I move to another part of the building this weekend. That is, someone moves me. And if I don’t get my pack on, I’ll never make it out of here alive. Everyone else has made significant progress. So I am trying to work up the motivation to take all these empty water bottles and soda cans into central services and recycle them. It’s too much like cleaning.

Originally, it was my plan to have Satan’s Bookclub up by April 1st. Seemed like a good day. However, if I do that, two things will not be available. There is no way I will finish my book reviews by then. Louise and I were going to review “Down on Ponce” simultaneously. It’s not an easy book to find, so we thought we’d find another book for the bookclub aspect. However, if you are reading it, good for you. It’s an excellent book and hopefully you can help us recommend it. Then Louise and I were also going have one individual review ready to put up there. I don’t think Louise has even picked out her individual book. Do you see what I’m up against? When I say there is No Way I will finish a review by April first, I am exaggerating a bit. I know, it’s rare. I could probably do one for “Down on Ponce” by then, since I’ve read that book before. We’ll see.

The other thing that would not be available are the cute little buttons that I am trying to make, so you can pimp SBC gansta style if you want. On your site. Every little button I made turned out stupid. I hated them. Louise thought she might take a whack at some badges. I have not heard how her design attempts have worked out. Nonetheless, I’m thinking of going live anyway. Because we also want to post book type news items and such. And several have come up in the past few weeks that would have been excellent pieces.

So look for Satan’s bookclub on April 1st! Maybe. Or maybe not. Who knows. Not me, that’s for sure. Sometimes, I tell everyone that there is no way I can get something done, and then I turn around and get stuff down. I’m like that.

I got this from Chris at Rude Cactus. How was I supposed to resist? I can’t. I can’t be expected to resist questions about books. Books are my favorite!

1. What book would I like to be?

Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter!! Wait, I don’t understand. Do I want to be a book or IN a book? Why would I want to be a book. I cannot conceive of what it is like to be a story. I don’t know. Either way, Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter! Or maybe one of the Sandman comics.

2. Have I ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Uhhh… yes! Of course. There is a whole thread about literary crushes over on chicklit.com. Mr. Darcy, Ranger, Jean-Claude (who is so MY boyfriend) Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, Rourke… that is just off the top of my head in three seconds. I even have crushes on authors.

3. What is the last book I bought?

Oh crap… this is hard. I get mixed up now because I get so many books from the Library! I think it might be “Hex and the City” by Simon R. Green. Hang on… let me go check my booklist… I know the last book I tried to buy was “Down on Ponce” so I could re-read it and review it.

4. What is the last book I read?

I just finished reading “Chill Factor” by Rachel Caine.

5. What book am I currently reading?

“Me Talk Pretty Some Day” by David Sedaris, “My Life in Heavy Metal” by Steve Almond, “The Alienist” by Caleb Carr and “Down on Ponce” by Fred Willard.

6. What five books would I take with me if I was stranded on a desert island?

“Last Days of Summer” by Steve Kluger (I’ve loaned out and lost sooo many copies of this book. I don’t mind because I think it’s my destiny to spread the joy that is this story.) “The Boyfriend School” by Sarah Bird (because I am Gretchen Griner) “The Oxford Dictionary of English” because I like to read the dictionary, I could do it for hours. “Imajica” by by Clive Barker (because I’ve been meaning to read it and it’s HUGE!) and…. I can’t decide. There is no way I can narrow it down to five. How about the fifth one is blank and comes with a pen?

7. What three poor idiots am I tagging with this FUN FUN FUN?

Every single person who reads my blog. YOU MUST DO IT!! Or Jesus will get very very mad. You don’t want Jesus mad at you! (that includes you too, Fee. You ate Easter Candy, you now have Jesus in your soul.)

Speaking of Jesus, is there anything cuter than kitties sleeping in funny poses? I thought not.

Jodi: *stamping her tiny foot* I want a cruise ship named after me!

Dr. Stevil: *whine!*

Jodi: shut up. You know you’d have fun if your cruise ship was named Jodiferous. Also, I love the First Amendment. It’s one of my favorites!

Dr. Stevil: awwwww…

Jodi: *pouts* plus… it’s first edition hardback SIGNED!!

