"I was working with luminous fish and I thought 'Hey. Loom.'"

I'm back! Did you miss me? I have neglected you shamefully, for which I apologize. I'll try to do better.

Herein, a list of books I've read that I haven't talked about yet; also a couple of movies I've seen.

Run by Ann Patchett. An absolutely stellar book-so much so that I now recommend her as an author without having read any of her others.

Sixkill by Robert B. Parker. His last Spenser novel (Parker died in January of last year) has, because of this, a rather melancholy feel, and the sense of something missing or left undone. It's a fine book, a perfectly adequate episode in the Spenser series, but I can't help wondering what the end of the series would have felt like if the author had known it would end. Hawk's absence, in particular, made me wish for something more.

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman. Another author whose books I've started recommending based on only one title. This book is breathtaking-also fairly intense, so fair warning-and evokes, for me, the feeling of Mary Higgins Clark's finest work-although Lippman tends to feel more...immediate, I'd say, probably the result of being from a younger generation.

Dolci di Love and House of Daughters by Sarah-Kate Lynch. These are perfectly fine books, but not life-altering. Dolci is, I think, the better book-House just had too much that I was unwilling to believe. Interesting thoughts about families and what we do for love.

And now for two movies. Something Borrowed...Okay, even by generous "chick-flick" standards this movie is appalling. The respective actors do their best with what they're given-Kate Hudson is alarmingly convincing as the self-absorbed prima donna, and John Krasinksi has to be counting his blessings that he got to play the only sane role in the whole horrifying mess-but this movie is just too awful for words.

Fortunately, Water for Elephants is lovely. And it's nice to see that Robert Pattinson CAN actually act-after the Twilight movies, I have been unconvinced of that. At heart, this is a simple love-triangle story, but one with layers and meaning and depth.

I have several books on my to-do list (including both the books on which these movies were based-in the case of Something Borrowed, I just have to know!) More to come when that's finished.