stacks and stacks.

Listening To: Winter by Joshua Radin
Line Obsession: "Shortly after the three o'clock bell, Kiki Strike emerged from the building and walked briskly down the path that lead to the gate. Wearing a military-style coat that reached down to her ankles and a Cossack hat of the blackest fur, she looked as dangerous as anyone under five feet could." - from Kirsten Miller's Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City {Which is enchanting, fun, full of wonderful characters and currently only $3 on Amazon. Love this Vanity Fair review: "If Harry Potter lived in New York City, he'd have a mad crush on 14-year-old Kiki Strike."

The clean part of my nightstand.

I have company coming over this weekend so that means I'm cleaning like a mad woman, trying to cram various piles of junk into various closets in such a way that the closet doors don't bulge.

... Is that too much honesty?

This is the sort of company who doesn't mind the occasional dust bunny ( ... or .. uh ... dust antelope) pouncing across my floor. But sometimes I think it's probably good to knock the cobwebs off the broom and try to remember how the vacuum cleaner works and so on.

Maybe it's because I'm in a cleaning state of mind, but today I looked at my nightstand and realized that maybe, just maybe ... I have a problem:

Why can't I just finish one before I start another?

Eventually one book hooks me and I push the others aside to finish it. But my reading habits are very akin to channel surfing. Not sure that's a good thing.

Speaking of books, I'll be reviewing one of my favorite new novels next week. I'll probably start on Wednesday, because there's an interview and a swanky giveaway attached. I'll break it all up over next weekend, so you get a chance to comment. I know some people like surprises. So I'm not going to tell you who I'm interviewing.

But I will give you a clue: the author's name starts with J and ends with Enny B. Jones.

And her newest book is funny and sweet and romantic and and atmospheric. And it resonated so hard against my heart. It's the sort of book I had to take a big deep breath over after I finished reading. Beautiful story. I can't wait to talk about it.


And her interview is incredible/hilarious too. I think you'll love it a bunch.


If you've read The Mystery Book already, or you get a chance to read it this week, I hope you'll stop back by and fire up the comments with your thoughts. I would love to start a discussion about it! It will be like a bookclub except we can't share snacks. That would be a great feature on a Mac though, wouldn't it? I could just think up a snack, type in the name of it, and it would appear in front of you? Sort of like how the White Witch gave Edmund some Turkish Delight? (... or maybe that's a bad example ...). (Tangent: have you tried Turkish Delight? Can you believe Edmund ratted out his sibs for that? I mean, Samoas? Would be understandable. Birthday Cake Oreos? Totally. But Turkish Delight ... that's not a viable trade. Unless real Turkish Delight tastes very different than the kind I tried from TJ Maxx.)

I'm going to send my White Witch Snack App idea to Apple. Also, I would like a Jedi Mindtricks
app.


*waves hand in slow arching motion* Slow Driver, you will move out of the fast lane so that I can drive there. 


*waves hand in slow arching motion* Julian Fellows, you will write season 3 of Downton Abbey by next week. So that I can watch it by next month. Because January 2013?!?! 

Feel like ending the week with some adorable? Biscuit can help with that.

Does your nightstand pile of books look rather tower-esc as well? What are you reading these days? Happy Weekending to you!