Re-readables

I am, sometimes, a voracious reader. Other times I am very listless reader, and go maybe a whole year only reading a handful of new books. But reading continues nonetheless! I have a collection of old favourites that I pick up again and again, whether to read only a chapter or two or the whole kit and kaboodle. That you, too, may benefit from these literary equivalents of chocolate chip cookies, they are, in no particular order:

1) The McIntyre Liar, by David Bly (Albertan!)
A delightful novel about the summer a city slicker teen has working on a farm after smashing up his dad's car. Smart ass Muskrat chronicles his adventures on his computer in the form of a gossip rag, the McIntyre Liar. Very funny. Also very sweet, with sniffy moments.

2) A Nest of Singing Birds &/or Getting Married in Buffalo Jump, both by Susan Haley (Canadian)
The first is about a philosophy sessional instructor's love affair with a fellow professor. The second is about a rural kindergarten teacher's entanglement with her hunky farmhand. No, they're not harlequin romances. There's a good amount of character development in each and even a bit of a mystery in Buffalo Jump. CBC made a movie of it, but for some unknown reason excised most of the plot. Probably decided they needed to have Paul Gross in more scenes.

3) Pride & Prejudice & / or Persuasion, both by Jane Austen
I figure these are Austen's two best and I love watching the changes that come over the protagonists throughout the stories. So many of the love stories we have now are based on stupid misunderstandings on page two which would have been solved if they'd just had a proper conversation. There's more meat to these.

4) The Stephanie Plum Series, by Janet Evanovich
Evanovich has done 13 novels and a couple of novellas in this silly pulp series about a Jersey girl bounty hunter who's not very skilled but fortunately very lucky, dating a cop and mentored by a very sexy fellow bounty hunter. A bit high on the violence scale for my liking, but it's mostly pretty cartoony. Comic supporting characters include Stephanie's hell-on-wheels Grandma Mazur, her sometimes partner filing clerk and former prostitute Lula, and cross-dressing guitarist & bus driver Sally Sweet, possibly the ugliest transvestite ever.

5) The Aunt Dimity Series, by Nancy Atherton
Clocking in around a dozen short novels, this mystery series was my introduction to 'cozies' -- mysteries for curling up on a cold day with a cup of tea and a quilt. The Aunt Dimity of the title is actually a ghost who writes in a blue notebook to her protege to keep her on the straight and narrow. I like the idea of keeping an eye on people's behaviour even from beyond the grave.

6) The Amelia Peabody Series, by Elizabeth Peters
More mysteries, this time solved by Victorian lady Egyptologist Amelia Peabody -- with help from her family, who collectively have more lives than entire herds of cats. They have many unlikely adventures in these fun romps. And occasionally I learn a thing or two about Egyptology. I think there are more than twenty books in this series and devoutly pray that there may be many more -- which might require some very speedy writing as the author is an octogenarian by this point. Happily, she's been very prolific.

7) The Discworld Series, by Terry Pratchett
I finally dove into these books in the Netherlands, years after they had been recommended to me by friends. Pratchett has created a magical world -- which is actually discshaped and flat -- where he happily lampoons damn near anything you can think of. Religion, philosophy, rock music, Santa Claus, movie stars, government, th whole works. He's nearing 40 books in the series at a youngish maybe-60, but with early-onset Alzheimers, we're unlikely to see another 40. I welcome any and all, of course! My favourite sub-series is the Night Watch books. Sam Vimes may be my favourite character ever.

Frozen monkeys plummet to earth. And shatter.

It's actually gotten COLDER. It's -31C with a -46 windchill. And that's in the middle of the freaking city at nearly NOON!

I took the bus this morning. My bike doesn't work well in these temperatures and my glasses fog up too much with my scarves to allow for safe navigation on the roads. As it was I was guessing where the sidewalks might be. Since most of them are still knee-deep in snowdrifts, it's difficult to tell if I found them or not. I have a 5 block walk at the end of my bus ride down a residential road. I gave up on the sidewalks and just went for the road. It's only ankle-deep there. If it weren't absolute zero out there it'd be great sledding powder.

Holy Flying Frozen Monkeys, Batman!

It's cold! Frigid, blizzarding, your-nose-will-fall-off old-school prairie cold. Cold that makes me consider life in a sweaty, humid, melt-your-nose-off tropical jungle with innumerable crawly things in a positive light. Currently it's -27C with a strong wind blowing snow and a windchill of -42. I haven't been outside all day but am considering taking the garbage out. It's approximately a 3 minute walk roundtrip and this decision requires serious thought. Rem likes this sort of extreme weather. It makes him giddy.

The really great news is this cold snap is going to stick around to Thursday at the earliest. We're looking at highs of -22C and lows of -34C, and who knows what the wind will add to this.

I read last week that about 40 of Edmonton's homeless people die every year -- mostly out of accumulated effects of living on the streets for years, but I wonder how many are suffering outside in this mess. Will anyone be found frozen in a snowdrift after this week? There are only about 800 shelter spaces for something like 2000 homeless folks. Where do the others go in situations like this? I can't imagine wearing enough clothes to keep you alive for long in these temperatures and yet there are still people who camp in the river valley.