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If I've been remiss in posting recently, it's not for any bad reason. I'm remarkably not stressed lately, maybe for any of the reasons noted below.

1) It's fall! I love fall, and all its exuberant fall colors. There's a tree right outside my window here at work that is just ablaze in red and orange. It looks like the color of a ripe, delicious apple, and I want to bite into it and taste all its crisp glorious treeness.

2) Veronica Mars got renewed! If you know me, you know I love this show, and you know this is one of my top ten reasons for living.

3) Three day week. Less work, more play. Okay, honestly it will end up with me watching movies on my couch while working, but it will still be in my house, and I am totally okay with that.

4) Reading. I've been a bit slower lately, but I'm reading some non-chick lit. Amy and Isabelle is so smart about the complexities of the mother/daughter relationship and the pull that the adult and the foreign have on teenagers. I've got about 50 pages left, and I aim to savor them.

5) New York. I'm going! I've never been, and I'm going next Wednesday, with Josh, for five nights. I hear it's a lovely, festive time of year to visit, though it'll surely be crowded. Any New York aficionados have suggestions for me? I'm already keen to check out The Met, jog around Central Park, and wander around SoHo. Food recs most especially welcome.

Okay, that's it for now. More glee as soon as I can muster it.

Chick lit: the cure for what ails ye

Abbey rules for many reasons, not the least of which is her generous lending nature. I'd been in a bit of a reading slump lately, not really having the stamina or the free time to plow through all the real "literature" sitting around at my house(Philip Roth, Carol Shields, Toni Morisson). So Abbey was kind enough to lend me a stack of chick lit. Easy to get through, with satisfying endings and enough wit to make you feel a little peppier, these books are just what the book doctor ordered.

So what was in the stack?

Otherwise Engaged - Eileen Goudge
Not bad. But not really good. I read this one first because I suspected it would be the least satisfying of the bunch. (I was right.)

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination - Helen Fielding
Excellent! Perfectly fun and escapist. I'd read that Fielding's first book following the whole Bridget Jones hoopla, Cause Celeb, was rather poor, but this one's right up there with the imaginative goofiness and verve of Bridget.

Swapping Lives - Jane Green
Jane has great ideas, but she takes a while to express them. If this had been about 15% shorter, I might've liked it about 15% more.

The Guy Not Taken - Jennifer Weiner
Short stories. Not what I go for most of the time, but it's good to branch out, a little. Not all the stories are her typical romantic comedy fare either. Intersesting that she wrote some of them as far back as 16 years ago. I wonder how my stories from 18 would hold up! (I don't wonder, really. They would hold up badly.)

The Little Lady Agency - Hester Browne
Good premise, good plot, kept my attention throughout, but then petered out a bit at the end. Still, recommended for the smart, resourceful heroine. Believe it or not, it kept me guessing until the end.

Something Borrowed and Something Blue - Emily Giffin
Haven't read these yet. According to Abbey, they're quite good, so I am to savor them.

And one not-really-chick-lit but necessary for borrowing:
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
Everything I've heard about this is great. Maybe now that I've got some book momentum, I can barrel through it.

What are you all reading lately? Anything trashy and delightful? It doesn't have to be chick lit. I like all sorts of things. I'm just going through a bit of a phase, it seems.

OMG SO CUTE

It is so snuggly and stubbly legged and drowsy and adorable. I want for it to be mine. Yes, universe, please? I have been good. Give me a Corgi.

(Thank you Abbey for sending me this most joyful of videos.)