Tuesday, Dec. 29: Another Day of Ahhhhh. . . .

Though this one contained a fairly substantial snow storm! It's been snowing all day, with temps around 17, and we've gotten about 8". It's 8 pm and still coming down strong--super nice to have a day with no travel plans and a chance to just enjoy the storm. N. and I ran at the Y on the treadmills, practically solo, and I wrote thank you notes and found yarn to complement my fuchsia baby cardi that turned out to need more than the 2 skeins of yarn I bought for it in Belfast. . . . and cleaned the kitchen and such the like. I also finally ordered New Year's cards with the pic that Mom took of us all after the Christmas Eve service. I think it's important to keep reaching out as personally as possible in these days of split-second connections, and I think cards are one way to do that. So here we are. . . I cropped out the lamp for the card, so it's a bit less unevenly lit, but in general, it's a fair show of all four (five, including Zeus) of us, so we're going with it.

I also finished listening to Venetia, by Georgette Heyer, which I'll blog at both Audible and Goodreads. It's a childhood favorite of Ann's and mine, but one that I hardly remember, which means I haven't read it  since my last teenage bout of the flu. It was a lot of fun--a good reader, a lovely, strong female lead, a few irritating supporting characters, an interesting conflict and, of course, a dashing rake. I'd like to know more about Heyer as a person, since her protagonists are always so interesting--though I am certainly mired in the Ngaio Marsh biography I started long ago on the same premise! Anyway, Venetia was a fun "listen" in the busy days of December, and a nice way to come down from the high suspense of Career of Evil.

Also:

The Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wish I could give this 2.5 stars: The Lure of the Moonflower, the final entry in the Pink Carnation series, is less ridiculously vapid and mind-numbingly over-written than the recent books. . . which is a sort of a recommendation, I suppose! Especially at the beginning, when Jack is the main focus, Willig's writing is controlled and zippy; after about 1/3 of the story, however, the plot and characterization begins to topple under its own weight, becoming too full of backstory and internal struggle to interest me much. I skimmed.

It really seems that Willig is a skilled writer whose work suffered from its own popularity and the drive to produce more books with little regard for their quality. However, since I recently tried to reread The Pink Carnation itself and ended up giving up in annoyance and donating the book to the Library booksale, perhaps my tastes have changed.

View all my reviews