Update Post? Zzzzzz

It's been a dull week here at the Fyf. The cats have been only low-key amusing. I've been collecting important supplies for crafting but have yet to generate anything new this week. Lazy slob, I know. I haven't cooked anything too fancy nor tried anything too exciting for takeout. I enjoyed a couple of free concerts in the US Army Field Band's Chamber Music series - one with flute and the other with clarinet selections. They were fantastic, both well over the hour mark in length and chock full of beautiful music. It looks like they tour the country, so if you get the chance hit them up. Lovely, plus people know not to clap between movements - huzzah for fellow music nerds and our persnickity ways!

Today Hubster and I hit up DuClaw Brewing Company for happy hour with friends, and I tried their Misfit Red ale. Delicious beer, totally insane crowds. I guess it was an event night when they debuted a new brew, but still, yikes. Still, the beer was fantastic. Worth a little crowd surfing. I just had the one and I didn't try any food, so maybe we'll return sometime and check them out more fully, but it was fine for a casual get together.

Oh, and I've finished reading several books. I was hoping to write one big recap with all of them together, but frankly, I'm not motivated to write that much. So here are my truncated reviews:

Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club: I love this murder-mystery/literary thriller because of the interesting, fairly good characterization, the period detail (it's set in the mid-19th century), and the excellent plotting. Read List Priority? High.

Tracy Chevalier's The Lady and the Unicorn: Better known for the Girl with the Pearl Earring (which I've yet to read, although the movie was gorgeous), this author's style is beautiful prose with well-drawn characters, but aside from those features, I didn't really love it. It was interesting because of the period detail, but the plot and story still left something to be desired. Read List Priority? Medium.

Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire: As I alluded in previous post, it was because I so enjoyed The Historian (review here), that I decided to delve into other vampire-themed books when I picked it up. At her best, Rice describes the apparently heightened vampire senses of sight and hearing and movement and in those descriptions, there's rich detail and inventive passages. The story involves an at-times reluctant vampire wrestling with the morality of killing to survive eternally. It seemed as though the rationalizations of the character lacked depth in some way - the changes were too sudden and convenient to the plot. I don't know. Ultimately, I found it unsatisfying. Read List Priority? Low.

Right now I'm plowing through Matthew Pearl's second novel, The Poe Shadow, but it's not nearly as engaging as The Dante Club, and I'm finding it hard to sympathize with the main character's obsession with Poe's death considering the he has rather slim reasons to ignore his future wife and his work responsibilities. It's annoying enough that I don't actually choose to the read the book often. Not usually a good sign, right? We'll see if I finish. For now, enjoy this totally unrelated picture:


Experimenting with the poster edges filter in Photoshop. (Incidentally, should I be alarmed that our church's trees are budding now, in the dead of winter? I totally love this tree. Don't die, Tree!)