Ambush!

Why is it that whenever you have more then 3 women in a room and you put them in that room more then, say, 3 times - why does there always have to be DRAMA?

PTO meeting last night (same as PTA, just spelled different). A woman, we'll call her S, starts out with a simple question to, say K. K answers. S starts verbally attacking this woman and for about 10 minutes. This spirals down in to a complete nightmare and K finally gets up and leaves. S completely ambushed K with this minor thing. This thing needed to be addressed but S just seemed to use it as an opportunity to make K look bad and also, apparently to throw the PTO prez under the bus as an added side bonus!

It was a manipulative mishandling of a minor situation and I can only be thankful that we had a very slim attendance last night. I'm equally thankful that a) none of them but my friend Rachel reads my drivel and b) I have a place to vent all this nonsense! Not that I care if they read these, just in the interest of not having even more drama to deal with. I can only imagine what would've happened if we'd actually had a new member show up to that embarrassment of a meeting!

WTF??

Halfway through this craziness, as the rest of us are sitting there shell-shocked and flabbergasted, S says, "I mean, I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable." To which I whisper to myself, "Too late."

Now y'all know I'm not the most diplomatic person but in this instance, I tried keeping my mouth shut and sticking to my knitting (yes, I take it to meetings - don't you?). I tried 3 times to shut it down by saying, "That's enough, let's move on." and "Moving on..." No dice. S was not to be stopped in her harangue.

After that meeting, Rachel and I had to go in to town and have a drink!

OK, enough of that nonsense.

Here's a reading update.

I read one of the best books ever! The Shivered Sky by Matt Dinniman.
I don't read science fiction normally. And I don't think this book falls under that category. But maybe if I did, I wouldn't be so impressed? This author created an entire world and culture and creatures we've never seen (which I imagine is de rigeur for science fiction writers, which is why I brought that up).

These 5 young adults (mid to late teens all) die and end up in Heaven. Only in Heaven, the angels have lost the war and are a minor underground force. Demons are running the show and humans are slaves (and food). These teens are part of a prophesy and are supposed to put things right.

Only as the book progresses, their version of what's right is sorely tested. This book, in a roundabout way, reminds me of the movie Crash (also one of my favorites). Those who are bad also have their good sides and those who are good, well, maybe not so much.

The depth of character in this book is phenomenal. The secondary and even tertiary characters are so well developed that you really feel for them, be they demon, angel or human. I loved this guy's style of writing and I'm sure I'll probably read it again next year.

We're lucky enough to have a signed copy. My husband read a review in The Weekly (free independent newspaper) in Tucson. If you mentioned the review when you ordered the book, the author would sign it for you. Dave read it and when I asked him about it he said, "Eh." I should've known better as he says this about most things. It's an excellent book. Go get it. Now. I'll wait....

As I was reading it, I kept thinking, this would make a great movie. But as I got further into it and the way the characters were developed and presented, I changed my mind. I think the best way to present this to the masses (besides forced literacy) would be as a TV series, possibly even animated so you could really see the creatures and landscape as the author presents in his writing.

I'm supposed to be reading The Bonesetter's Daughter next (according to my New Year's list) but I'm taking a little side journey. I listened to 1st Degree by James Patterson (with Andrew Gross) on audiobook. It was OK. I really enjoy James Patterson - he wrote Along Came a Spider and Kiss The Girls, both made in to movies with Morgan Freeman as the main character.

The 1st Degree was entertaining and I like to listen to audiobooks while I make my Stitch Savers (as yet another aside, since being featured on Knitty.com's Cool Stuff page - it's been non-stop with these things! I don't knit anymore, I just make little keychains! Not complaining, mind you, just sayin'). Anyway, it was a pretty good book until the end.

I'll try to convey this without spoiling the ending. I don't know if I'll be successful - you've been warned. There's only 2 people it could possibly be doing these crimes. They discover it's not the one so all of a sudden these 5 smart, tough, well-educated women are all, "Oh NO! Who could it possibly be????" Seriously? And note to killer - If you're going to attack a policewoman in her home with a knife, wouldn't it occur to you that she might, I know it's a stretch, but she just might have a gun?

Anyway, it got me to thinking how much I enjoyed his Alex Cross books and I decided to read/listen to everything he's ever done. If you clicked on the Wickipedia link, you'll see what a *crazy* brave endeavor this is.

So - and eventually, I like to try to get back to my original point - my side journey has taken me to James Patterson's first novel The Thomas Berryman Number. It's pretty good so far - I'm about 100 pages in. I love that Patterson has these little tiny chapters (usually over 100 per book) and he has such fast paced goin's on in these thrillers. It's like watching an intelligent (most of the time) action movie!

Is there any author you'd like to read all of? I'd like to read all of Matt Dinniman's stuff but The Shivered Sky seems to be it so far!

Reading til it hurts, Ruth!