2001-11-12~~2:39 p.m.
Ring of Fire -> Angela's Ashes
I need to build a ring of fire... What? Fall is here already? So soon? I have to admit, I have been in denial that summer is actually over. All this unseasonably warm weather in conjunction with my unemployed/nonstudent status has made me believe that summer vacation was extended this year, just for me! But I have been jerked out of my reverie, it seems, as about an inch of rain has fallen over the past couple of days. I'm a little upset that I am at work right now, when I could be home, cozy on my couch with my boyfriend, who claimed veteran status today and somehow weaseled a day off. I did have lunch with him and he made me Mexican hot chocolate (which is SOOO yummy and easy to make and if you haven't had it before, you should see about doing that before you die) and I squeezed in the 1:00 episode of "Blind Date" just in time to have to come back to work. :( It was like a teaser "rainy day off curled up with a book" for me except that I already get two of those a week, unless it doesn't rain and then they're just days off, and usually I'm curled up with the remote or my laptop. But whatever. I like to pretend. So I finally vowed to leave "Angela's Ashes" behind and to begin a new book. See, here's what I've figured out about myself: Lauren loves to read as long as she's on a role. All last year, I was devouring books like there was no tomorrow...and partly as an escape from reading too many books with short stories in them with subtitles like "Fear v. Loathing" and "Lauren v. Law School." Oprah was my woman. I let her pick my selections (and I know some of you may think this is just because I watch too much Oprah, but really, it's just because I'm lame at picking good books, so I'd rather let someone else do it for me) and usually she did an okay job. Then, I ventured out on my own over the summer, and decided to try the Pulitzer Prize winning "Angela's Ashes". That was in July. I got about 1/3 of the way through and stopped before I committed suicide. And you would think that I could just say "Well, there's one I won't recommend to my friends...I'll just get another one started." But no. As I am with anything, I hate quitting a job halfway. I've never been one to ditch a bad book...an attitude which has fated me to plow my way through many a bad novel...i.e. the unabridged version of "David Copperfield" in 9th grade....but at least that earned me an A in English. Anyway, here I am 9 (yikes!) years later doing the same thing. Convincing myself that my novel of choice WILL get better...in this case, someday when the loser dad stops drinking all the family's money away and Frank McCourt's siblings stop dying. I guess I assumed there was nowhere for "Angela" to go except up! However, I just can't do it. So last night, I started "Cane River" which I gather will be sort of soap opera-ish but with a slavery/Deep South twist. Yay! So I'm going back to Oprah after a brief hiatus. I guess "Angela" was the Harpo demon getting back at me for my being a Judas toward Oprah's Book Club. Hmm. I should have known Oprah had enough money to hire demons in disguise like that...
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