As the Moulin Rouge says - FLAWLESS

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Scott Andrew Selby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fascinating story, albeit based on multiple sources with a lot of the most interesting details still missing (because the police don't even know).  I'd be interested in a follow-up in ten years tracking how the guys who made the heist are living the life, but still keeping their stolen riches in hiding.

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Climb In - TAKE ME WITH YOU

Take Me with You by Brad Newsham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable travelogue, and the person Newsham selects to bring back to the US is the one I was rooting for.  But he chooses at the very end, and there's no follow-up.  In fact, Newsham spoke to my book club last week and admitted that he couldn't find a publisher to back the writing of the rest of the story.

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End of an Era: ARE THESE MY...

Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Georgia, don't leave us! I will miss Angus, Pantalizer Doll, Mr. Fish and even ADM. These books are ridiculously funny and completely mad. I will read the entire series over again someday, on vacation, and laugh like crazy all over again. If you're an anglophile or a 14-year old girl at heart, please check out Louise Rennison. Dave the Laugh never disappoints.

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Books: UNDRESS ME IN THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Crazy and honest, but mostly crazy. If this happened to me I might never leave home again! Gilman highlights the wonders of the 80s without beating the theme to death, and she does not sugar-coat the hardships of traveling in Asia, under communism or in the days before cell phones and computers. I wonder if her remarkable self-deprication comes because hindsight is 20-20, and she's had 20 years to think about her adventures. I'd like to read about the rest of her travels, but I bet they don't hold the crazy candle next to these.

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Attention: We Have a Tomato!

Breaking news: The first tomato of the season has hatched!  Our balcony is now officially a "garden".  Justin also has some basil and thyme going, which he used last night to make sauce for couscous.  It doesn't get much fresher than that! 

We need some trellising or something now, as my plant is about 1.5 feet tall!  Visit Justin's blog for more photos and to see how we rig this thing up with zero supplies and less money: Tomato Season Race

The Cakeshop of Luuurve - STOP IN THE NAME OF PANTS

Stop in the Name of Pants! by Louise Rennison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My inner monologue often sounds like Georgia Nicholson.  I think in phrases like "ditherspazz" and "erlack a pongoes".  I think Georgia lives in my head, barely suppressed and occasionally allowed out to run rampant and leave a path of hyperactive destruction in her wake.  These are some of the funniest books I have ever read.  They shatter the "laugh out loud on the bus scale" - mostly because they have ridiculous titles and covers, so everyone is already looking at me.  And I just cackle.  Georgia is nuts, her family is bananas and her adventures are delicious.  A British, teenage Stephanie Plum, speaking in pure slang and barely holding it together.  My pubescent hero.

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said it better myself

I did a Google search for this "game face" icon and came up with my old LiveJournal!  I got a kick out of this post, which sums up exactly how I am feeling again, right now, thanks to Stanley Cup Fever.

The text reads:

"WeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeSIDweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeSIDihatetheRedWingsandwe'regoingtogamesevenholdontoyourhats!!!"