My six-year-old daughter recently discovered my Edward Gorey collection.  She’s fascinated with the art work and morbid tales.  At story time, she’ll thumb through my books before selecting something particularly gruesome.

She’ll ask, “Mommy, does this one have a bad ending?”

“They’re all pretty grim, sweetie.”

“Good.  I want this one!”

I officially began my Christmas shopping today.  I love to shop around and find that perfect gift for each person on my list.  I’m a big fan of Amazon Wish Lists.  It helps make the gift search so much easier, and ordering online and having it shipped directly sure takes a lot of the hassle out of long distance shopping.

The jack-o-lanterns displayed above were the ones we carved this year.  My three-year-old daughter chose the mad scientist design on the left, and my six-year-old daughter chose the tarantula on the right.  My husband created the happy traditional jack-o-lantern in the center.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I love dressing up.  Over the years, I’ve enjoyed celebrating the festivities in a variety costumes and in a number of different cities — L.A., San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, Boston, and Chicago, to name a few.  Halloween takes on a whole new dimension these days, now that I have two young children.

In our neighborhood, we kick off the week with a Halloween party held at the barn, which houses horse stables on the lower level and a party room on the upper level.  I was in charge of the costume contest this year, which meant that it was the first year that one of my own kids didn’t take home a ribbon.  My three-year-0ld daughter dressed as  Scooby Doo, and she talked her older sister into dressing as Daphne, the female detective from Scooby Doo.  They told everybody that my husband was Shaggy, even though he wasn’t dressed up.  They got a kick out of eating Scooby Snacks, graham crackers shaped like dog biscuits.

My youngest daughter remained in the Scooby Doo theme for her preschool party the following week and for trick-or-treating last night.  My six-year-old daughter, however, changed her costume to a mermaid for her first grade party and for trick-or-treating.  She wore an elaborate shiny turquoise costume decorated with flowers and shells, a tail on the front (which was picturesque, but made it a little difficult to run), and long cascading turquoise mesh sleeves.  We braided her long hair down her back.

Our neighborhood facilitates a hay ride to drive the young kids from house to house.  We reside about halfway along the hay ride route.  My little one happily called it quits when they got to our house.  She came inside to drink some hot chocolate, get warm, and help me hand out candy to the remaining trick-or-treaters.  My oldest stayed out on the hay ride until the end, bringing home a pumpkin filled with candy, toys, and a caramel apple by the time she was done.

My oldest won’t eat half of what she brought home.  In fact, the one candy bar she opened last night still sits on the kitchen table unfinished.  My three-year-old, on the other hand, keeps asking for another treat from her pumpkin bucket every few minutes, and she’s also talked her older sister into turning over a good portion of her loot.

In Enemies & Allies, New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson brings Superman and Batman together to team up against super villain Lex Luthor.  This full length novel is set in the 1950’s, during the height of both the Cold War and the alien invasion movie craze.  Both of these factors are incorporated into the story, along with many of the contemporary events and world leaders of the 50’s.

Anderson stays consistent with their comic book characters for the most part, identifying Superman as a by-the-book law-abiding citizen and Batman as a vigilante willing to break the rules to do what he feels is right.  The tenuous alliance created between these two superheroes makes the reader want to cheer them both on, while still believing that their relationship and their philosophies would be somewhat tense and at odds.

Some of the plot details yield minor inconsistencies.  For example, Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet newspaper, forbids reporter Lois Lane from leaving the city of Metropolis for a story due to budgetary restraints, yet she conveniently appears in Gotham City the next day to interview billionaire Bruce Wayne for an article.  Also, some of the timeline events of the 1950’s don’t quite mesh.  Ultimately though, these small details do not detract from the overall story, which focuses more on superhero action than on setting.

Dressed in red and blue, his cape streaming behind him, Kal-El shot out of a window on the opposite side of the building.  Right fist extended, he soared into the sky, circled the rooftop’s golden sphere with the orbiting words “Daily Planet,” then raced toward Metropolis harbor.

Though it is a story that stands on its own — with a distinct beginning, defined Cold War and alien invasion conflicts, and a cohesive ending — the book reads similar to a comic book, in that certain assumptions about the super heroes are already present, as if it were a continuing episode in an ongoing saga.  In most cases, Superman and Batman are well established characters in the minds of readers before opening the book.  Also, the conflicts that arise in the book are limited to specific events and a particular period of time, yet we assume that Lex Luthor will continue as a villain, just as both Batman and Superman will continue to flourish as superheroes.  Because of this, we could conceivably look forward to future installments in the continuing story, be they comic books or full length novels, while we still appreciate this book as just one more volume in the overall tale.

