Books (again...still?) (IV)

• Frost Burned* by Patricia Briggs
• Night Broken* by Patricia Briggs
• Fire Touched* by Patricia Briggs
• Silence Fallen* by Patricia Briggs
• The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer
• The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
• The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1-3 by Rick Riordan
• The Lightning Thief
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan's Curse
• Death's Mistress* by Terry Goodkind
• Shroud of Eternity by Terry Goodkind
• Rogues by George R.R. Martin
• by Stephen King
• Sleeping Beauties
• Misery
• Carrie
• Firestarter
• Salem's Lot

That seems like too few books. But maybe I just felt like it was more because over half were new.

And dang, I have realized that I enjoy Stephen King! I read The Stand long ago (probably at a much too young age), and then this summer I listened to the 48+ hour unabridged audiobook. But I thought that my enjoyment of his work was more of a specialized thing than an all-encompassing one. Regardless, after revisiting The Stand, and then discovering Sleeping Beauties (which just came out last year got robo-recommended by the library after I read Stephanie Meyer's The Chemist**), I asked Mom and Dad which books of his they liked. As a bigtime reader, I am always thrilled to discover an author with decades of book authorship under his belt, especially ones beloved of general library audiences. Mom remembered working at Steak and Ale in the '70s when a woman came in for lunch by herself and was entranced with a copy of (the probably newly released) Salem's Lot. So that's where I started. Major win. Dad's first contribution was Firestarter (an appropriate suggestion from father to daughter, I think, and also great). Misery and Carrie were more the result of available Kindle copies from the library than "must reads." So if anyone has a Stephen King favorite that isn't mentioned here (a few Mom and Dad vetoed rather than proposed...no books where the dog dies!) - I'm all ears. Or eyes. Neither really, but an all-eared, all-eyed reading monster would be a lackluster bad guy for a suspense novel.

**PS on The Chemist - I actually really liked it. I had to pretend over and over that it wasn't written by the woman who gave us Twilight (that was a tiny bit hard when it got PG-rated gooey around the middle, but the moment passed). So yeah, if you see that book and then are about to disregard it because of the author, think twice. :)

Books (III)

Sharp Objects Flynn, Gillian
Helter Skelter Gentry, Curt
Nicholas and Alexandra Massie, Robert K.
Gone Girl Flynn, Gillian
Manson Guinn, Jeff
The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality Richard Panek
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Tyson, Neil deGrasse
The Witness Wore Red : the 19th wife, who brought polygamous cult leaders to justice Musser, Rebecca
Dragon Bones* Briggs, Patricia.
Dragon Blood* Briggs, Patricia
Stolen Innocence Pulitzer, Lisa
Working Stiff Mitchell, T. J. 
The Road to Jonestown Guinn, Jeff
Breaking Free Jeffs, Rachel
Ascent Into Hell Fergus White
The Reluctant Apostate: Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses Comes at a Price Lloyd Evans

Books (II)

Keeping on top of things... (I blame the paucity of my books read on Robin Hobb - her dang things are nigh on 800 pages and I'm in the midst of the sequel to "Fool's Assassin" and the first book of a different trilogy! Also I've been watching Mt. Everest documentaries)

156. The Gates of Sleep - Lackey, Mercedes
157. The Serpent's Shadow - Lackey, Mercedes
158. Many Waters* - L'Engle, Madeleine
159. Fool's Assassin - Hobb, Robin
160. Flunk, start : Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology - Hall, Sands
161. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster* - Krakauer, Jon
162. Phoenix and Ashes - Lackey, Mercedes
163. Kushiel's Dart* - Carey, Jacqueline
164. Kushiel's Chosen* - Carey, Jacqueline
165. Kushiel's Avatar* - Carey, Jacqueline
166. Origin: A Novel - Brown, Dan

[ an asterisk * indicates a book I'm re-reading]

Woo

Today I went to a yoga class for the first time in a long time. I accidentally laughed out loud when, as we reclined in corpse pose at the end, the instructor talked about how we'd just cleansed our bodies of "toxins and metals." Uh huh. I was embarrassed about my soft burst of laughter for about 10 seconds, until I switched to being embarrassed on his behalf, for believing in such woo.

Speaking of woo, if you're a fan of its debunking, I suggest the Merseyside Skeptics Society's podcast "Skeptics with a K."

Irregardless, I Could Care Less About Grammar

"Irregardless" is not a word. If it were, it would be the negative of "regardless." Here's the definition of regardless:

re·gard·less

rəˈɡärdləs/

adverb

adverb: regardless

1. without paying attention to the present situation; despite the prevailing circumstances.

   "they were determined to carry on regardless"

   synonyms:

   anyway, anyhow, in any case, nevertheless, nonetheless, despite everything, in spite of everything, even so, all the same, in any event, come what may

But if I chose to use the non-word irregardless, I would use it to apply to the phrase "I could care less." Because this phrase is used in the same way as irregardless; that is, in opposition to what the speaker/writer means to say. "I could care less" about unicorns means that you actually DO care some about unicorns. But those who use such a phrase almost universally mean that they do NOT care, in which case the phrase should be "I couldn't care less" - as in, "it is impossible for me to care less than I already do about unicorns," i.e. "I care nothing for unicorns."

So yes, I am "paying attention to to the present situation" of the desecration of the phrase "I could/couldn't care less" and it pisses me off. I think only Matt was subjected to my actual fuming/correction of the phrase "I could care less" (because grammar nazis are not universally adored but husbands don't get a vote). But I would hope that any close friend or family of mine would gently correct me if I had any such routine and egregious gramatical misstep in my lexicon as the aforementioned.

/end rant

PS: I vote in favor of the Oxford comma.