Dude, Where's My Attention Span?

Brought to you in list form for the extremely attention span deficient.

- I've lost my attention span, and I can't seem to concentrate long enough to go looking for it. I'm hoping it will come back when I stop being busy all the frickin' time.

- I don't really like working full time. It's a real time suck. I do, however, rather enjoy the bigger numbers on my paycheck. A quandary, really. Especially during the busy holiday season when I could really use the big numbers but could also really use an extra hour or two. And no, my attention span doesn't attend work with me either, which is not good. If you see it, could you send it back?


- I read this other YA book a few weeks back, before Twilight. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. I don't even quite know how to talk about it. I almost quit halfway through but was persuaded by the rather high rating on Library Thing and its shortness to persevere, and I liked it. It's a sweet little love story of two boys. The writing? A little bit quirky and quite absorbing. The love story? Great. Actually, the first time Noah and Paul go out, or I should say, stay in, would make a powerfully great short story. The weird not quite alternate universe peppered with things like a tranny homecoming queen/football quarterback, cheerleaders who ride motorcycles into the pep rally, and generally accepted homosexuality except for the one kid with the religious parents? This didn't work for me. I mean, here we've got this world that Levithan has created where pretty much everybody is cool with whatever sort of sexual preference you, um, prefer, but then there's this random rather important character whose intolerant parents won't let him be who he is. Somehow, it just doesn't seem to fit. Why is everybody cool about this kind of thing except for this kid's parents? If Levithan had totally tweaked reality and went the whole hog on this, I think I would have been okay with it, but there's this old-fashioned leftover from really real reality (did you follow that? I'm not sure I did) that kind of messes the whole thing up. Sure, let's envision an enlightened sort of life where everybody is free to be who they are and like who they like, that's swell, but if we're going to do that shouldn't we leave the "past" behind? There was just something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. Oh well. I liked the book, really, I did. It was a sweet story and once I managed to get over my issues with Levithan's slightly alternate reality, I did find the story quite enjoyable and that characters quite lovable.


- So I joined this book group with some people from church - actually it's more of literature group. We're reading A Christmas Carol. I have managed a sum total of 46 pages of this since I finished Twilight, and, uh, nothing else. I'm enjoying it, but have I mentioned that I have no attention span to speak of? Next up I have to decide if I have it in me to tackled Crime and Punishment....again. I'm hoping that someday they'll read some literature that I didn't read in high school.

- I'd almost given up hope, but this (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) came in the mail today. I'm very excited about it. Really, very excited about it. The early, early reviews that I've read have been positively glowy. And it's so pretty. See the pretty picture? Oooooo.



- I've read astonishingly few books this year. I'm alternately embarassed and ashamed. I'm ready to gear up for next year and do better. It would definitely help if nobody in my family would go and have a near death experience right at the beginning of next year. Or any other part of the year for that matter. Do you hear that family? No brushes with death! I have books to read, you know! (Okay - this point is kind of sick and twisted - time to move on).

- I keep...like...winning stuff. It's starting to get a little crazy. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should play the lottery, too. I mean, if only I could win the lottery, I could quit my job and have plenty more time to read... My wave of good fortune probably started a while back with Imaginary Friends which I won from Literary Feline. Then at the beginning of this month, I won The Teahouse Fire from Matt. Over the weekend, I scored a much-coveted Christmas bookmark and treats from Nymeth. And now today I found out that I've won Chartroose's four "Falling" books. How awesome are these people and their sweet giveaways? I'm so excited for the very super great mail days in my future. It all just kind of makes me want to give away stuff. And I will, but probably not until the new year - you know, that massive lull of winter months that come after Christmas. I need something to look forward to and I imagine so will you.

- I could make a lot of excuses for this post. Instead, I think I'll just publish it before I wander off to look at shiny things and forget to click the button....

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