Reading plan update

So out of the 8 books that I've picked out to read for my chick lit reading plan, I've only managed to read 2 so far. All my reading time seems to have disappeared into wedding plans, my fiance, and facebook. Not that I'm complaining about the wedding plans or the fiance. Oh, and all the other books I'm suppose to read for work but can't read on work time. But never mind that.

The books I've managed to read are Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding and Bookends by Jane Green. Bridget Jones was what I expected from chick lit. A single 20-30 something looking for love and dealing with parents, jobs, and the single scene. There are a couple of possible love interests, one is a player and one is not, and you wonder if Bridget will get the right guy. But of course she does in the end.

Bookends was not so typical. Cath is a single in the city, but she's not looking for love. She has her best friend, Simon, and a group of other best friends that she's been with since college. What more does she need? James is an artist who doubles as a real estate agent and is obviously interested in her. They would have gotten together sooner if not for all the Drama happening in her friends' lives. This book started out as a fun light read, until the Drama happens. The abrupt change of tone was a bit jarring and completely unexpected. It tries to get back to being light and fun after, but it doesn't quit succeed. Considering the nature of the Drama, its possible it wasn't suppose to.

Overall I give both books 3 stars. No, I take that back, Bookends gets an extra 1/4 of a star for mentioning the TARDIS.

Cats and Ladders

Over the past couple of days Mark and I have been trying to fix my accent wall. A seal near the chimney became unsealed and water would run down the wall every time it rained. So its taken some time, but the sealed is resealed and we've now got supplies to make the wall look better. One of the supplies is a ladder. This morning Max decided to explore the ladder.

Max has always been a climber.

Sleeplessness

All week I've been waking up in the middle of night, with no idea why. I think this was all in preparation for what I experienced last night -- a 4 AM FIRE ALARM!

Don't panic, there was no fire. The alarms simply went off, and off, and off. Even though the fire department is only 2 minutes away, it took them over 20 to show up. Apparently the company that monitors our alarm system did not notify the fire department when the alarm went off. They didn't have a clue that anything was happening until a neighbor called them. Good thing it wasn't a real fire, eh?

After about an hour of standing around outside, talking to my neighbors, the firemen, and the police, the alarms finally got turned off and we all got to go back to bed. But my mind wasn't ready to forget about the false alarm. I dreamed I was still outside, waiting. But it was okay because David Tennant was there to entertain me.

Wildlife on the River

Yesterday Mark and I took a stroll along the Riverwalk. People say that the Riverwalk is a major tourist attraction, but we disagree. We think its a convenient place for tourists because part of it is downtown amid the hotels and restaurants and the mall. So its something nice for out-of-towners, but its not something that people travel here for specifically, like Sea World or the Alamo.

We started at the mall and went north for a couple of miles and then circled around and went south, ending up in the King William district, before we headed back to our starting point. We saw several birds that we could not identify. One was crane-like, with a long body and legs, but black with a shorter bill. The other was red, with a face like a cardinal, but with black wings. Unfortunately, neither one of us remembered to bring a camera.

Other spotted "wildlife" included a cat, two dogs, multiple pigeons, sparrows and grackles, and, my favorite, a river snake. Which was actually swimming.

Young Women's Surprise

Tonight at Young Womens we had a lesson on positive attributes. Sister H. told stories about girls who were alternately picked on and ignored by their peers and what it did to their self-esteem and self-image. Afterward we passed out paper leaves for the girls to write positive things about each other on, which we then attached to silk flowers. So at the end of the night each girl had a bouquet of flowers that said good things about them. Because we didn't know how many girls would come, we ended up having extra leaves and flowers. One girl, who is kind of quiet, asked if she could use the extra leaves to write something for us. All the other girls got in on it too, so Sister H and I got to go home with a pocketful of leaves telling us nice things about ourselves, just like all the girls did.

The girl who started it is so sweet and nice. She is always giving the class massages, usually during class, and she looks out for others. It'll be fun to watch her grow up.

Self-check out as a Family Affair

At the library we have self-check out machines so people don't have to wait in line to check out their books. They can do it themselves. Today a family gathered around the machine with their library cards and books. The mother scanned the card. The youngest put a book on the scanner. When it scanned, the oldest picked up the book and gave it to their dad. After all their books were checked out, the middle child took the receipt. So everyone got to do something.

The Reading Plan Plan

After browsing through several librarian Reader's Advisory books and guides, and asking people about what they're reading, and taking RA tests, I've discovered that my worst genre is the Action Adventure/Thriller. But, after last years Suspense/Thriller plan, I'm tired of the thriller genre. So I'm going with something lighter and doing Chic Lit.

Here are my selections:

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding - a classic in chic lit

Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner - I've read good reviews for this

Bookends by Jane Green - it has "book" in the title

Do you have any chic lit favorites that I should read?