I’m such a procrastinator! I meant to have this post up over the weekend. For shame!

So, here’s part two of the post-op/summer reading list.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith: OK, so I am a little behind on this book. I picked it up once before and was very amused by the title, but ultimately dropped it for something more shiny (probably).  So this novel takes Jane Austen’s original work and adds in some zombie flavor. Maybe Elizabeth eats Darcy’s brain (or vice versa). The possibilities are scrumptious (in a non-zombie eating way).

Don’t You Forget About Me by Jancee Dunn:  Lily is a Manhattan tv producer who finds herself suddenly dumped by her husband who declares that he “is bored.” Lily leaves the high pressure of the city and heads home just in time for her 20-year high school reunion. This novel is supposed to be chock full of ’80s nostalgia (for heaven’s sake, the title is from an 80′s song!) and reminiscing about times gone by. Lily is apparently so taken with the 80′s nostalgia and the feelings of home, she starts behaving quite like her teenage self. *SQUEE*

If You Knew Suzy by Katherine Rosman: Katherine Rosman is in a horrible position. Her mother, Suzy, is dying of cancer at the age of 60. Stumbling through the grief and pain, Katherine, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, begins to “investigate” her mother. Who was she? How did people remember her? Where did she go on her solo summer vacations? I can’t wait to read this one. Having some experience in the mother-loss area, I am intrigued by the idea of investigating a parent for the person they were to others.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris:  The 10th installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series! Need I say more?! Yes – watch True Blood on HBO. It’s all too delicious for words.

Spooky Little Girl by Laurie Notaro: Lucy Fisher comes home from a vacation to find that she has been vacated! Fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, things look pretty glum. Then, Lucy gets hit by a bus and even then can’t catch a break. Instead of just being dead and passing into the afterlife, Lucy must complete a ghostly assignment before she gets her wings. How awesome is that? Laurie Notaro RULES and I so love that she is dipping into fiction!

So there’s another 5 on my reading list. Leave me a comment with what is on your summer reading list!

More of the reading list to come!

It doesn’t have to be a particular day
I don’t have to feel blue
To remind me that you’re gone
And I’m here without you

I don’t have to hear a song
One that we used to sing
To rip open the jagged wound
And set it to sting

It doesn’t need to rain
And the sun doesn’t have to shine bright
For me to miss your presence
And feel the void like a lonely night

I don’t have to smile
Or hide my need to cry
To feel the searing pain
Of our last goodbye

There doesn’t have to be a reason
For my heart to break anew
Because as long as my body draws breath
I’ll be missing you
©KMH 2009

I miss you, Mom

These songs are haunting me today. Right-click and Save As, or I’ll thwap you.

• Tina Arena – Chains
• Corinne Bailey Rae – Just Like a Star
• Jordin Sparks – Tattoo
• Anna Nalick – Wreck of the Day
• Jann Arden – Insensitive
• Alicia Keys – The Thing About Love
• Cyndi Lauper – You Really Got A Hold On Me
• Dido – White Flag

Enjoy.

Am I the only one that develops Song of the Moment™ crushes? A Song of the Moment™ is a song you love SO much, you play it five times in a row and want to play it more, but are afraid of what the neighbors might think. Occasionally, Song of the Moment™ becomes Songs of the Moment™. A whole little crop of them will pop up. So, I am going to share my SOTMs with you.

Even if you have never heard of a couple of these people, give them a listen. I heart all these songs. And before anyone can yell at me, yes, I still think Britney Spears is a skank. *Doing my best Britney Spears accent while chewing gum* But I totally love this song, y’all!

Remember, right-click and save as or I will sell your phone numbers to telemarketers. Mwuhahahaha!

• Cameras are flashing while we’re dirty dancing/
  They keep watchin’ (Wait)/
  Keep watchin/
  (Feel’s like the crowd is saying)/
  Gimme Gimme More
  – Britney Spears

• They tried to make me go to Rehab/
  I said no, no, no./
  Yes I been black, but when I come back/
  You wont know, know, know./
  – Amy Winehouse

• Just like a star across my sky,/
  Just like an angel off the page,/
  You have appeared to my life,/
  Feel like I’ll never be the same,/
  Just like a song in my heart,/
  Just like oil on my hands,/
  Honour to love you/
  – Corinne Bailey Rae

• And now you want somebody/
  To cure the lonely nights/
  You wish you had somebody/
  That could come and make it right/
  But girl I ain’t somebody with a lot of sympathy/
  You’ll see/
  (What goes around comes back around)
  -Justin Timberlake

• Maybe sometimes, we’ve got it wrong, but it’s alright/
  The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same/
  Oh, don’t you hesitate./
  Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song/
  You go ahead, let your hair down/
  Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,/
  Just go ahead, let your hair down./
  -Corinne Bailey Rae

• I’ve been awake for a while now/
  you’ve got me feelin like a child now/
  cause every time i see your bubbly face/
  I get the tinglies in a silly place/
  -Colbie Caillat

Enjoy!

Sometimes it is necessary
To re-teach a thing its loveliness.
-Galway Kinnell, St. Francis and the Sow

Still I Rise
by Maya Angelou
     
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

I haven’t uploaded any music for awhile, so I decided to toss some tunes up there. Right-click and save to your own computer or I will be forced to thwap you.

• Chris Daughtry – Crashed
• Howie Day – Collide
• Kelly Clarkson – Because of You
• Jewel – Good Day
• Seether featuring Amy Lee – Broken
• Anna Nalick – Wreck of the Day
• Portishead – Glorybox
• Paula Cole – Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?
• Tina Arena – Chains

Enjoy!