Just finished Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.  I can't stop thinking about it.  It is so unnerving because of its speculative future society, because in many ways it is like existing life on earth.  We've got to be so careful about this world!

Previously I had read The Year of the Flood, out of sequence, and unfortunately it was long enough ago that my memory fails me a little.  Nonetheless, I cannot wait to read MaddAddam, which concludes the trilogy.  I'm thinking that the Internet can help me to fill in any gaps.  It was nice that one could read The Year of the Flood withut having read the first book and still follow the amazingly well-developed story.  The events of the two novels occur concurrently, which makes for an interesting experience traveling in the unfortunate world that Atwood describes.

In any case, reading these dystopian novels makes me want to clean up my act, recycle, go to church, and be good and kind.  Really, I want the world to be a good place, so I aim to do my part.  Fortunately there is the medium of speculative fiction, as we all need to heed these cautionary tales, and thankfully there is Margaret Atwood to visualize where we might be going if we don't shape up.

Please shape up!

On a lighter note, I've been reading many awesome self-help books, particularly those associated with Louise Hay.  All is Well and You Can Create an Exceptional Life.  The first is written with Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz, and is awesome because the M.D. adds science to the notion of positive thinking and affirmations.  The second is written with Cheryl Richardson, and even though I have not yet finished reading it, I'm eager to begin making my affirmations.

I think I'm going to become even more of a positive thinker, and to promote good things as happening in my life.  My mother will be so proud.

Seriously!  If I can just maintain the positive thinking, my plants will stay healthy, I'll feed my cat, and my husband will give me kisses!  Woo hoo!

Also am reading a book by Joanna Trollope called Girl from the South.  It's a great read because it's centered in Charleston and soon London.  How fantastic are British writers anyway, and Lord knows the English know the English language very well.

Have a flash drive loaded up with photos, so who knows what comes next.  I'll keep reading and reporting, positively.

So I finished reading Loving Frank and was not prepared for the tragic ending from real life.  I wish that I had heeded my initial peek at Wikipedia for the actual real events, but I got so caught up in the characters that I actually finished the book and read the afterword by Nancy Horan, only to remember that it was a dreadful conclusion.

Although, I'm glad that I read the book that had been so well written and engaging, despite my initial objections to the apparent immorality.  Actually the questions of true love and women's independence kind of trumped the initial chagrin, and I found myself agreeing  with the author about the significance of Mamah Borthwick's story.

In any case, the events of the story led me to believe that celebrity is a silly idea, and that people should never be so up in other people's business.  I still believe that Frank Lloyd Wright did great work, and now I'm just so sorry to hear of the tragedy in his sphere.

In light of ensuring that everyone stays comfortable, the purpose of this post is to remind everyone to check out the true events of this novel first, or to at least proceed with caution.  I think that if I had assimilated the words on the back flap appropriately, I never would have been so shocked.  Or heeded the wisdom of the Wikipedia.   In any case, I'm truly a rube, and maybe this is why folks should not drop out of architecture school prematurely, and maybe we all should just do our homework.

So, yeah, really enjoyed The Art Forger, as would anyone who loves to think about making art, or just reading books about it.

What was even more exciting was Angelopolis, the follow-up to Angelology, both by Danielle Trussoni.  Fantastic, yet fascinatingly sound.  What interesting characters, and of course, angelic events.  I don't want to give it away by trying to explain it!

I'm also behind the times reading Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan.  Actually I'm usually behind the times with my reading selections, if that hasn't been noticed.  What is so irritating about Loving Frank is the marital infidelity, so I haven't just finished the book, and am drawing it out unnecessarily because of my morals.  Yet I can't deny being curious about the outcome of these characters, despite my bitterness over not becoming an architect my own self.

Thankfully!  This book has made me realize the limits of my ego, which obviously needs constant stoking, despite my dismay over the questionable morals of a real live genius.  Since I'm clearly not an amazing artistic genius my own self, I'm thankfully free to keep up a silly blog with not outstanding graphics.  Yay!

What I have learned from all of this recent reading is that the most important thing to me right now is to  keep on reading and to maintain a positive attitude.  Seriously!  Really what else is there to do but to smile and to make sure that everybody's comfortable, also with a good book in hand.