Winter Daze

This is the weather in our corner of the world at the moment.  It's relatively warm (if icy for walking) but it's also very gray and dull out.  I hate to whine, truly, but this mild and gray weather is getting me down.  Storms are not the answer either, what I want is some good old fashioned sunshine.  Taking vitamin D in pill form is getting really old.

That's more what I'm talking about.  Tropical sunshine would be nice, hey, a tropical vacation would be even nicer.  But a good solid week of sunshine would really go a long way towards making life brighter.  

What is it about sunshine that makes everything seem easier?  Bothersome tasks seem to finish themselves.  People seem chattier and happier in general.  You start to clean up and organize something, and the next thing you know the job is done, and you've finished the next room too!  Even if it's cold out, if the sun is shining its easier to motivate yourself out the door and around the block, or around the lake if you have enough time.

I finished the last Seanan McGuire book "One Salt Sea".  That's the end of the series until "Ashes of Honour" is released in September.  All of the other books I had been piddling around reading just paled in comparison to these books.  I love Toby Daye's voice and attitude.  I get caught up in the action as she is swept into each new adventure.  Of all the books I have read, I can imagine this series being made into an amazing set of movies, or even a TV series like the "Game of Thrones".  If they could find a director who followed the books and respected the character, that is.  And if they didn't try to cast Lindsay Lohan or some other actress who doesn't know how to act as the lead.  I loved the "Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, and am looking forward to seeing the first movie when its released.  I raved about "Game of Thrones" series to one of my sons for over a year before he actually started to read it.  Now he's hooked and its been made into a very successful TV series by HBO.  Another example of a successful transition is Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, which has become the HBO series "True Blood"

The message is not that I am an expert critic who can predict what kind of books will successfully move into another media.  Instead, there are just some authors and books which are so vivid and stand out in your mind so clearly that you can "see" them, and I believe that Seanan McGuire is another author whose work is capable of this switch.  Of course, in order to enjoy these books, you have to enjoy reading the fantasy genre of fiction where you are prepared to believe that there is a parallel universe of fae creatures.

At the moment I am taking a break from reading (actually, I'm pouting because my Toby Daye books are finished) fiction, and I'm reading a feel-good book called "Unlikely Friendships" by Jennifer S. Holland.  The book is a collection of very brief stories outlining unlikely relationships between animals of different species.  The kind of stories which turn up on Utube with pictures of dogs nursing kittens, or tigers playing with pigs.  Its just a feel-good, happy kind of book that doesn't tax your brain remembering long lists of characters.  You know when you see the cover that nobody is going to be in peril, there will be no forensic investigations, and love and tolerance will prevail!