i am very busy. or rather, i have a lot to do. i need to do school things, and i need to do home things, and i need to do some extra-curricular things that i've picked up along the way (i.e., a research assistantship and a project for My Judge).

This post, however, is about none of those things.

It's about books. Fiction books.

I just listened to another audio book while working out and cycling to and from school. It was "Ya Yas in Bloom" - the third book in the whole Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood group. I read the first one years and years ago. The second one, about a year later. I would say that was at least five years ago.

I was really nervous that after the Cloud Atlas experience, I would find the new Ya Yas to be rather trite, and mind numbingly inane.

Not the case. It was wonderful. The person who read the book had a wonderful voice/accent (the books are set in central Louisiana) for the characters, and i was lost to it within the first 2 minutes. All of the characters came rushing back immediately. For those who do not know the stories, the Ya Ya books are a very odd mix of family goodness and family badness. The goodness is about fun and bonds and comfort and laughter. The badness is about alcoholism, Catholocism and abuse like you wouldn't believe. In some places, it was downright hard to stomach.

But this third one was all the good, and none of the bad (I swear to god, that sentence was just in my head with a southern accent ... as was THIS one). It made me tear up on several ocassions - all from a severe case of the warm fuzzies, not from sadness. I laughed out loud more times than i can count while riding the bike and sweating like mad on the treadmill.

It was fun, but now it's over, and I need to find something new to entertain myself during these "down times" that I have.

In other make-believe land news - I have been re-reading the Mists of Avalon at bed time, which I read with my mother the year that Thing One was born. She was home (in CT) stuck in bed after back surgery, and I was home (in CA) with my newborn and her non-existent father, and we decided to read this together. This book is the most ringing endorsement for Paganism that I'd ever read in my life, and it's very odd to remember that mom and I read it at the same time.

in real world news -- i am right now typing up some Fed Courts notes (not exactly outlining yet), and doing laundry. I am also staining those shelves we bought for my bathroom. I will shortly go for a quick bike ride to pick up some potting soil for new plants beloved and i bought on sunday, and planters for some flowers the girls set up before they left. then i will come back home, and do more school work.

posted by Zuska @ 2:22 PM

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