why yes, we ARE curmudgeons

I was trying to tell eor about how complicated the rules for this year's Bujold Fanfiction & Fanart Fest seem to be, but he didn't think it was so difficult to understand. "Those are rules. There have to be rules."

"Let me put it this way," I said, "Is this more difficult than 'all of your liquids have to be in 3.4oz containers or smaller and all of those containers have to be in one clear quart plastic bag'?"

"Let ME put it this way! These are people who are assumed to read!"

"Ah yes. The Public In General only reads, what, three times a year, on average? And those are street signs, presumably."

"Or something that involves Spot."

books

24) "The Host" Stephanie Meyer - I didn't realize when I started reading this that this is the same author which I read a review of another of her books a few weeks back by anima_mecanique, which basically can be summed up as "This was published? What was anyone thinking?" Actually, The Host had a few neat points. It's set after the invasion of Earth by creepy alien bugs which take over people's bodies, but it's from the point of view of one of the creepy alien bugs. :) The execution leaves something to be desired, though. It feels a lot like it was written by a 17 year old (she's not) - emotions are not given any weight unless the characters reactions are ridiculously overblown, and there's a whole ton of angst about how the story will end when she's telegraphed the happy ending from the beginning of the book. I think the intent is that the reader can figure out the solution and feel smarter than the main character, but it's a little too obvious and makes it look like the main character is more than a little stupid.

25) "Jane and the Man of the Cloth (being the second Jane Austen Mystery)" - Stephanie Barron (sequel to Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor) - am still reading this, actually, and enjoying it a lot; especially the footnotes. :) But I think I have the good guy and bad guy pegged...

(I listed "Daughter of the Forest" as number 23, and I still haven't finished it, because I got all these other loaners thrown at me, but I'll just leave it there - I WILL get back to it. Eventually.)

pics of hair on flickr

severe expression
( crazy ass big picture of me, sorry. )

We forgot about taking pics outdoors during daylight.