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[kcobweb]

Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman - this is the kind of historical fiction I really like: totally rooted in reality, but giving good character sketches in such a way that the reasons why someone acted in such a way become clear. This is about Simon de Montfort (basically considered the father of representative government, I guess) and Henry III and Edward I (and Wales and lots of other English political stuff circa 1240-1265). The Plantagenets come off very badly here - they are dishonorable backstabbing assholes. I liked it, though it got a little long.

Beth Hilton, Model by Lee Wyndham (1961) - subtitle: A Career Romance for Young Moderns. I love books like this, though this one was truly terrible. It's no great surprise that the gawky too-tall girl of the beginning basically ends up the world's first international supermodel (move over, Janice Dickinson!) *and* gets the guy. Hilarity on nearly every page.

My Own Two Feet: A Memoir by Beverly Cleary. This is her second memoir (I read the first a few weeks ago) - part 2 covers college (junior college and UC Berkeley), grad school (U-Dub school of libraries), getting married, the war (WWII) and writing her first book. Incredibly readable, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. She has a great eye for detail. So fun.


There's a mouse bird in one of the gutters along the front of the house. You can hear little feet running back and forth, and then occasionally a little nose beak will peek out to check (nope, still 8 feet up!). I assume eventually it'll climb down the downspout. ETA: galagan got it out by bending the upper edge of the gutter (which keeps out the leaves and stuff) up, and then leaving so it could fly away. He's a hero.

In other news, I mentioned the other day that I had instigated a family drama - it's all resolved now. We are staying home for Christmas and my mother is coming here. (Christmas is very important to my mother, but we're giving up a lot of family traditions that would happen if we were in Montana.) My sister will go home with her boyfriend for the holidays (she never would have done that if I hadn't started the whole thing). So, I'm happy that I don't have to travel with a toddler at the holidays! Yahoo!!!