Starting the new year off with bunnies and books.

[bunrab]

One of the problems with buying lots of books, in lots of unplanned trips to both new and used book stores, is that every once in a while one goes to look at the TBR (To Be Read) shelf, and there's something on there that neither of us recognizes, neither of us remembers buying, and neither of us can think of why we would buy it. Such is the case with Karen Harper's Dark Angel, which appears to be a sort of medical thriller/romance involving an evil pharmaceutical company stealing Amish babies. Completely silly plot right off the bat, and in the telling, it turns out to be one of those giant conspiracies where everybody turns out to be a bad guy, despite that fact that in real life you couldn't possibly have that large a conspiracy and keep it a secret for more than 10 minutes, nor that many psychopaths in one small town without someone noticing before now: the evil, formerly kindly, sheriff, and the evil, formerly kindly, veterinarian, and the evil, formerly kindly, wife of ____ and the evil, formerly jolly, best friend of ____ and the evil, formerly hardworking and serious, husband of _____ - you get the idea. And, apparently, it's part of a series, all involving the same small Ohio town, where the romances seem to all involve someone Amish falling in love with someone non-Amish and yet it works out happily ever after, somehow, every time. Just. Plain. Silly. I read the first two chapters or so, then the last two, and then skimmed a few pages from the middle, and it never looked realistic enough to tempt me back into reading the whole thing. When I want mystery, I want a faint semblance of realism, and when I want silly, I'll read fantasy that's intended as fantasy, thank you very much.

We cleaned bunny cages this afternoon, and everybody starts the new year off with assorted new chew toys. It's funny how different the tastes are of the various critters. Gizmo prefers plastic things he can pick up with his teeth and FLING; Fern prefers wooden things with lots of parts and a nut in the middle, or else woven grass or wicker to be shredded; Farfalle and Domino will ignore all of those in favor of shredding a large piece of cardboard down to its component molecules. They all like "Carrot Slims" treats, as do the piggles and chinnies, so there was happiness and munching all around afterwards, despite our ruining of their homes by cleaning them.