It’s nice to be home. It was a good visit with family, and I particularly enjoyed seeing Rose and Steven, but driving six hours each way with two bored dogs in the car isn’t quite as restful as sitting on the sofa and watching Project: Runway marathons with a box of Wheat Thins and a tumbler full of cranberry vodka.
Fortunately, I pulled the selfish gift trick and gave my partner the audio version of Susanna Clarke’s brilliant Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I was a little concerned, as the reader, Simon Prebble, also participated in the audio version of The Egyptologist, and that was 50% lethal. I’m happy to report that Prebble wasn’t responsible for the parts that made me wish for death. It’s a great reading of the book, and all of the footnotes are included. It helped the drive go much faster.
To celebrate our safe return, I headed over to Amazon to use some gift credits. Ah, more Buddha, and Moto Hagio’s A, A1.
By the way, Buddha is one of the many titles featured in Love Manga’s wonderful Best of 2005 round-up. I love David and Immelda’s approach, and I’m flattered that they asked me to participate. (I’m also delighted that Yotsuba&! kicked so much behind.)
If you’re looking for ways to spend end-of-year found money, I offer some options in this week’s Flipped, which has to qualify as one of my laziest columns ever.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a case of Three Buck Chuck that isn’t drinking itself.