This week has been good – mellow and stress-free at work. I can tell that summer at the library is starting to wind down as we haven’t seen as many kids at our programs lately and we actually have hours when the library is somewhat quiet.

I spent most of my evenings last week cleaning and getting my house ready for my cousin to come stay this weekend. When she moved in March she only took whatever she could fit in her car so this weekend she is back for her furniture. On Tuesday, she’s taking a trailer-full of her things back to Colorado and I impulsively decided to go with her! I’ll be riding up with her and a good friend (who owns the trailer) and then coming back down on the weekend. I adore road trips, especially through the beautiful southwest. I even love the long stretches of bare desert in Arizona and New Mexico. There’s something peaceful in the harsh landscape. I’m really looking forward to it. Next week I’ll post pictures from the trip.

I only finished one book this week – Night Film by Marisha Pessl. I really enjoyed Pessl’s debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and so there was much anticipation when I received this book from NetGalley. It is essentially a suspense/thriller novel that revolves around a washed up journalist named Scott McGrath. He was shamed years before when he decided to investigate the elusive and mysterious horror film director, Stan Cordova. As the book opens he has learned that Cordova’s daughter committed suicide and it prompts him to begin his investigations again. With two improbable sidekicks, Scott enters into a cat-and-mouse game with Cordova and his associates that takes them to scary and dark places that nearly break them. I loved the first half of the book – it was fast-paced, clever and eerie. The second half drags and is much too long and I had the feeling of a spell being broken. Overall, though, I wasn’t disappointed by the novel. It had elements that reminded me of Shirley Jackson, Rosemary’s Baby and the best gothic novels. It will be published by Random House in the US on August 20 and in the UK on August 29.

Have a great week!