P.S. Longer letter later

   While on my mini roadtrip yesterday, I listened to P.S. Longer Letter Later.  I'd read the book when it came out, but I had forgotten a lot of it in the interim.  There's so much melodrama!  unemployment! the first day of school! four bottles of vodka in the pantry! the clink of ice cubes in a glass as Elizabeth's father talks to Tara*Starr!  That's when I started laughing out loud.
   Last book read: still Princess of the Chalet School.

leaving town tonight!

   I'm leaving town in an hour or so.  I packed tiredly and hurriedly last night, so I don't have lots of books with me.  Just Head Girl of the Chalet School, Sayers's translation of the Inferno, Gaudy Night (I finished re-reading the last few pages today) and a journal or two.  I don't think that books on tape really count as books; if they did, I'd mention the audiobooks of Snail Mail No More and P.S. Longer Letter Later that I have in my bag.  These last are part of my ongoing mourning process for Paula Danziger.  Funny, because she is by no means my favorite author.  Like Judy Blume, she has recurring themes and writing habits that irritate me.  But I read (and re-read) Danziger so much as a teen, that I feel the need to mourn her now.
   Last book read: Princess of the Chalet School.  Aside from the irritating obligatory rescue, it's not bad.

Oh to be in Oxford

I was listening to Sayers's Gaudy Night on tape, but the darned tape kept fading out.  So now I am reading it.   The whole reason I was listening to it was because it's hard to find good music on the radio.  So I tried Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs on tape, and it's not very well-read.  *And* it's abridged.  Grrr.
I've read Gaudy Night before - I've read all the Wimsey books, except the newest Paton Walsh fanfic.  I'm finishing A Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermer right now, and it's reminiscent of Gaudy Night ("Once, I was a scholar").
Last book read: I re-read A College of Magics, as a warm-up to Scholar of Magics.   Caroline Stevermer doesn't get enough attention; she's a really sound author.

I'm a swallow!

Check out http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/1282/ if you'd like to find out your patronus (from Harry Potter). Mine's a swallow, which is odd because I really like swallows. I don't know that a swallow would be much use, though I think swallows swoop around in Tamora Pierce books (the ones about Daine), poking people in the eye and such. Hmmm.
Also the Swallows are much more interesting than the Amazons in Ransome's books. Nancy's way too bossy for my tastes. I think that's because I started with _Winter Holiday_, when Nancy's housebound with mumps but tries to run the show anyway. I kept thinking, "who the hell does she think she is?" and in the event, Peggy and the Swallows and the Ds had a fine time without her.
Last book read: The Insiders by J. Minter. I'd picked up the advance copy because Cecily von Ziegesar had a blurb on the cover. It's the same kind of book. I liked it more than I thought I would.

VVV

I read Carolyn Mackler's new book, Vegan Virgin Valentine, over the weekend. I didn't like it as much as I'd liked The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. What's with all these new books about overachieving high school girls? When I read Mackler's book, I might as well have been reading Laurie Halse Anderson's recent book Catalyst.
Last book read: Beyond the Dance: A Ballerina's Life by Chan Hon Goh. I didn't know much about her before I read the book, but I enjoyed the book.