*blinks*

*looks up again*

Oh, Susan *C*, not Susan *W*.

Look, Ma, I get the second double-take of the day. Welcome, Susan C. I don't know nothing about Tulsa, except that Mercedes Lackey lives there. And it's flat.

msbelle, I believe you are right that Atwood, sadly, assembled "Handmaid's Tale" from various bits of verifiable fact. It makes me have a cold shiver and a deep sense of gratitude that I myself have enjoyed a goodly portion of civil rights in my time.

Here is probably a good moment to mention that I've just read the new Sharon Shinn novel, "Angel-Seeker," and the storyline goes into the question of slavery. Not just your traditional kidnapped from your home and laboring in the fields slavery, but also the sort of restrictions upon women practiced by certain cultures who like to keep their women all locked up.

Amazon really, really believes I want to read Barbara Erskine's Lady of Hay. Do I? Especially given that I hated Outlander?

I remember Lady of Hay being a really entertaining book. Then again, I read it years ago, so I may have blanked out anything bad about it.

It was the second book my mom (a big historical romance fan) recommended to me; the first was Jude Deveraux's Knight in Shining Armor, which is my most favorite guilty-pleasure book ever.

I couldn't get into LoH, but that was years ago. Just didn't grab me. But I loved Outlander so YTimeTravelRomanceMV.

Atwood: Love, love her! But I didn't love Oryx & Crake at all. I just kind of wandered through it, undrawn. I don't remember "BA" all that well, but I need to give it a re-read after finals are over.

I second the notion of "Cat's Eye" as my favorite -- it deals with the cruelty of girls to girls. It's a fucking great book, and yes, it is disturbing as hell, but it's right.

After that, it's Alias Grace, which I also love, and have read several times (wasn't there talk of a movie? Must go look) and then the Robber Bride. I love the characters in that book.

Handmaid's Tale got my int Atwood, and I wrote a couple of papers on it in college. Haven't read it in years, but it's more anvilly than her others.

On another note, has anyone seen "Mean Girls?" Yes, I know, movie, but I'm interesting in it because it was written by Tina Fey, and based on her reading of a NF book: "Queen Bees and Wanna-be's" which is about the ways that teenage girls deal with one another. I'm interested to see how it pans out. Anyone read the book? Thoughts? Opionions? I haven't seen/read either, but I'm kinda curious.

I had no interest until I saw that Tina Fey wrote it. Now I'm intrigued.

I remember Lady of Hay being a really entertaining book. Then again, I read it years ago, so I may have blanked out anything bad about it.

Lady of Hay was a time-travel book? I remember reading it, quite a while back, but my memory must be more faulty than usual.

I got some books today!

The one of import is Murther and Walking Spirits, by Robertson Davies. I loved the Deptford Trilogy, and the main character is murdered in the first sentence, so I had to get it.

I also got some books from my childhood. Remember Me and The Cold One by Christopher Pike, and Incognito Mosquito, Private Insective. Is anyone else a huge Pike fan? Anyone else know Incognito Mosquito?

Anyone else know Incognito Mosquito?

No, but I love him already.

I second the notion of "Cat's Eye" as my favorite -- it deals with the cruelty of girls to girls. It's a fucking great book, and yes, it is disturbing as hell, but it's right.

Third.

Discoveries made while reading Entertainment Weekly during lunch:

A Widow for One Year is being released as the movie The Door in the Floor, with Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Mimi Rogers, Jon Foster, Bijou Philips and Dakota Fanning's little sister. John Irving liked what they did with the screenplay and sold them the rights for $1.00.

Kevin Kline is starring in a Cole Porter movie called De-Lovely.

Nicholas Spark's The Notebook is coming out in June. Eh. Still, Gena Rowlands, Joan Allen, James Garner.

This coming Sunday, The Book of Ruth is coming out on CBS. Now, I never read this, after a gathering in which every woman who'd read the book swore she needed therapy after reading it. What do folks here think of the book? On the plus side, Christine Lahti is in it. After Running on Empty (which you must see if you haven't already), I'd watch her in about anything.

I have read that book. It was a long time ago, but I seem to remember it being a sort of Bastard Out of Carolina kind of traumatizing.