SPN fans should take note of the names, personalities, and relationship of two young characters introduced about partway through the book.

Hee! I thought I caught that, but since I'm not a SPN-watcher, it didn't completely jump out at me. If that makes any sense.

Has anybody read the book of The Ring ? That the movies were based on? It's our book club selection this month and I'm wondering if it will freak me out too much. I didn't think the American version of it was very good but it caused me not to be able to sleep for DAYS. And I had to turn off the ads for the sequel and for the dvds of it because it bothered me so much.

I didn't know it was a book! Huh.

I didn't know it was a book! Huh.

I know, right? I've been saying all year that I was skipping October but then I had to miss September's book and meeting due to busy and I'd hate to miss two in a row. but I'm not reading something that's going to freak my shit out!

Good to have a scary book for October...and that's all I've got. I didn't even know it was a book.

Can someone give me the cliff notes with spoilers for The Road ? I don't want to read it without knowing how it turns out.

I have a coworker who keeps insulting my reading and writing tastes, as best as I can tell without any awareness that she's doing so. (She's a nice person in many ways, but the Tact Fairy was NOT present at her christening.) She knew I'd written and unsuccessfully attempted to market a romance, which seemed to flabbergast her--IIRC, she even said something along the lines of being surprised that such an obviously intelligent person would choose to write trashy books. (!)

Anyway, today she was asking what I was writing now and why I'd changed genres. I described what I was working on now--alternate history, but basically historical adventure--and that the appeal for me, as a reader and writer, was the epic sweep of the plot and the idea that one person's actions could have a meaningful impact upon the world. She then said, "But isn't that really a teen fantasy--I mean what YA books are all about? Is there really an adult market for that sort of thing?" I happened to have Naomi Novik's latest with me, and I said something like, "Well, she writes something along the same lines, and she's doing pretty well for herself." Cow-orker replied, "But do adults read these things? I mean, besides you?"

(Just to clear up any possible confusion, I love good YA and would happily write it if I had a suitable idea--I only resent it being suggested that my tastes in fiction are a mark of emotional immaturity, and that real grown-ups don't enjoy adventure stories or books with dragons on the covers.)

She looked at the book and decided it maybe looked like a good idea, and then said, "How come she's published and you're not?" I sputtered something about her having finished the first book in her series at least a couple of years ago, while I only started my WIP at the beginning of the summer. I mean, I waffle between thinking I'm brilliant and I suck, sometimes within the course of an hour or two, so I don't even pretend to know how my writing compares to Novik's. But I do know I can't sell what I haven't written!

Believe it or not, from my other interactions with this person, I'm sure she likes me and means well. But I dread when she corners me to ask about my book.

That woman needs a tact transplant.

"I Don't know...if I knew that, would I be talking to you?" Or for the Ron White fans: "I can *get* published. You can't fix stupid."

Cow-orker replied, "But do adults read these things? I mean, besides you?"

If she mentions it again, you can tell her that you should certainly hope so, as she's an award-winning author whose series has been optioned by Peter Jackson.

"But do adults read these things? I mean, besides you?"

You could also reply "Does the name J.K. Rowling mean anything to you?"