You know it’s getting close to Autumn when Carl issues his RIP Challenge! This is the third year I’ve participated and I pretty much chose the easy route this year; reading two books (Peril the Second, as it’s called). My first book is: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (published 2008, fiction, 576 pages, ISBN-10: 0061374229 & ISBN-13: 978-0061374227)

The book was reviewed better than I ever could by the amazing Stephen King:

“I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Dog-lovers in particular will be riveted by this story, because the canine world has never been explored with such imagination or emotional resonance. Yet in the end, this isn’t a novel about dogs or heartland America — although it is a deeply American work of literature. It’s a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. Yet in the person of Edgar Sawtelle, a mute boy who takes three of his dogs on a brave and dangerous odyssey, Wroblewski does articulate them, and splendidly. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It’s over, you think, and I won’t read another one this good for a long, long time. [me: Oh, so very true!!!]
In truth, there has never been a book quite like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I thought of Hamlet when I was reading it (of course… and in this version, Ophelia turns out to be a dog named Almondine), and Watership Down, and The Night of the Hunter, and The Life of Pi — but halfway through, I put all comparisons aside and let it just be itself.
I’m pretty sure this book is going to be a bestseller, but unlike some, it deserves to be. It’s also going to be the subject of a great many reading groups, and when the members take up Edgar, I think they will be apt to stick to the book and forget the neighborhood gossip.
Wonderful, mysterious, long and satisfying: readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip. I don’t reread many books, because life is too short. I will be rereading this one.”

My comments: I had heard absolutely nothing about this book when I walked into the local Barnes and Noble with my friend Michelle, who pointed it out to me and said, “I think that’s a book you’d like.” and as usual, she was quite right. This is an absolutely amazing first novel; part ghost story, part gut-wrenching drama, I absolutely could not put it down! Oh, how I envy those of you that haven’t read this yet; you are in for an amazing ride. As stated in the Kirkus Reviews: “The story takes Jungle Book-ish turns…It resolves, however, in ways that will satisfy grown-up readers.”

Keep the tissues handy…

You can read the first chapter here and even better, there’s an excerpt about the dog named Almondine here at the author’s website. And if you’d like to see what other folks are reading for this challenge, click here

When I got back from Pat’s on Sunday, I was treated, in addition to thunder and lightning, some wild wind! I like to keep my bedroom window open a bit, and I could hear all the really big trees in the back yard; their branches were whipping back and forth. Something so calming about that sound.

I bought a new duvet cover (Wolf dug a hole in the last one, lil bastid) and I washed, dryed and put the comforter inside it. Oh, man, is it soft!!! It’s a brown paisley design, I’ll take a picture of it. Came with two shams, too. Nothing like sinking into bed with a good book.

Speaking of books, I finished Colleen Gleason’s newest one, Bleeding Dusk, this morning. Great book, there were a couple of big surprises; overall, I enjoyed it very much.

I’ve been having fun with my One Object-365 Days project over on flickr. My one object is one of my poppets, of course, the skeleton one LOL! I even took him to Pat’s this weekend, after forgetting him at work last weekend.

As for the weather, we’re expecting snow today at rush hour. I’m bummed out about that, as 1) I was looking forward to dinner with Michelle, and 2) I’m so sick of the snow and cold. I can’t wait til springtime; barring that, I’m taking a trip to Florida in March for a few days and I know that’ll warm me up.

That’s it!

Oh, I did want to thank Knittymuggins, aka Maryanne, so very much for the beautiful fingerless mitts she made and sent me (I badgered her incessantly!!!).

Aren’t they gorgeous?

She’s a talented knitter and a very nice person. She also sent me a cool button, not knowing I collect them, so I put it up in my car with the rest of my beloved buttons:

it’s the one with the knife!

First of all, if you’re so inclined click here to go play What Is It Wednesday…

Secondly, I’ve been living on these cough drops for a week now.

Isn’t it pretty? It’s the original Ricola formula.

Laura and my boss convinced me to go to the walk in clinic last night. The doctor I saw (after only an hour and a half) said oh, it’s just a bad cold, here’s some cough syrup and some nasal spray and just wait it out. Which is what I’ve been doing. He checked my lungs, bp, ears, nose, etc. So…I’m waiting it out. Took Nyquil last night instead of the cough syrup he prescribed because I KNOW that stuff’ll knock me out and I needed some sleep. The previous two nights, I’d been waking up every hour, coughing my brains (and I can’t spare any!) out. Last night, it was great…only woke myself up twice and fell right back to sleep! I did have a REALLY weird dream, which I won’t go into, but feel free to ask about if you want to know. So today, I have a Nyquil hangover. Also, yesterday, since this “cold” has pretty much taken away my appetite (not to mention my sense of smell!), all I had to eat was some melba toast, pb and one slice of pizza for dinner. My stomach is growling right now, but I don’t feel hungry, if that makes sense. Excuse me while I try not to cough.

Ok, lastly, I finished Duma Key last night. A very looooong book, a very scary book and well worth reading, if you like Stephen King. He mentioned things in there that made me think of LOTR, The Stand (Mother Abigail in particular) and ahhhh, warmth and the beach. A girl can dream, you know? Heck, he even mentioned vampires! Woohoo!