creeped out, bored + why dad is in 7th heaven

this past week, i finished two books – numbers thirteen and fourteen on the year. again, i was reading them simultaneously, and you will see why in just a moment.

on thursday, i finished sue grafton’s t is for trespass, part of the kinsey millhone series.

without a doubt, this was the BEST sue grafton i have read. i rate it ***1/2 (three point five stars). funny note, part i: i could only get this book in LARGE PRINT from the library. it was 564 pages long and the size of a door stop. but you sure feel like a speedreader when you can cover 100+ pages in a single day. funny note, part ii: this novel was a complete page turner, but one night i was trying to read it in bed, and i had to set it aside, that’s how much it was giving me the willies. and it was all because of the character of “solana” – she was freaking me out! so i had to stick to day-time reading.

this series is like reading a nancy drew: you know that everything will turn out all right in the end (as also evidenced by the fact that the next book is u is for undertow) but the plot totally hooked me, and i could not wait to see how things would turn out. the only disappointment was the last few pages – the story ends overly-dramatically.

then last night, i thankfully concluded the jane austen book club by susan joy fowler.

i will go on record as saying this was the most boring chick lit-genred novel i have ever read (i should have left it in the garbage room building lending library where i found it). tjabc was both a good and bad bedtime read: good because it made me want to sleep, bad because it took me way longer to finish than it should have, given the very few number of pages i could get through per night. the characters did not engage me (the most interesting of the mini-plots was the love triangle history of sylvia-jocelyn-daniel) and the writing style was flat. to be fair, if i was more familiar with jane austen’s works (i’ve only ever read pride and prejudice and that was at least twenty years ago) the austen comparisons might have meant more, and the novel may have been more interesting. this book gets a *1/2 (one point five star) rating. before reading the novel, i thought i had seen the movie version; now i don’t think i did! absolutely nothing sounded familiar! can’t say i am tempted to rush out and get the dvd!

next up: ready player one, on loan from sil ana. both she and the brother have read it, now it’s my turn! i’m looking forward to what i understand are prolific 80s references. and sticking to my two-books-at-once trend, i just this aft picked up u is for undertow at the library. time to get reading!

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if asked to name his favourite food, i know dad would reply, “french fries.” although, on second thought, maybe he would say apple pie…or mom’s scalloped potatoes??…ok, i guess i am not as sure of my response as i initially thought! anyway, i DO know fries would be right near the top of the list. take a look at what has been parked in uptown waterloo, right in the centre square, starting about a week ago:

(source)

[**important sidenote!!** sadly, this ^^ is NOT the exact truck to which i am referring! when i went to snap my pic this aft -> NO TRUCK. murphy’s law! so this is a CLOSE APPROXIMATION of the vehicle you will see in uptown waterloo square!].

needless to say, dad has already paid dave’s french fry truck a visit. his verdict? excellent! i have to laugh because whenever we talk about uptown waterloo plus food choices, dad emphatically states that uptown wat needs a fresh-cut fry truck (any other longtime residents remember when there WAS a bright blue fry truck, parked by the corner of william and king, way back in the late 80s, early 90s?!).

so far, it looks like the fry truck is getting a good flow of traffic up to its take-out window. locals, lmk if you check out dave’s fry truck and give me your opinion! (and don’t be surprised if you bump into dad!).

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on this weekend, way back in ’96, dad and i ran our first marathons in niagara falls. i remember so many details from that day – happy memories!

what are you reading RIGHT NOW?! and give your **** star rating, please!