The Best Laid Plans of Dawgs and Zam...

...almost always go astray. Ok, so I'm no Robert Burns. I admit it.

*sigh*

Gretchen, we apologize. Actually, Zam should apologize. But, I am sorry, too.

We're changing the book list. Actually, ZAM is changing the book list.

Here's the deal: I finished reading Lost, and so, I queried, "Zam, which of the 4 books you picked shall we read next?" Her response was something to the effect of the fact that she no longer "liked" the remaining 3 choices she had made, and so, we started all over, searching for something, shall we say, "lighter"?

So, scrap that last list from the previous post. Here are the TWO books that Zam has now settled on. (And I will hold her to this, since my summer is drawing closer and closer to an end, and I still have to re-read my novels that I teach every year.)

1. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
2. Running With Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

*whew*

There you have it. Sorry to make you have to run to the library AGAIN...

I'll be done with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tomorrow, I am sure. I just started today, and I am a good 200 pages into it. I am totally digging it. I cracked open the book to the first page of Chapter 1, and all I could think as I began to read was This is the chapter that Rowling has had planned out in her mind for the last 13 years...

That is amazing. I had wondered how in the world she could possibly have known for 13 years what would be happening in that first chapter, but after reading it, it all makes sense.

Brilliant. Bloody f-ing brilliant.

It's Time for a GD Post

Freakin' A. This is ridiculous.

I cannot believe how long it has been since we posted here. It's insane.

Not to make excuses, but...at least I have an excuse. And, it's a good one. No, really. It is. Take my word for it. And if you don't believe me, ask Zam. She'll stick up for me on this one.

Anyway, let me update you, Gretchen (since you are probably the last person on the planet that still reads here), on some things that have been happening since I last posted.

• School has ended and I am on vacation.
• After 8 years, I am once again single--and slightly recovered from the devastation.
  
• I now know all about the various controversies surrounding Shakespeare, as well as many techniques used by CSI's and forensic scientists (got A's in both classes--go me!).
• I have a dark and lovely farmer tan, complete with hat line on the forehead, after 9 days of parking cars at the annual German Festival.
• I have finally been able to sleep in every day this week because I have NO obligations from now until August.

And so, now what do I do with my time? Well, Zam and I have decided to start up the "Dawggone Long Distance Zamsterson Book Club." Or, as I like to call it, the DLDZBC. :) Anyway, basically, we decided that we would read the same books this summer so that we could not so much discuss the books, as much as basically read 'em and then say to each other, "So, what did you think?" And then reply, "I liked it." And hear in response, "Me, too."

And then, be done with it.

Ya know?

So, for those of you out there who would like to play along with the home version, here are the four books that the DLDZBC has chosen for the summer of 2005:

1. Lost by Gregory Maguire
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
4. A Widow For One Year by John Irving

Of course, since Zam has dubbed me "Speed Reader," I shall be reading other books in between these four selections, not the least of which will be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (my copy has been on pre-order through Powells.com since January).

I just finished reading Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet by John Douglas and Stephen Singular, and I am now currently reading Naked Prey by John Sanford, and awaiting the green light from Zam to begin reading Lost. So, there is still time for those of you who want to jump in on this to do so!

Hurry!