Ohhhhh… if I didn’t have to help pay my little brother’s rent… and if the IRS wasn’t currently f’ing me in an uncomfortable place…

A test was sent out to mr-snotty today, it was a Dante’s Inferno test. Find out what level of hell you are fated for. I ended up at the Eight Level of Hell. The EIGTH LEVEL OF HELL!! There are only nine levels, kids. And in the 9th resides Satan himself, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. The worst sinners of all. And I am their upstairs neighbor? If that was not bad enough, Evildeb is going to the Third Level of Hell. No freakin’ way. Not possible. I couldn’t figure out what I did that was so evil, that I belonged on the 8th level.

And then I took a look at what I was drawing in Illustrator:

Ratings for Satan’s Bookclub. Additionally, ask me what I did today. Go on… ask me. I officially registered satansbookclub.com. I guess I had forgotten that I had signed up to be Hell’s Librarian. I guess the Library is in the 8th level of Hell.

Ok, kids… excellent discussion of books down below. I love getting recommendations from people. [Hey, loon… remember that one time, on pff when we were all giving each other book ideas and people got mad and then i brought up Nanowrimo and they sent me hate mail? that was fun. good times.] Anyway, it gave me more inspiration to finish Satan’s Bookclub. The design is, for the most part, done. Few teaks here and there. I am actually working on the content right now. I swear to god, I am actually going to finish it soon.

Dr. Stevil has 14 Pepsi cap free tunes for iTunes and I only have one. And I drink far more soda than he does. He is so cheating.

Oh, I can give you lots of mystery recommendations, but it depends on what type of mystery you like to read. You got your cop stories, your P.I. story, your amateur detective stotries, your cozies, your noir, your psychological thrillers, historical, victorian, medical, whodunnit, suspense, courtroom mysteries, british mysteries… even things called mini-genres like “Culinary Mysteries, Feline Mysteries, Craft Mysteries.” In general, I stay away from the gimmicky stuff. I don’t like all the culinary mysteries out there, I’ve never read a single one that was worth the money the library paid to have it on their shelves. But that’s just me. And, I like amateur detective stories, but you have to be careful. For some reason, there are a lot of hair dressers solving mysteries these days. Latest trend in amateurs. With the exception of Dame Christie and Elizabeth Peters, I’ve stayed away from the cozies, as well.

I like grittier stuff, and I like noir. When I first made the switch from young adult mysteries to grown up mysteries, one of my favorite authors was Rex Stout, who wrote the Nero Wolfe series. And that remains one of my favorites to this day. Set in the 30’s, lots of noir, lots of style and wit. I’ve read every single one of his books, several times over. Raymond Chandler, also very good. Robert B. Parker is famous for his Spenser series, but I can’t read them without picturing Robert Ulrich in my head and I don’t want him in my head. So I stick to his other character series, Sonny Randall. I also like stuff with forensics in it, I like to read about collecting evidence.

Maybe I should just make you a list of some of my favorites. Almost everyone has some element of humor in it.

Robert Crais – Elvis Cole Series. He has two other non-Elvis books as well. He’s funny and dark, and I can’t resist either one of those.

Laura Lippman – Tess Monoghan series, she starts out as an unemployed reporter and turns into a PI. Not a silly female detective series, she gets seriously messed up at times.

Sue Grafton – Kinsey Milhoun Alphabet series. A staple in any mystery library.

Sparkle Hayter – any of her books, she’s what you might call Tart Noir. You might call her that, because that is what she calls herself.

Rex Stout – Nero Wolfe series…. brilliant…. genius.

Agatha Christie – duh.

Elizabeth Peters – Amelia Peabody series. Set in turn of the century Egypt, usually, it’s full of historical, political, archeological goodness. Plus, Amelia is sassy.

Jim Butcher – Harry Dresden series. Won’t be found in the mystery section, but rather sci-fi, as he is a wizard. Full of fun preternatural stuff.

Carl Hiaasen – wacky environmental mysteries set in Florida.

Elmore Leonard – he’s great with the dialog, kinda old school.

Raymond Chandler – you won’t go wrong there.

And, I cannot recommend this book enough, even though it is probably not in the Mystery section,



Down on Ponce, by Fred Willard. One of your better buddy/crime novels. I wish I could write like this guy. This is actually the first Satan’s Bookclub Selection, so you might as well get started now.

