I can’t believe that my bathroom was appropriately cleaned the day that my toilet wouldn’t flush and I had to have the landlord fix it for me. Very fortuitous. P.S. My toilet flushes now.

Review # 1
I just finished “The Golden Mean” by Annabel Lyon. It’s about this guy who lives in the ancient Greek times, who is assigned to tutor Alexander (the Great as that character will be known later in history, but that hasn’t happened yet in this book), and who studied with Plato. Only the name of this guy isn’t actually given in the book until the afterward, and then only in the second paragraph (twice). (And I guess it’s mentioned on the jacket blurb, which is always a spoiler, anyway.) But then, the main narrative is in the first person, so having his name pointed out isn’t necessary. There is a writing conceit in this book where “hints” of needed details or plot points are given before the actual details or plot points are described. Annoying at first, where I think I’ve missed something and read back a few paragraphs only to not find anything until a few lines after the “hints” are given. Then I found it sly and subtle (and something I do not want to adopt myself– I don’t need to prove to my reader that I am smarter then them since I know more about what is going on than in my story they do.)

Review # 2: Avatar (IN 3D!)
“Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” I had to keep telling myself, as the plot became clear, and the scenes where we got to “know” the “new world” and the “budding romantic relationship” stretched longer than I found comfortable. For the most part, I listened to myself. My favorite parts were the little particles of stuff that seemed to come right out of the screen that I reached out to swat away! (I LOVE 3D)

Review #3
I cleaned my house up last week and for the most part it is still very tidy. I’m quite proud of myself. (Except for the pile of the weekend Globe and Mail that is spread out on the floor beside my chair.)