I've just realized that quite a few of my favorite books are by Australian authors. Random, yes. I just found it neat that the imaginations living in Australia catch my attention even more that those closer to home. Here are the three that most easily float to the surface of my mind:

Juliet Marillier: (fantasy) I LOVE her. I own everything she's written, to date. She has 2 more books coming out in the fall that I will get my hands on, as well. My favorite is Daughter of the Forest (probably my absolute favorite book ever), which is part of her Sevenwaters Trilogy. It's one of those books you can't put down and you get emotionally involved in and then you're sad when you run out of pages to read...maybe even manically depressed. lol I checked this book out of the library twice before I finally bought it (read it 2 more times) along with the other 2 books in the series. I loan this book out to everyone I know.

Garth Nix: His Abhorsen Trilogy is awesome! There is also an additional 100-page installment to continue where the third book left off, tying off the loose ends nicely. I've read the first book several times by checking it out from the library and borrowing it from a friend. I finally bought it and the other 2 books myself and will read them again probably in the near future. This is another series you're sad to see end. I made my fiance read them and he thought they were wonderful, too.

John Marsden: Tomorrow Series. (First book: Tomorrow, When the War Began) Dark, guerilla warfare!! I read these when I was 14 and I know I was rabidly addicted to them. There are 7 books in the series, but the library near my house is lame, so I've only ever read 4 or 5 of the 7. These books are the reason I'm writing this entry. I have a horrible sickness. I can't stop buying books. I just bought them all today and can't wait for them to come. The basic synopsis is a group of teenagers go camping in the outback and come home to find that their country was invaded practically overnight by an unnamed foreign enemy and everyone has been captured. So they go into hiding, practicing guerilla warfare and trying to survive, as well as find out what happened to their families. I'm not really describing it well, but there it is. But I remember reading these books and not being able to put them down or sleep or eat or anything. There is a trilogy called the Ellie Chronicles which continues the series, describing the lives of the characters in the post-war aftermath, which I plan to get my hands on...though I'm going to have to order the second 2 books from Australia since they're not available here yet. Guh overseas shipping. Anyway, a very adventurous, gripping series.

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I've been in the mood to draw something, which I know I haven't done in ages, but I keep buying new books and so I'm busy with them. And then reading just makes it worse, because then I'm inspired to draw something based on what I've just read. I just finished reading Stephenie Meyer's The Host. A good book. I'm not as crazy about this author as the rest of the world seems to be. She's good, I enjoy her stories, but she sometimes seems to get lazy and glaze over things. Also, everything always works out so perfectly and CONVENIENTLY at the end. It's sometimes more satisfying to have an unsatisfying ending, you know? I LIKE to angst about the injustice of it all. And her juvenile fiction (the vampire series) is a bit annoying, like some fangirl fantasy, but also very gripping. So yeah, I buy the books, but I'm not crazy about them. And wow, did not mean to rant about that...but there it is.

I've also been practicing the piano a lot lately (between chapters for a bit of a break, lol). I practice to the point that my arms are sore when I wake up in the morning. But it's paying off. I can now play Yoshiki's "I'll be your love" from memory.

Aaaaand I'm counting down the days to my WEDDING!! August 16!! I'm so busy with ordering the necessities and then my fiance and I have been painting his house, and we're about to install a new poured concrete mantle and hearth, and hardwood floors. Not to mention HIKING. lol My fiance also got me a job teaching piano lessons at the music store he teaches at, but I don't have any students yet. I subbed for the other teacher once and it was fun, though. And good money!!