Bookmania!

OK, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. The temperature here in Houston, Texas has dropped about 20 degrees since yesterday. Brrrr! Oh, I saw a t-shirt in Foley's yesterday that said "Everything I need to know I learned in Texas"- will I ever have enough sassy-phrased t-shirts? I think not. (Shelly, I don't know you, at all, but don't you need this shirt?)

We watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabahn last night, in order to get J.T. all ready to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire... and dude, I forgot how much that movie ROCKS. Sandy, I think I told you I might like #4 the best? WRONG. The third one is by far the most superior installment to date, and in fact, I couldn't even let J.T. watch #4 last night because I knew he would be disappointed after #3. The characters are great, the story is funny and serious in all the right places, the filming is just AWESOME, those Dementors are exceedingly creepy, and the fact that the story includes time travel just kicks it all up a few notches.

Soooo, I bought some books yesterday. TEN BOOKS, to be exact. I was asked "they're mostly Christmas gifts?" and I had to say... no. Not a one. They're all for me. The SHAME! I'm Jamie and I'm a bookaholic.

In no particular order:

1. The Stand, by Stephen King- can you believe I've never read it?
2. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell- one of the most interesting books I've ever read; I checked it out of the li-berry but I want my own copy
3. Blink, also by Malcolm Gladwell- his new book; I hope it's as good as The Tipping Point
4. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy- my friend Keri told me this is her #1 favorite book of all time, and anytime someone tells me that, I feel compelled to read it
5. Searching for God Knows What, by Donald Miller- I'm about halfway into it but I left it on Continental 604 from Las Vegas to Houston, so, hopefully someone else is getting something out of it
6. The Planets, by Dava Sobel- a non-fiction book about the science and mythology of our lil' solar system (fun and random fact from the book I'm currently reading [link to the left]- do you know how off-scale every solar system map you've ever looked is? If you were to draw a true to-scale map of our solar system, and the earth was the size of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet distant and Pluto would be a good mile and a half away. Kinda gives new meaning to the term SPACE, eh? Yeah, I'm a nerd. Shut up.)
7. On Writing, by Stephen King- I love his articles and essays
8. Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge, by Lauren Stover- a self-proclaimed "playful anthropology of Bohemian culture" which I saw in a store and looked witty and fun. Great art, so it'll probably end up on my coffee table. When I get a coffee table.
9. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi- Bugliosi was the prosecutor on the Manson case... and with Polanski's new Oliver Twist coming out, I wanted to know more about the story. Sharon Tate (she of Valley of the Dolls fame) was pregnant with Polanski's child when she and the rest of a Hollywood dinner party were brutally murdered by Manson followers (it's believed that this event kicked off his insanity that led to the events that got him deported). Widely touted as the best true crime novel of our time.
10. Wacky Chicks: Life Lessons from Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women, by Simon Doonan- because I aspire to be a fearlessy inappropriate and fabulously eccentric woman. Also because I liked Doonan's book about Andy Warhol that I read in the MoMa bookstore.

Sooo, I'll keep y'all posted on the reading. First I have some more movies to watch. I just realized that on Sunday I have to go back to work and now I am suitably depressed. However, it's only Tuesday, so for now I am going to maintain my woman of leisure status, and roll out of bed and toward the shower, so I can be ready for my ladies-who-lunch date at 1pm. I kinda like this life. Anyone want to be my sugar-daddy? (Is it totally disturbing that when I went to look for a link to the yummy caramel goodness I got some dating websites where the "classy, attractive, and affluent can meet"? There was also one whose tagline is "Married men will spoil you discreetly." I'm not kidding. The answer is YES; it IS disturbing. Not that I didn't totally fill out the questionnaire. *wink*)