Super Secret Guilty Reading Pleasures.

I have a theory that everyone has some sort of guilty pleasure reading. There's always a scale of how guilty a pleasure it is - something you fess up to openly, to close friends and to nobody. So, in light of full disclosure, here are my top 5 guilty pleasure books, authors or series:


1. Spider Robinson: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. This book was publishes in 1997, and found it I believe in about 1999. I was still in high school, and seeing how it's set in a bar I have no idea how I managed to find it. I LOVED it - my copy of it is pretty much destroyed, it's been with me for every move, and it's still my go-to novel to read when I want a laugh. Not only is Spider one of my favourite authors ever, as is almost everything he wrote, this book set the tone for why I love Sci-fi.






2. Tanya Huff's Wizard of the Grove is a compilation of 2 of her novels, and is the first of her many series I've picked up over the years. I love this book - I got it about the same time I got Callahan and it's why to this day I have a bad habit of fantasy books. I proceeded to read almost every series she's written, and not only have I loved them, but everyone I've recommended them to has loved them too!









3. David Eddings - pretty much everything. Yeah, I'm one of those people. I read the series backwards, starting with Polgara the Sorceress, and then read most of what he's written (except the Elder Gods series, for which I have no actual good reason to not have read. I got this book the same time I got Wizard of the Grove, and I loved it. I love everything he's written - his writing defines my relationship with one of my closes friends, it's what kept us in contact for years.




4. I'm going to cheat for this one. #4 is urban fantasy - from Jim Butcher to Seanan McGuire right now when I want mindless fun this is the genre that I look to for for something that will make me laugh. It took me forever to go here - I was a traditionalist when it came to sci-fi/fantasy for years. I'll admit I was a snob about what I read, and what I read was the classics: Heinlin, Lackey and the like were who I looked towards. Now, I've broadened my horizons!






5. J.D Robb's In Death series. Yeah. I'm going there. I love this series. Of ALL the things, I started reading it with my mom as a bit of mindless fluff when we needed something entertaining for a trip to Mexico a solid 10 years ago. Mildly inappropriate? Perhaps. But to this day I can't wait to buy the latest copy of this futuristic NOT ROMANCE romance series.







Bonus! Clive Cussler. When I first started dating my boyfriend, we started talking about favourite series. I told him what I liked, in a rare fist few dates bout of honesty, he gave me the weirdest look and then lent me Raising the Titanic. I was baffled. I tell him my secret reading is fantasy, and he hands me a thriller? I LOVED it. Finding out it was a movie? I will watch that movie anytime, anywhere - even if it's horribly not true to book form. I love this series (and I love more Clive Cussler is that much of a lunatic in real life.

Jillian, Jillian Jillian Jiggs

Summary: No one can keep up with Jillian Jiggs. With boundless energy and imagination, Jillian rushes from game to game. One minute she''s a robot, the next minute she''s a tree. How can she take time to clean up her room when there are so many wonderful things to make and do? No one knows what Jillian will think of next- especially not her mother!


Why I recommend it: I Loved this book when I was a kid. Loved. I remember Jillian Jiggs and her pigs. It's funny, endearing, and memorable. Read it, you'll love it.

To a new year (sort of, not really) and summers past.

I don't know if it's because the majority of my life has been spent in school, or working with kids IN school, but I've always felt that September is the new year - not January. So, here's looking back at some of my summers.

I've had some pretty amazing summer jobs. My first ones in high school were at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Arts Alive! day camp & a few other arts camps. In university, I also lucked out - I ran my own company for a summer selling fair trade bags made of recycled materials, went on an archaeology dig in Italy then went to China. After I went to China, I was faced again with needing a summer job, but living in Waterloo meant most of the summer jobs there were already taken by local students who didn't go learn Mandarin & Chinese history for a summer.

In a mild fit of panic, in my last week in China I applied to a job at a summer camp in Waterloo, the day of my flight home I confirmed that later the day I landed I had an interview for the job. I wasn't entirely sure what I was thinking, but I stumbled off the plane, explained to my mom I needed a shower and a ride, and went to the interview. I remember having the interview, and at the end of it, looking at my (future) boss and telling her "Look. I just got off a 18 hour flight. I'm a little bit crazy, but I love working with kids, I love art & I promise I'm usually more coherent". Turns out, that's what got me the job.

That's kind of how I feel right now - like I just got off a plane and am looking for that one right job. It's almost perfect timing: Autumn, new year, new job is coming, and the weather is getting cooler.



So, here's to Autumn.

