and the force of the impact shoved my shin into the back of the front seat and bruised it. I told them I didn’t need an ambulance but they still showed up anyway. In the end I just asked for an ice pack and insisted I was OK (I was). I think more severe injuries were avoided because the car we hit had not been in park and the impact was absorbed by that car when it was pushed across the highway.
All of the officials were extremely friendly and after about 30-40 minutes the cars were cleared off the road, our statements were taken and another cab was hailed for us. By this time a second cop car had showed up and he stopped traffic on the expressway completely so we could safely get in the cab and be on our way.
Kenny took a couple of hurried pictures but didn’t feel comfortable taking more with all the cops there:
Our 2 firetrucks and the friendly off-duty cop on his bike.
The crashed cab
We ended up canceling our tickets for that evening and wandered the Chicago streets instead, going up to see the night skyline from the Hancock Tower. My shin did not bother me even though we were all expecting it to get worse and that I would be stiff and sore the rest of the trip. It really only started bruising after we returned from the trip and even then I’ve had worse!
So there is the story of our accidental cab adventure (LOL, pun intended). We were leery of cabs after that – they all drive crazy – but we had no further mishaps!
Chicago Travelogue!
We’re back and we had a wonderful time in Chicago!! It was much hotter and muggier than we had anticipated but we survived.
> Navy Pier: Visited the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, went into the maze, rode the ferris wheel and the swings and just had a blast. With the setting sun and lovely views, I also took some of my best shots.
Museum of Science & Industry: This place is huge! Highlight for me was seeing the Body Worlds exhibit.
Museum of Contemporary Photography: small but they had two good exhibits.
Millennium Park: The Crown Fountain and the “Bean” were favorites (despite the “Bean” being mostly under a canopy while it’s cleaned up/polished).
Took a tour of the Glessner Home.
I wandered Chinatown on my own and as a group we wandered up and down the Magnificent Mile as well as through the Market Days Street Festival on N. Halsted.
Went up to the Hancock Observatory (in the 2nd tallest building in the USA) in the evening and then went up the Sears Tower Skydeck (in the tallest building in USA) during the day.
Went to the ImprovOlympic and saw a couple of shows: “Whirled News Tonight” and “Cupid has a Heart On” by The Cupid Players.
Saw the Blue Man Group our last night in town. Amazing as always.
Took the Architecture River Tour.
Also took the 4-hour “Frank Lloyd Wright by Bus” tour and visited his first home, his design center, Unity Temple as well as took a walking tour to see some of his first homes.
Ate some good food – these are some of the restaurants I can remember: Shaw’s Crab House (the best clam chowder), Paisano’s Pizza, Ann Sather, Rockit Bar & Grill, Weber Grill Restaurant, Johnny O’Hagan’s and Big Bowl Cafe (amazingly refreshing homemade ginger ale).
Summer vacation booked!!
Kenny and I have booked a late summer vacation! Yay! We are heading to Chicago the first week in August for five nights!! Woo-hoo!!
We found a great hotel+flight package on Orbitz.com and had to take it. We will be staying at a lovely four star hotel in the Downtown District called The Amalfi.
I am really looking forward to it! Now to find out if Kymberlie can house/dog-sit…
Tallahassee Trip – a month later
About three years ago my sister and her family moved out to Tallahassee – both she and her husband had new positions at Florida State University – and had a custom-made home built. My mother and I still hadn’t made it out there to visit so we finally loaded up Betty the Blue Beetle and decided to drive over for a weekend visit. We were both really looking forward to seeing my nieces who we hadn’t seen in about 2 years! Now they would be five and seven and from the pictures and phone conversations had really grown up so fast!
So we drove. And drove. And drove. And drove some more. Through Louisiana… and Mississippi… and Alabama… finally into Florida. Here are a few numbers:
— over 11 hours of driving one-way
— almost 1500 miles round-trip
— 6 tanks of gas
I managed to stay relatively calm even as my Mother drove my car, despite her inability to drive in the center of the lane (she drives towards the left and often hits the edge or creeps into the other lane, once even getting honked at). She is also not very good at driving and navigating, slowing down without really worrying that the car behind us may not appreciate it. sigh Yes, I was trying to navigate to help her but she is also not very good at listening to instructions. double sigh Anyway, we survived. Somehow.
The stay at my sister’s was nice. Her home is beautiful and inviting. The girls warmed up to us pretty quickly (I was afraid they would be distant and shy with us since it had been so long since they’d seen us). My mother and sister managed to get along and there was no family drama. We were only there a couple of days so we just hung out.
We did drive out to Wakulla Springs on Sunday though and took the boat tour to see the alligators. That was a lot of fun and we had the incredible good fortune to have a group of Florida manatees swimming around that day in the springs. This is a rare occurrence and it was really a treat because this particular species of manatee is endangered and there are less than 3,000 left in the wild. We saw a group of five including a baby calf with it’s mother.
It was a good trip in general and the girls were a lot of fun. At least one of them was always at my side and they loved riding around in the Bug. I look forward to my next visit but I’ll go ahead and just take the plane!
Two book reviews in one!
I have been doing pretty well on my reading and have managed to get through two more books. Here is a mini-review of each one.
Ticktock by Dean Koontz was the first book by Koontz I had read and I must say his writing style is a bit cheesy. It’s overwritten I think. I’m not saying I’ll never read another Koontz but it will be awhile. As for the storyline, it was alright too. I did like the characters though and that is worth something. I think characters are the hardest part of the story to develop and Koontz seems to do well with his characterizations. I really don’t have much else to say about the book though.
The most recent book I finished was David Sedaris’ Naked. This is one of his earliest books and I really enjoyed it although I had a different impression of Sedaris coming into the book. His more recent writing, although still having a delightfully dark side is not as dark as the stories in this collection of autobiographical short stories. You see what a loser he was and what a dysfunctional background he had as he grew up and entered his college years. Voyeuristically fascinating and difficult to put down. Recommended reading for those of us who enjoy the dark side of humor and laugh at things we know we shouldn’t.
Book by a Blogger
My reading frenzy continues and I recently finished another book called Why Girls are Weird by Pamela Ribon. Pamela was a blogger and she took some of her on-line stories and created a cute romance around them. It was fun to read about a character who blogs and lives in Texas (the main character lived in Austin where the author lived for a while). Overall, a good, easy read with hilarious entries and anecdotes. There were some serious moments but Pamela’s writing makes you feel comfortable with the story’s ups and downs. Her characters are very believable and true to themselves so the whole story flows well. Recommended reading for my fellow bloggers!
I got through another book!
Ever since I didn’t renew my subscription to People magazine I’ve renewed my interest in reading actual books. Like I said in the past, I had gotten into the very bad habit of just reading magazines and my attention span had plummeted. Over the last two years my pile of “books to read” had gotten so high it was now two piles and an entire shelf on my bookcase in my office. I had stopped buying anything but reference books at the bookstore so as to not make it worse.
Lately though I found myself reading in the lunchroom instead of turning on the TV or going to bed with a book, reading a few more pages before turning out the lights for the night.
With that said, I am happy to say that I finished another book a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus by Brian Thacker is based on true stories of an Australian bus tour leader as he led groups of crazy college co-eds through Europe. The chapters are divided into the basic countries – The Netherlands, Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain – and he is a hilarious story-teller. Having experienced Europe in the summer on two different occasions while in college I recognized and agreed with many of his observations and experiences. It’s a great read for anyone and if you have back-packed Europe it will be extra special as you remember some of your own antics.
List for Paris
UPDATES BELOW…
We leave for Paris in less than a week and I’m getting ready – I’ve got a great expansion card for my Palm that I got for free through a special offer… I have a couple of books including one that came with ability to download it into my Palm as well and of course the book on Paris from my favorite travel series. I also have the Popout map series that I love to use when we travel. Plus we have The Unofficial Guide to Paris and a nifty Mapguide that partitions the city into maps that fold out with the most interesting sites listed.
Kenny also bought me a 1 GB compact flash card for my camera (he found one on sale with a rebate so it was super-cheap at under $50) . With that and the 512 MB card I already have, I should have plenty of room to get some good resolution shots. We are taking the laptop so I’ll be able to download them too. Kenny bought the converters we needed and we are set in the wardrobe department with some new light sweaters and some new scarves to keep us warm (it won’t snow but the forecast is rainy with a low in the mid 30’s F and a high in the mid 40’s F).
I am happy to report as well that my renewed passport arrived in the mail and my name is correct. Turnaround was quick too – it seems like it only took a month or so.
So, just for the sake of things, I thought I’d post my current things-to-do list:
- Meet Soluna and her boyfriend in person. We are still making plans but I really look forward to it! Her boyfriend couldn’t join us but we met up with Solene the afternoon before we left! We had a wonderful time!
- Go up the Eiffel Tower (I’ve been to see it, even had a picnic underneath it but I was a poor college student and too cheap to pay to go up). We made it up the very last evening we were in Paris and damn was it cold!!
- Find the infamous stairs in Montmartre. Did this 12/25!
- Check out the Buddha Bar (there is a great CD collection based on music played at this place so we thought we’d check it out in person). We never went because a) we ran out of energy and b) we couldn’t afford to really go out and drink $12 cocktails…
- Go up to see Sacre Coeur. Did this 12/25!
- Buy a cheap Eiffel Tower figurine, bring back a Christmas ornament for our tree and buy a print/sketch in Montmartre or Montparnasse for our travel-themed guest bedroom. Got all three of these things!
- Go to Le Grand Colbert for Christmas lunch – this was also the restaurant where Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholsan and Keanu Reeves dine at the end of Something’s Gotta Give. Mission accomplished.
- Consider going to Midnight Mass. We didn’t go to midnight mass per se but we did watch part of the service Christmas Eve at Notre Dame.
- Although I’ve been once before, I’d like to revisit Le Centre Pompidou since I am a fan of modern art and the exhibits constantly change here. Did this 12/26!
I’m skimming the guidebooks to see what else sounds interesting. We may or may not do all of the above but it’s the basics. Just a few more days away! Yay!
Updated 12/26: We tried to go the Catacombs as many of you suggested but they are closed till May 2005 for renovations. Oh well. We’ll go next time!
Bonjour de Paris!
Hi everyone! Just a quick bonjour from gray, chilly Paris. Kenny and I are having a great time strolling the city and enjoying the lights. I’ve gotten some great pictures too… 
Anyhoo, we are at an internet cafe near Le Jardin du Luxembourg and I don’t want to spend too many Euros in here so I’ll bid you adieu!
A bientot…
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