Books, Canada and Cats

I've read some tolerable, and some terrible books lately. But hey, at least I’m reading. Let's start from the top:

Finished Bossypants, and I'm sorry to report that I was just as disappointed as my friend who told me it was disappointing. I'm not sure that, after reading, I gained any more insight into whom Tina Fey actually is than I could have gotten from wikipedia. I didn't mind that she didn't want to go into the story of her scar, which is the apparent result of a crazed man who slashed her as a kid. What I minded was that she started out by telling me that she was most definitely NOT going to go there. And then she didn't really go anywhere after that.

I can respect her need to maintain some modicum of personal privacy, but the result was a bundle of thin pages. Some anecdotes, some jokes, a lot about her neuroses, and then the book just sort of fizzled, as if after a month or two of plugging old stories together, she finnaaally managed to meet her minimum word quota and walk away.

Sadly, I gleaned more enjoyment from a silly book about a woman who falls in love with Vlad the Impaler, and an even sillier (if possible) book about a woman who realizes she is a witch when a "fetching spell" rips her from her online grocery shopping into a magical community in Berkeley, Calif.

And about a month ago, I picked up an inspirational little book called "What I know Now: Letters to My Younger Self.” It’s a nice addition to the coffee table, and rather validating to hear from a selection of established writers and successful businesswomen who were counseling themselves at about my age. Even though I may not follow advice that I probably should--at least I'm not the only one who hasn’t. And these ladies, without listening to their own advice, are now just fine. Yeah, maybe that’s not supposed to be the takeaway from the book, but they're in there because they came out on top, right? I’m glad to know some of their struggles are my own.

Which brings me to Canada. This was a vacation where everything was going wrong. There were booking troubles, and then weather troubles, and I found myself walking around alone in the rain for two days. A month later, I'm glad I went, though. I could have canceled and counted my losses, but I didn't. Instead, I ate a juicy bison burger on the last day of the trip with my Dad, in a restaurant with a front row view of Niagara Falls. That's a memory I'll always have. 

And finally, because it has been a while since I’ve blogged, I will end with a picture of dear Seessel. I am switching him over to adult food because I think the kitten chow is encouraging his obesity, but he will always be a teacup in my heart.