The Immortals Series

Summary: The Immortals quartet, by Tamora Pierce, is the story of Veralidaine Sarrasri (known as Daine), an orphan with an unusual talent: she can speak with animals. Veralidaine (Daine) Sarrasri who was orphaned when raiders attacked her village. Daine has an unusual (and extremely strong) gift of wild magic which is mistaken as insanity because she is unable to control it . Though convinced she has no magical Gift, it is discovered that she has 'wild magic' - a magic that is not uncommon, but for some reason is a disregarded branch of magic. What is rare is the amount of it that Daine possesses, and what she is able to do with it. This magic gives her a unique connection with animals. Her abilities manifest gradually throughout the series, allowing her first to speak with animals, to heal their injuries and eventually to shape-shift into animal forms. The series covers a timespan of four years, following Daine as she learns to communicate with humans, animals and Immortals.


Why I recommend it: This is arguably the best series for teenage girls ever written. Daine is identifiable, courageous and entertaining. Most of my friends read this growing up, and each of them had the same reaction I did - to this day we still re-read it, and name it as the best series we ever read. The covers change, but the series is always more then worth a read. Every one of Tamora Pierce's series is well worth a read, but start with this one - no matter how old you are!

SHHHHH.

Danger in the Painting Field

"Meanwhile, in the painting field, Old Witch laughed her "heh-hehs" and "he-he-hes" while swooping here and there, picking up egg after egg (rocks) and ravenously swallowing them whole, eating them as appetizers for the real feast to come - rabbits!"

Shortening up a lot of moving, I spent most of my childhood in Stratford, and most of my time there was spent at the library. I remember getting books on tape for trips (remember when books came with a book AND a tape? in the plastic bag with a handle? yeah. awesome), I remember story time, I remember getting so excited on friday night when I got to take home a movie and I remember going through the children's section for HOURS for a new few books to take home and begging my mom to take just one more book home. I also remember loving certain books, and taking them out again and again and again, a trait that's continued on to this day.


The Witch Family, by Eleanor Estes was one of those books. I LOVED this book. I remember reading it so many times, mom caved and bought it for me (though, I'm not sure it was caving, books weren't a present in my house, they were a fact) and I read it again and again and again. I forgot the name of the book for years, and on a whim Googled "Witches on a glass hill" and found the book today. I was shocked at how many people were looking for the same book - for the past 35 odd years, people have loved this book.

I'm not going to lie - I just bought it again.

""May I go down tonight?" asked the little witch girl. "please, please, please say yes. I'd love to be seen on my broomstick in the light of the moon."

Barbet Fanciers Picnic!

I skitzed out, and forgot to use my camera I very carefully remembered to bring. So many thanks to Judy Preston who took the pictures I'm posting!

A lot of time at the River

I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm right on a river, with a lovely trail, and a 5 month old puppy who's SUCH a good boy off leash!

Where I'm going, where I've been.

My mom's in NYC for the week - she grew up there and can only handle staying away for so long. So, I'm house-sitting. More exactly, cat-sitting, but that's semantics. It's strange being in the house I grew up in (from grade 9-12, but still) alone. I went from having an amazing job at a huge grocery chain's head office, to nothing when my boss quit and the company threw me under the bus in... punishment? I don't know. After he left, it was awful - weeks of not doing anything, sitting at my desk and listening to people whisper about me.

The point is, when I left the company, I was faced again with What do I want to do with my life. I was never sold on a corporate job - I fell into the position with extreme luck, and was fortunate enough to have an amazing boss who taught me a huge amount in a short short time. When that finished, I don't know if there's much in that world for me. What I DO know is there there's a lot outside that world for me. When I was there, I missed everything I loved about the information field - working with people, different people to solve every changing and dynamic problems, answer fun, intriguing, interesting and complex questions, meeting new people and most importantly, helping people find what they need.

Coming to Waterloo, to mom's (sometimes) dark and scary (usually) peaceful and beautiful acre on the river helped me get my priorities in line. I applied for a job in Edmonton, and withdrew my application. I'm not ready to leave and go west to the different and unknown. I think I wouldn't mind it, but I think I'd rather go back out East if I have to move, but really I'd rather stay in Ontario - anywhere in Ontario. I'm ready for another adventure, and I'm ready to figure out exactly what it is that I want out of life. My feelings about living in Toronto are generally complicated. I love this city, it's where I was born, raised on and off, and where I came back to. I love the people, the feeling, and the energy. But I do miss the quiet. I love my field, I just need to figure out what I love the most about it - what my niche is, and where in it I belong. I miss working in the community, and being part of a community. I don't like I can't volunteer because I don't want to make a commitment that I might have to break.

So, here's to not knowing what you want, not knowing where and how to find it, but knowing that you will.

You would almost think it's different dogs...

Water Dog in Water:


Water Dog on Land: