So last night, after watching a couple more of the Sharpe movies (mad props to everyone who suggested I watch them) and talking to my exhausted sweetie (Monday is her long day), I went to bed to curl up with a book. One of my favorite comics is Unshelved and the Sunday edition is called the Book Club where the strip focuses on a recommended book. (This is a bad thing for a junkie like me.) Anyway, a few weeks ago, it did a strip on a book called Inside Job by Connie Willis; you can see the strip here. It's more of a novella, coming in around 90 pages and it's fantastic. I finished the whole thing before I fell asleep. I recommend it highly. Despite what the strip says, the Urbana Free Library has a copy; it's not mine.

I've read two other books that I want to mention. My audiobook for this last trek to L'ville was A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Sometimes when you're bogged down in the drudgery of everyday life thinking cosmically helps. This is a really good book, although it's incredibly dense. My head ached a bit after from absorbing (or trying to absorb) too much at once.

The other book is No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I'd never read McCarthy before, but I really enjoyed this novel, a kind of updated film noir story taking place in Texas. I completely hated the ending. Not the plot (the storyline had a sense of inevitability to it), but how the author chose to structure it. I felt like he switched his focus from one character to another at a moment when the focus stood have stayed fast. But I enjoyed it.

I guess that's it for now. I'm at work and should try to accomplish something, although I have a meeting in less than half an hour and I'm on the desk this afternoon.

Smart Paladin 70% Combativeness, 33% Sneakiness, 67% Intellect, 61% Spirituality

Valorous! Noble! Or possibly just a self-righteous jerk (but with the brains to keep you alive!)... You are a Smart Paladin! Paladins are holy warriors. They are valorous defenders of the light. Unfortunately, most of them are so ardent in their defense they tend to meet sticky ends faster than you can say "rampaging red dragon." Many people look up to Paladins, while others just consider them stuck up, overbearing, or self-righteous. Fortunately for you, unlike most Paladins, you're pretty smart. Which means that you're more likely to fall into the "admired" category, rather than the "obnoxious" or "dead" categories. Much like the crusades, you manage to combine violence and religion, though unlike the crusades, you add a healthy does of intelligence. You may be a staunch defender of the faith, a valorous champion of the weak, or the stuff that jihads are made of. Which ever one you are, just be happy that you’ve got the smarts to back it up and make it work.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 75% on Combativeness You scored higher than 34% on Sneakiness You scored higher than 56% on Intellect You scored higher than 80% on Spirituality

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test