Kevin J. Anderson has authored numerous books including The Last Days of Krypton and the Saga of the Seven Suns series.  He has also paired with author Brian Herbert to continue Frank Herbert’s Dune series with books that include Paul of Dune, The Butlerian Jihad, and The Winds of Dune, to name a few.

I’m back to working on the novel again.  I’d say I’m about two-thirds of the way through the very rough first draft.  I want to get the story on paper first before I get too caught up in editing and rewriting.

I also put the final touches on a ghostly short story that I’ve been working on, just in time for Halloween.

One evening, after a particularly exhausting day with my two young daughters, my three-year-old approached me and said, “Mom, I’m pretending you’re dead.”

She wasn’t trying to be morbid… well, any more than usual, at any rate.  It was stated in a very matter-of-fact manner, as if she was just informing me of the rules.

She continued, “You lay down on the couch and pretend to be dead.”

Wow, I think this may be my new favorite game!

I’ve added a list of the books I’ve read, broken down by year.  You can access it by clicking the “Reading List” tab at the top of the page.  Links to the books I’ve reviewed on this blog can be found within the list.

I never used to keep lists of the books I read, but I decided that it was an interesting footnote to track for the purpose of this blog.  I’ve only been keeping the list since 2008, and I’ll update the 2009 list as the year continues.

You can find the books I read for pleasure and for review (which I also do for the sheer love of it) on my Reading List page.  It doesn’t include all the books I read to my kids or the links to reviews I’ve done in other categories such as games, toys, food, etc.   It is strictly a reading list, as the name implies.

Feel free to comment and add your thoughts.  What do you like to read?  Do we have any overlap?  If you have questions about any of the books on the list, I’ll be more than happy to provide my thoughts and give feedback.  I love to talk books!

I’m always looking for book recommendations.  What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year, and why did you choose to read that particular book?

I often buy books by favorite authors or continuations in a series, but I’m always looking to discover something new.  I read book reviews, seek out recommendations from family and friends (particularly those whose reading tastes are similar to my own), and often times just pick up something new off the bookshelf at a library or bookstore — perhaps drawn in by nothing more than an interesting-looking cover and an enticing blurb on the back of the book.  Sometimes I choose things from my Amazon recommendations list, and of course, I’m always reading new books that are sent to me for review.

How did you stumble upon some of your favorite books?

My book club has chosen to read Persuasion by Jane Austen this month.  I have a tattered old paperback copy sitting on my book shelf, along with the complete collected works of Jane Austen in a leather-bound hard cover.  Though I would have probably enjoyed reading Pride and Prejudice (that proper Mr. Darcy!), Sense and Sensibility, or Emma (the bumbling but likeable matchmaker) more, I was looking forward to delving into and re-reading Persuasion because it has been years since I’ve read any of Austen’s work.

In some ways, I find myself surprised that Jane Austen has gained such popularity amongst book clubs, supported by so many recent movies in the past two decades.  Though her writing is superb, many of her stories and characters come from common backgrounds and follow similar fates.  In effect, they are romances set in a specific time period, yet they have somehow transcended from romantic period pieces to classics.

I read everything Austen in high school, as a teenager steadfastly attached to my independent ways yet somehow still hopeful for that happily-ever-after.  Jane Austen suited my taste back then.  I find I still enjoy her writing, particularly her understated humor and wit as she exaggerates her characters’ quirks and flaws.  However, it’s not the same as reading her books for the first time during that adolescent phase in my life.

In a conversation with my brother yesterday, he summarized it best, saying that most people who discover Jane Austen tend to appreciate her work during a specific and brief time period in their lives and then move on to other authors, as if finishing that chapter in their reading habits.

Jane Austen will always be Jane Austen, but I am no longer that teenage girl reading her work for the first time.

And so it begins…

My six-year-old daughter announced at dinner that two boys in her first grade class have crushes on her.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Because Isabella S. and Isabella K. told me so.  Plus, they chase me all over the playground.  It’s a good thing I can run so fast!”

My husband replied, “Yes, it is, and you just keep running, sweetheart.”