going out of business is good for me

so as most people know (or at least most people here in the states) the boarder's bookstore chain is going out of business.  and this works out very well for me.  you see, they are only going to be open until the end of this week.  so everything is like crazy marked down.  which means i got about $60 worth of books for only $17.  that's pretty win if you ask me.  one is a kids book to donate to my mom's classroom, but the other three are for me.  so here's a quick run down on what i got: scarlet spy by kage baker.  it is a part of a series called "the women of nell gwynne's."  it's a steampunk book set in england, and it's about a hooker that gets recruited as a spy.  royal blood by rona sharon is a historic fiction set in king henry VIII's court.  it's a murder mystery, with one of the victims being a lady-in-waiting for the queen, and the man investigating it keeps having crazy visions about the people who got killed.  the third is lord of misrule by jaimy gordon.  it's about a scam that's being run at a small time horse racing operation.  apparently word leaks out and too many people find out the truth.

so that's my current reading list.  i'm actually really stoked about it because it's been forever and a day since i last got myself a new book.  i can't wait to get started on it, because the books actually sound really good.  and if they turn out to be total flops, at least i didn't pay more than $5 for any of them.  

oh and if anyone is interested, the book i got for my mom is the monster bed by jeanne willis and susan varley.  i totally read it when i was a kid, and it has the most adorable little monster ever.  check it out if you have kids.  hell, check it out even if you didn't procreate. the pictures are worth it.

but he got stabbed!

so i'm currently reading wild horses by dick fancis.  if you ever plan on reading this book, don't read this post because there are spoilers

so i really need to start reading far sooner than the last thirty minutes before i go to bed.  because then shit like this happens:  the main character just got stabbed by an unknown attacker.  crazy drama is about to unfold.  it's ten minutes past midnight and i needed to go to sleep about twenty minutes ago.  so now i'm in a predicament.  i need to be awake and functional in less than seven hours for work.  i also really need to know who stabbed thomas.  unfortunately, my stupid responsible side won out this time and i went to sleep, but i wasn't happy about it. 

so why do i care so much that thomas was stabbed?  probably because nash was almost attacked, dorothea was slashed so bad her intestines were spilling out, and somehow this will tie into an old man that made a death bed confession within the first five pages of the book.  since i still haven't finished the book, i have no idea how that's going to work out yet.  i also have no idea who's attacking everyone, but i have my hunches, and i'm pretty sure they're all wrong.  short version of the story is that thomas is directing a movie based loosely on a 26 year old unsolved murder of a race horse trainer's wife.  the people who were affect by the actual murder are not happy about the movie, and the son of the attacked woman hates thomas because his dorothea prefers thomas over her own son.  there is a hint that the knife that was used in the attacks on dorothea and nash are the same, but there's no proof yet, and the two attacks seem unrelated on the surface.  so is your mind spinning in circles yet?  because mine has been for the whole book, and it's been awesome.

i have a weakness for mind thrillers.  crime and punishment is my all time favorite book.  i've read works by dick francis before, and since he combines the mind thriller with horses, i think he's amazing.  so does one of my coworkers, and she was nice enough to give me the book i'm currently reading.  it's an extremely well written, and flows so well that you will look up at the clock and it will suddenly be several hours later when you swear you've just sat down.  the author is able to plant enough little seeds in your head, and in such a subtle manner, that once a turning point happens, it bitch slaps you in the face and you wonder how you didn't pick up on it sooner.  based on past experience, i have a feeling one of those points will be in the next chapter or two.  until then, i'm going to say that it was the sweet looking eighteen year old daughter of the race horse trainer, and you will all be able to hear me laughing if i'm right about that.