Potental Gloms and One Disappointment

I spent a good hunk of time yesterday catching up with the various blogs I haunt. Amazing how much you miss in a week. You know that feeling when you go back to work the Monday after a long vacation and you see your inbox full to overflowing and your voice mail light blinking furiously and some 1,000 e-mail messages waiting impatiently? I never believed I'd have that same feeling as a stay at home mom.

Anyway, I was cruising around Smart Bitches when, lo and behold, I find my name under the recommendations for Military/Police/Law Enforcement/Secrent Agent column. I mean, not as an actual recommendation, but as a recommendor. This came as a surprise not because I was horrified to be quoted but more I'd forgotten that I'd offered up suggestions in the first place. To which then I had a brief moment of panic, hoping anybody who might actually take my suggestion and pick up a Brockmann won't be horribly disappointed and think I'm a complete idiot.

Actually, the real problem I have with this entry is that now my poor little brain is swarming with must-haves to add to my already obscene TBR pile. I've already scammed a Catherine Mann (Code of Honor, to be specific) since so many seem to love her Wingman Warriors series. I'm kinda scared I'm gonna love it, too, and then I'll be all caught up in a flurry of obtaining backlisted titles and glom reading and the like.

When are you people going to get it? I. Don't. Have. Room. Or. Time. For. This. Stop suggesting fabulous books for me to read.

I say this jokingly, of course. I'm always on the lookout for an author I can absolutely adore.

On that note, though, I have a confession to make. While I was gone, I picked up a copy of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've wanted to read it before the movie came out, since I firmly believe in reading first, especially when a classic is involved. In fact, I picked up both a single title copy of TLtWatW plus a dictionary sized collection of all seven Chronicles of Narnia books assuming I'd love TLtWatW and want to read all the rest that very second. The smaller single title was for ease of traveling, since I didn't want to heft around a weighty tome all week.

But - and please don't come after me with pitchforks - I've been a tad bit disappointed with TLtWatW. I think a lot of it has to do with hype; about how this book is one of The Be All and End All of fantasy literature, right up there with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as far as Must Reads Before You Die books. Yeah, I like it okay. But I've gotten to a certain point and, honestly, I have no compelling desire to keep reading to the end.

Hubby downloaded the audiobook version for me to listen to while I drove the 500 gazillion miles from Chicago to Buffalo and back (and, yes, this negated my having purchased the written copy, but he'd spend double anything if it meant he got to use the latest technology). When we arrived home and I hadn't yet made it through the entire story, I pulled out the book itself to see how much I had left to go. I was kinda glad to see it was almost over. The story is so much simpler than I had ever imagined it to be. I keep wondering how they can make a huge, long movie out of it. Of course, I haven't read any of the battle scenes, and we all know a movie can be made out of the copy on the back of a cereal box if it involves either a car chase or a gigantic battle.

But I think I'm actually going to just save the time and wait for the movie to see how it all ends. Problem is, I wanted to read the book so I could decide if I thought my kids were old enough to see the movie. As far as the book goes, so far nothing in it seems frightening or intense enough to keep the kids away. But I'm not sure what they'll jazz up for the movie. We may have to take a gamble, payoff being weeks of "Mommy, I can't sleep 'cause I'm scared of the White Witch!"

So, am I completely illiterate because I don't love, love, love TLtWatW? Will someone be coming to revoke my avid reader card and confiscate every scrap of decent literature in my house?

Well, no matter. I'm thinking I have a need to place a glom order on Amazon.