I wish everyone who has a good relationship with their father is great holiday.

Won't go that way for me because we're estranged in pretty much every sense of the word except, y'know, the word itself. I reluctantly agreed to go to dinner along with two of my siblings, provided we're not eating out. No restaurants for a while unless it's takeout.

Anybody read any good books lately? I just started Honor Among Thieves and I absolutely love it. This is exactly the sort of sci-fi I adore, big concepts and wonder, but on a small, bite-sized scale as the hero/heroine deals with their inner struggles.

I stumbled across a book title that got me really, really excited: The Heroine's Bookshelf: Life Lessons from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder. ZOMG. Laura Ingalls Wilder shaped my girlhood, and Jane Austen shaped my teen years. Must. Read. This. Book.

But when I actually started reading it today, I didn't get far before I lost patience.

And nowhere is Lizzy's raucus, flawed, and decided sense of self more clear or more enticing than in the moments in which she does the exact opposite of what she is expected to do.

A nice thought, except raucus? Raucus, as in harsh or rough? (I looked up Wiktionary's definition, just to make sure I remembered the meaning right.) Raucus and Miss Lizzy in the same sentence? Wow, which version of Pride and Prejudice have I been reading? I'm sorry, but Elizabeth Bennet is not raucus, nor are her manners. Nor, even, is her "sense of self" as a connoisseur of human folly.

Reading further, the intense admiration for Austen is adorable, but the constant harping on self and sense of self drove me nuts. Is it really so hard to figure out who you are and who you want to be? It must be for some, though that's kinda hard for me to relate. For me, the hard part is letting other people figure out who you really are, because that requires a lot of trust.

I think I'll just curl up in a corner and cry. What a gorgeous, lavish, heartbreaking book. It'll take a few days just to soak everything up, short book thought it is.

Stolen from rhoda_rants.

1. Favourite childhood book?
Little House in the Big Woods. To put it simply, Laura Ingalls Wilder shaped my character growing up. I am only obsessed with all things old-fashioned because I read and re-read her books till they were falling apart. I also think I owe my love of stories and story-telling to her, because I actually made up extra stories about Laura, before I even knew what fanfiction was. :)

2. What are you reading right now?
Snippets of Pride and Prejudice and The Hobbit, as well as The Midnight Disease by Alice W. Flaherty and various books on ancient Persia and writing YA.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Nothing right now.

( More of my rambling . . . )