i'm alive!

My former boss used to leave me messages when he was traveling "Just wanted to call and let you know I'm alive!" which always amused me no end. Fiscal year ends on June 30, and we've been hectic up here trying to tie up loose ends and having a number of year end meetings. Really really close together. And I have coordinated, prepared materials, attended and taken notes at almost all of them. But I'm here. I'm alive and blogging.

Have a SUPER early meeting tomorrow (for which I will have to take the 6:14 train. 6:14!) and then have to figure out how to make it thru the rest of the day without falling asleep. I have my first trip to Ravinia for the season to look forward to tomorrow (yay!) which marks the start of "Pattipalooza 2007" I am not going out there tonight because it was too complicated to figure out how to get there and back from here, no one else wanted to go with me, and I have that !@#$&%* early meeting tomorrow. So, anyway.

Not much more to say than that, so I will share my current reading list. I have a nice loooong train ride twice a day and have been doing more reading.

Here's what I've read lately:
1. Knitting Under the Influence (Claire LaZebnik). Fiction. Was one of those annoying books where the plot was so obvious and not terribly well-written, and yet I couldn't put it down.

2. Rococo (Adriana Trigiani) I have a thing for books with unusual names. Past ones I've picked up just because I like the title have included: Rock 'n Roll Babes from Outer Space, Voodoo River, Watermelon, and (my favorite) The Unexpected Salami. Anyway. I picked this one up because I 'Rococo' is one of my favorite art terms (along with chiaroscuro) and I also like the author's name. This one is a great read - about an Italian-American family in Jersey. I don't think you need to be an Italian American to read it, but it helps.... I didn't want the book to end, I just wanted to know everything about these characters. If it was a movie, I know a great, talented Italian-American actress who can play the main character's sister (it's so perfect, it's spooky).

3. Anybody Out There? (Marian Keyes) I.Love.Marian.Keyes. This is one of her best ones ever.

4. Johnny and the Bomb (Terry Pratchett) I love Terry too. He can be enjoyed on many levels. This one is not a Discworld book, but part of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy. I've only just started this one.

5. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things (Jon McGregor). Just started this one, too. Am fascinated by the style.

6. The Watchman (Robert Crais). I am in love with Joe Pike. Too bad he is a fictional character.
I've been telling my mom for years how great Robert Crais is, and she hasn't believed me. She picked this one up and is convinced. Ha!