One Hundred Best Novels, according to

Time Magazine

The Modern Library

The Guardian

A survey of librarians

Great Books Guide

Madison Public Library (female authors)

Publishing Triangle (lesbian and gay)

Tags: books, lists

"Cotton" by the Mountain Goats is such a beautiful song and it has kind of been in my head all day.

I am sitting here with wet hair, fresh out of the shower, watching the baseball game.

I scored a crapload of samples of this today. How I love freebies from Sephora. I was downtown buying a little present for Tamara tomorrow -- she is making dinner.

Wow, the A's are all a bunch of long-haired hippies. Except Rich Harden.

Okay weekend plans:

+ exercise both days
+ buy groceries -- Rainbow and Trader Joes
+ writing (I have a huge to-do list)
+ dinner at Tamara's

I just noticed that Rich Aurelia's goatee is salt & pepper in color. Oh, Giants. Give Todd Linden a chance before he turns thirty, why not.

Tags: baseball, lists

I have a stack of unstarted and unfinished books. Using a gift certificate from my dad, I just bought three more. I have another stack of New Yorker magazines, stretching embarrassingly far back into 2006. So, here are two of my goals for the upcoming year: read at least one piece in each of those magazines, and read all of these books:

The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Stories, Anton Chekov
Complete Short Stories, Graham Greene
The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem
The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead
The Best American Nonrequired Reading, 2004, Eggers (ed.)
Underworld, Don DeLillo
Bel Canto, Ann Patchet
Light in August, William Faulkner
The Devil in White City, Erik Larson
Atonement, Ian McEwan

Oh and I guess it goes without saying that my other goal is to finish my novel, or to at least make long strides toward finishing it.

Any other goals regarding conception and shedding eight pounds of fat are wastes of time.

Tags: books, goals, lists

+ I am in my new cubicle. Boy have I been spoiled for the past five years. This lack of privacy is going to make me a lot more productive. I guess that's good.

+ Today I pre-ordered two re-issued Spoon CDs. They come out next month.

+ I think I have an ending for my novel. It's not "happy." Well, kind of? But not really. Sorry.

+ I'm probably going to ovulate tomorrow. TMI?

+ We seriously have the best cats I've ever lived with. How do people stand living with cats that they don't have a ridiculously close bond with? I donut know.

+ Giants - A's series this weekend. This is when being a two-timing fencesitter hurts.

+ I will be having watermelon with my lunch tomorrow. And I need to see if this year's cherries were spoiled by the winter deluge. I can already tell the nectarines were.

Tags: baseball, book, conception, lists, spoon, work

This weekend:

+ hot sunshiny weather, so hopefully much time spent outdoors.

+ sopranos season finale

+ writing stupid book no one will ever read

+ practice guitar

+ handwash my delicate panties and such

+ eating far more healthily than last weekend

+ assemble my new office chair, which was finally delivered to me yesterday after languishing in the company mail room for two weeks. Why was it stuck down there? Because the brainiacs at OfficeMax addressed the package to "Jane." Just "Jane." No last name. While I will concede that my first name is somewhat unusual and exotic, for some reason I think a last name may have made the box easier to deliver.

Tags: book, lists