ooops! forgot the title. hello, this is the title. hello.

just finished sara gruen's water for elephants. what a spectacular book! it's difficult to describe... i guess maybe it's a coming-of-age tale? the setting is a circus in 1931 and an assisted living facility in "present day". the descriptions of the settings, the action, and both the circus folk & the old folk -- all are detailed. the dialog is sharp, clear, real. the situations are plausible and yet with it being a circus, fantastic. the pacing is excellent. good, good book!

next up, benjamin pratt & the keepers of the school: we the children. this is the uncorrected proof i received out of the blue the other day. have no idea how that happened, but i am not one to turn down free books! it came with a card encouraging me to email the editor and tell her what i think about it. wonder if i'll get more if i don't reply about this one.

what about ol' tiger, back in the swing of things at the master's? the crowds have been welcoming him back, and really, who doesn't deserve a second chance. can you imagine having your foibles made public -- and by public i don't mean folks in your neighborhood know you've been messing around on your old lady, i mean The World knows. jeezumpete, that would just be humiliating, don't you think? and then to have to get up in front of everyone and play a sport that requires calm nerves and steely focus. it's hard enough to simply perform at golf while be stared at by the others in your foursome, much less dozens or maybe hundreds of live onlookers, much less millions more via teevee, but to know what they all must be thinking... sheesh. so, i am giving ol' tiger a second chance, and we'll just see what he does with it. i know he'll be happy to know about this, because i know that my allowances mean a lot to him.