General tip, stay away from any books that mention cats doing something in the title, anything that starts with “The Cat Who…” or any books that give partial author credit to a cat.

PS: Go read “Down on Ponce.”

Today is Louise’s anniversary, her Alien Anniversary. She moved to the US four years ago today. Hooray! I thought she should celebrate by eating a cheeseburger or a hot dog, and then maybe some apple pie, drink some Coke. But instead she says she will celebrate the way she celebrates all things in life “by gorging myself on Chinese food.” Chinese food? That’s doesn’t sound terribly americanish. “It’s AMERICAN-Chinese food. No scary chicken feet type dishes.” I guess that’s ok, then.

This explains so much about my professional life. From the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments

Justin Kruger and David Dunning

Department of Psychology

Cornell University

I apologize in advance, I got this link from a blog that was on the updated list at MovableType, but I can’t remember which one. So, everybody be aware, I did not stumble across this article all on my own. Despite my über valuable B.A. in Psychology, I rarely peruse the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Although, that might change, that article is golden. I can easily see myself muting the polycom during a conference call and saying, “it’s ok, ‘one of the… features of such incompetence that the person so afflicted is incapable of knowing that he is incompetent. ‘. He can’t help it.” And just knowing that will make it all better.

Speaking of aliens, Louise ditched me yesterday, she did not go to the book reading/signing. She decided to stay late and do her job and finish her Big Reports. Whatever. Personally, I think she was scared because she knew that her streak would bust, that this author would failed to be moved by her accent. She’s afraid to tarnish her winning record. It’s too bad, really. Because Robert Crais was very entertaining and a very very handsome man. She might have enjoyed having him under her Alien Scottish Spell. [or A.S.S as I just this minute decided to call it because I am just THAT brilliant.] But… we’ll never know.

Tonight I am going to an author reading/signing at Third Place Books, to see Robert Crais, author of one of my favorite mystery/detective series, Elvis Cole. Not only is Elvis Cole one of my many Fictional Boyfriends, but this series also features Joe Pike, another Fictional Boyfriend. Besides all of that, they are just great books. I mean, you’d enjoy them even if you didn’t have literary crushes on the characters. It’s not a requirement. They latest book just came out, I bought it, devoured it, and now have to wait for more. I hate that! It’s always fun when you discover a new mystery/detective series you really like, you have all those books ahead of you to enjoy. For example, when I started reading Sue Grafton, she was already on Q! I had A-Q to enjoy! But man, it hurts when you’ve read everything out, and have to wait for more. I had to wait two some years for “R” to show up. I shudder to think what happens when we reach “Z.” So Louise and I are going to the reading, and I am going to have my book signed, and we’ll see if yet another author falls prey to Louise’s accent. Perhaps I shall ask Louise to politely request that Mr. Crais hurry up and write more Elvis Cole. He will be unable to resist her darling accent. As we all know.

Josh is out of ICU. Which is good and bad. He’s also sick and nauseous, and now that he doesn’t have ICU watching over him, someone has to sit with him pretty much 24/7. Because he’s throwing up every few minutes and coughing up blood. Both of which cause him a great deal pain. So, be careful what you wish for, I guess. The nausea is most likely from the pain medication and the nasty headaches he is having. The coughing is from the cold he’s developed. The blood is not from his lungs, but just his guts, I guess. Poor kid, nasty headaches, coughing up blood, throwing up everything you try to eat… that would be bad enough without all the other stuff. They’ve pumped anit-barf drugs into his iv and they were going to give him a sleeping pill last night, because he hasn’t been able to sleep. And before I hung up with Faye, she said he’d just eaten a soda cracker and a popsicle. Hopefully he kept it down, because I’m sure that would help. Too have food in his system. And some sleep. He’s got such caring friends, however. They have the patient fridge stocked with vegan foodstuffs for him, they come around and give Faye food and breaks, sit by Josh’s bedside and read to him, stay with him throughout the nights so Faye can go home to sleep. It’s amazing. All these people who come by several times a day to check on him. There was a man there yesterday who Josh met feeding people in the park on Sundays. Something Faye says he’s done since High School. He came by twice yesterday. And they all love Josh.

Today Faye is meeting with a lawyer, and will try to get ahold of the police report, to figure out what’s what.