My nest is apparently lined with books

I have been sitting on my hands in order not to buy more books. I am in a fidgety kind of mood lately, in which I want things to be "finished." The painting in my apartment (still not done, but it's looking good for mid-to-end of December), the buying of furniture, the decorating, all of it. Of course I know it's a process, that it won't all get done overnight, blah blah blah. I still want it DONE.

*shrug*

I'm weird, I know.

Anyway, my fidgety "I-want-it-DONE" mood is translating into books. Specifically, books that "complete" a series. I have been reading a lot of series of late, and many of these were lent to me by friend (owldaughter and toughlovemuse are the worst offenders in this department, but there have been others). The problem with that is that I then want to have the books on hand, for when I will inevitably re-read them. There are few books I own that I haven't read more than once. So I buy the books when I see them on the shelves, especially when they're second-hand. This presents me with a second problem: bookstores (especially second-hand bookstores) have no consideration AT ALL for my OCD tendencies, and stubbornly refuse to sell the books to me in the order in which I want them. Many times they actually don't even have the books in the store! Shocking, I know.

So last week I went on a bit of a binge, and managed to complete a number of the series in which I had large gaps. I now own all the Kelley Armstrong novels except the most recent one. Katharine Kerr went on the list, as did Lynn Flewelling (known on LJ as otterdance, Jim Butcher, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Dianne Day, Gregory MacGuire, C.J. Cherryh (I was good and only bought one), and a few others. I was disappointed not to find any of Carole Nelson Douglas' Irene Adler series: they had a few of her Midnight Louie books, but I haven't read any of those yet, and if I do I'd like to start with the first one and work my way through them in order (yes, I know, OCD). They look like they might be fun, though, since Midnight Louie is a crime-solving cat.

Also, because I didn't want to just buy books I had already read or were part of a series I already owned, and because I clearly needed more books to my name (I figure I'm safe so long as I have fewer books than owldaughter: she's my measuring stick), I bought myself a copy of Kushiel's Dart, which I started on Friday and then didn't have the time to continue until today. I'm enjoying it so far: it's refreshing to have a very obviously French-inspired fantasy setting, as opposed to a Gaelic one (don't get me wrong: when they're good, they're excellent; it's just that everyone and their cousin uses Celtic mythology, it seems), and I'm very much interested by the hints of the court intrigue and adventure that are being hinted at in the early pages of the novel. Overall I've heard good things about the series, and so far I have no reason to think otherwise.

Okay. Back to work.

LJ is meant to be down in the morning, but since I plan to be asleep during that time I hope that the transition will be seamless for me. I hope they can pull it off without losing data, because otherwise that'll be over six years' worth of journalling that will go down the tubes. Not the end of the world, but certainly a sentimental loss for me.

Why is everything scheduled when I'm on night shift?

The cleaning lady comes tomorrow, again. This is a Good Thing, except of course that that's when I should be sleeping. *sigh* Clean house. Clean house is good. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Had a doctor's appointment today, with the doctor replacing my GP who had the poor taste to go and die on me. :P Also a Good Thing, except it was also scheduled when I should have been sleeping. Slept before and after, not too bad all around.

Thursday and Friday I have nothing scheduled. Thank God. Will "catch up" on sleep then. Busy weekend, then work starts up again Monday morning. Extremely short weekend, given that I'll be finishing work on Saturday morning. Bleah.

I am tired and disinclined to go to work this week. This always happens to me after I've been on vacation for not-quite-long-enough. I get all my stuff done, but there has been little time in which to just recuperate, and so I go back to work having properly switched my brain to "vacation" and my body still in "really tired" mode. I'm getting sort-of two weeks at Christmas. With any luck, I'll be able to use that time to recuperate.

Got word that a friend I knew briefly at Boomerang is starting up with us in December, which is very exciting stuff. One more person to help take the work load off the rest of us, although she won't be operational until late January at the very earliest. Still, it's a good sign. The more people join up, the better.

Okay. Gotta get dressed and get cracking.

Book Meme

From bodhifox, a meme:

* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions on your LJ.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

"I'll hire a tutor to continue your teaching in such arts, until you come of age and may debide for yourself if you wish o serve Naamah."

-Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Dart