I was tagged by my sister Maki from In My Element with this name meme. She’s just laughing away that my name has 8 letters in it and 2 of them are I’s. Well, I did it, and the joke’s on you, sissy! ;)
So the meme: here’s how it works…

List one fact, word or tidbit that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your first or middle name. You can theme it to your blog or make it general. Then tag one person for each letter of your name.

This wasn’t easy. Fortunately, Facebook has a name analyzer that came up with:

• Kissable
• Romantic
• Inventive
• Soulful
• Tranquil
• Innocent
• Nice
• Artistic

I asked my husband if he agreed with these and all he said was, “Innocent?”
Unfortunately, I don’t think Facebook knows me enough to speak for me, so I’ll do this myself… here goes:

• K is for Kiki, my nickname since I was a little girl. Only a (very) few friends and and family members still call me that. It’s okay when it comes out of their mouths, but when it comes out of someone else’s mouth… it just feels wrong. Not even my husband is allowed to call me that.
• R is for Reading. Duh!
• I is for inspiration. I’m looking for some – NaNoWriMo is coming and I haven’t the slightest idea what to write about.
• S is for sister. I’m a younger sister, older sister, and sister-in-law. Because of it, I’m also an aunt to 2 adorable kids I love to bits.
• T is for teacher — that’s what I am.
• I is for innocent. Yessiree!
• N is for novel… some day, you’ll find one in the bookstore with my name across the front.
• A is for aspiring, as in I aspire to be and do more in my life.

Now, I’m apparently supposed to tag a number of people equal to the number of letters in my name. For those of you that I tag, you can choose whether or not you’d like to do it. No pressure!

1. Jennifer at Spaghetti Harvest
2. Mary June Brown
3. Lilli from Bookbabie
4. Shari at Waves and Words
5. Fence at Susan Hated Literature
6. Karen (aka Sassymonkey) at Sassymonkey Reads
7. Charlene at The Literary Word
8. And finally… because I’m curious to see if it’s possible she’d actually find out I tagged her (and do the meme as hilariously as everything she does)… Joshilyn Jackson at Faster Than Kudzu. Fingers crossed on that one ;)

First off, congrats to Heather over at A High and Hidden Place on the birth of her little baby boy!

I went to the book store today. Let me just say that I had no intention of buying any books other than the two I went to the book store specifically to buy for my new job — Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (the copy I got from my new workplace doesn’t look appealing to me, it’s too thick and it’s been battered a bit, so I thought I’d get my own copy), and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (which I’m certain I have, but can’t seem to find no matter where I look).

Now, in my review of Sybil Brinton’s Old Friends and New Fancies, I mentioned that I might set myself a personal challenge to read all of Austen’s novels by the end of 2008. So while I didn’t really intend to buy any more than the 2 books I came for, imagine my delight when I saw a display with all her books and they were on sale. It was like kismet… I made the resolution to myself and lo and behold a display was set up JUST FOR ME. These books were beautiful too. I had noticed them a few months ago in the book store and thought that the covers were just so striking — modern, yet Austenesque (especially the one of P&P, right), but I resisted. They were still a little too expensive for me back then at regular price. I may have mentioned before that I like deals and I rarely buy anything unless it’s on sale.

But today, the beautiful books were on sale 3 for $25. I told myself I could do 3 for $25. It seemed like a good enough deal to me. So, there I was, carrying my 3 for $25 Austen novels around (I chose Persuasion, P&P, and Mansfield Park) and I started wandering the book store. Now that I no longer work at the library, I sort of miss being surrounded by books. And, now that I no longer work at the library, I’m not feeling too badly about buying books. Especially when they’re on sale. So I wandered… straight into the bargain section. And what should cross my path?

Another display table full of Dover classic books with very exciting $4.99 stickers on them, including all of Jane Austen’s novels (except Northanger Abbey for some reason, which is fine since I have it on my iPod) and A Tale of Two Cities, all unabridged. So I did some math (which hurts my brain, people. I do not like math) and 3 books for $25 comes out to $8.33 a book. So the Dover books, which, while not having the beautiful covers I had coveted for months, did have very pretty looking covers, so they won out.But! It gets better… I went to pay for my books (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and A Tale of Two Cities), and usually, when I’m going to pay for things, I put myself through the brain hurt and calculate how much it will be, so 6 books at $5 each + tax was working out to about $32. So just imagine how good I felt when the cashier told me the books were actually on sale 3 for $10 (though there wasn’t any sign saying so, not that I was about to ask her if she was sure about that), and then she said that I could use my membership rewards card on it as well for even further discounts. Yay! So I got 6 books for $18.00. Pretty, happy, shiny new books…

And yes, my frugality kept me from buying To Kill A Mockingbird. I’m sure I have it somewhere in my house. I just couldn’t do it.

When my friend picked this novel for our book club’s next read, I initially thought it was going to be a chick lit novel about a guy named Astrid and a girl named Veronika. Was I ever wrong!

This is the lovely and beautifully-written story about two lonely, grieving women who come into each other’s lives at a time when the other was needed the most. Astrid is an old woman, living alone in the same small village in Sweden she has lived in her entire life. She is known as the reclusive village “witch” who shuts herself away from the rest of the villagers.

Veronika is a thirty-year old woman, come back to her native Sweden to grieve the loss of her fiance and work on her novel. She rents the house next door to Astrid’s and settles in to write, though she can not seem to make any progress.

Every day, Veronika wakes up early to take a daily walk before sitting down to work on her novel, and while she has never seen Astrid, she always waves to her as she passes the old woman’s house, certain she must be watching from her darkened windows. When a few days pass and Veronika hasn’t taken her usual morning walk, Astrid finds that she has become concerned that something may have happened to her. She goes over to check on her and finds a feverish and grief-stricken Veronika holed up in her house. Astrid invites herself in and makes them pancakes and tea, and from that day on, the two women form a friendship that allows them to tell each other their stories and heal in the process.

I loved this book. The language is beautiful, the writing is poetic and the women and their stories are so emotionally stirring. Their stories are sad, and the novel is certainly melancholic and dismal at times, but it is also a satisfying read precisely because it is so sad. It’s what makes it memorable.

I also liked that it was set in Sweden. I have never been to Sweden and the extent of my knowledge about the country and its culture is sadly limited to what I’ve gleaned while browsing through the products in IKEA’s food shop. But Olsson’s writing is so rich and descriptive that I felt as if I could taste the food and see the nature in the countryside and the houses of the little village as well as if I’d been there myself.

Lovely book, engrossing read, highly recommended.

Lately, I have gobbled up the Pride & Prejudice sequels and retellings, and loved them. So I guess it was just a matter of time before I came across one I didn’t like so much.

Old Friends and New Fancies was originally published in 1914 and is the first sequel written to Jane Austen’s stories. In it, Brinton tries to wrap up storylines for some of the characters left hanging in all 6 of Jane Austen’s novels. She weaves all the stories together by playing matchmaker and hooking up characters that she figures would go well together.

I suppose it could be a fun and gratifying read to lots of Austen fans out there, but it wasn’t for me. It could be because I haven’t read all of Austen’s novels yet, so some of the characters I came across were unknown to me. Maybe if I knew more about them, I’d have enjoyed the interactions more. And perhaps in the future, after I have read all the Austen novels, I’ll read Old Friends and New Fancies again and love it. Maybe. But most likely not.

Because here’s what it was about this novel that I didn’t like: the characters I did know, didn’t ring true to me. The primary characters were Mr. Darcy and his wife, Elizabeth. I love these characters. The Mr. Darcy I know is respectful and careful to always do the right thing and Elizabeth is cautious and doesn’t like to spread rumors or gossip with people she doesn’t know. In this novel though, they come across as gossip mongers. Elizabeth seems too interested in matchmaking and seeking out information about people by chatting up near strangers. She seems to want to meddle in other people’s lives, and she’s much more outspoken — more like her mother than the reserved Elizabeth I came to know.

Plus, the language didn’t work for me. Dialogue seemed to be coming out of the wrong characters’ mouths. The way the scenes are described and the characters behave just doesn’t feel right. Maybe I’ll give this book another go after I have read all the Austen novels. That could be a reading challenge I’ll set for myself in 2008.