HOW DO YOU STOP YOURSELF DOING A BAD THING IF IT ONLY HURTS YOU?

Started reading The outcast by Sadie Jones yesterday, finished it today. So now I find myself, yet again, in that "What the fuck am I supposed to read?"-state. Hate it.

WHERE DO YOU GO NEXT WHEN YOUR FIRST NOVEL TURNS OUT TO BE THE FASTEST-SELLING DEBUT IN AMERICAN LITERARY HISTORY?

I just learned that Elizabeth Kostova (author of The historian) has pusblished another book, The swan thieves. I read The historian last summer and while I didn't think it was especially well-written (though it seems like many of the critics thought it was), I did like the story. It's not one of those books that I'm likely to forget, though that may have more to do with the fact that it was so completely unlike the books I normally go for than it being really good. Anyway, I'm excited about this new one, but a bit disheartened after having read the reviews, which are extremely mixed. Here's what Kostova herself says about The swan thieves and if you scroll down, you can read what The Observer thinks about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/24/swan-thieves-kostova-review-okelly

JUST FOR THE RECORD, I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF AN EVIL PERSON (THOUGH HOW LIKE A KILLER THAT MAKES ME SOUND!)

"One likes to think there's something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I've learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular platitude is a lie. Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool."
- The secret history, Donna Tartt

"YOU HAVE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND," HE QUIETLY OBSERVED. THE KID WAS CARL JUNG, FUCKING FREUD

Re-reading Special topics in calamity physics by Marisha Pessl for about the hundreth time. This is the state my copy's in nowadays:

EVERYONE THINK THAT GIRL'S A LADY BUT I DON'T, I THINK THAT GIRL'S SHADY

Mary-Louise Parker as Zenia in the TV movie version of Margaret Atwood's The robber bride.

INSTEAD SHE THOUGHT ABOUT WARS

"Tony felt safe this morning, safe enough. But she doesn't feel safe now. Everything has been called into question. Even in the best of times the world is tenuous to her, a thin iridescent skin held in place by surface tension. She puts a lot of effort into keeping it together, her willed illusion of comfort and stability, the words flowing from left to right, the routines of love; but underneath is darkness. Menace, chaos, cities aflame, towers crashing down, the anarchy of deep water."

- The robber bride, Margaret Atwood

Finished reading The fifth child two days ago, reading Margaret Atwood's The robber bride now.