kitty on the couch

Today Suzuki sat on the couch with me while I watched television. She laid her head in my lap, and she even let me trim her extra claw (which is at an angle so doesn't get stropped naturally). I petted her for a long time and told her what a good girl she was.

But enough, you say. You've been talking about this cat for weeks on end. WHERE ARE THE PICTURES??

You will not be disappointed today, my loyal fans.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69868417@N00/sets/72157594231780300/

This includes pictures of both Pretzel and Suzuki. For some reason they didn't wish to be blogged,* so I hope you'll all take the step of clicking. Some of them are blurry but were too adorable not to share anyway.

I will take more once the camera battery is recharged.

eta: *I meant the pics didn't wish to be blogged. Naturally if the cats had expressed such a preference to me, I would have respected it.

summer books continue their reign

This week I finished After Dark by Jayne Ann Krentz and The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith.

After Dark was a re-read. I thought I'd pick it up again since I found out it had a sequel but didn't really remember the plot. I'm not sure I should have bothered, it was pretty bad. Human life has been completely reconstructed after the survivors of a space incident had to pillage all of their supplies, and you still have cars and televisions? You're still wearing jeans and T-shirts? That just seems... a little silly. The characters were cliched, the world-building very sketchy, the plot was predictable. Two stars.

The Full Cupboard of Life, on the other hand, was excellent. If you haven't read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, you are missing out. And the sequels keep the quality high. I like that they're funny and interesting. The characters' motivations are very human. It's also nice to read adult mysteries that don't feature death in every chapter. Three and a half stars. I hear his linguist series is good, as well, so I'll have to check that out.