New Year's Post--The Joy of Books

Okay, it's been 2012 for over a week now--almost two...What have I been doing, anyway? Well, I've been reading, and writing, and working! Okay, I've also been dealing with a family health crisis--my mom had a stroke the day after Christmas, so that has taken a lot of time and energy to deal with. But she is recovering very well, and is back to reading some books herself--her first read was Flyaway by Helen Landalf and she loved it! What a relief; one of my big worries was that she wouldn't be able to read...as that is one of her life's joys.
Speaking of the joy of reading, check out this amazing (short) video on YouTube, the Joy of Books.
So what books have I been reading? I'm currently reading Madame Bovary--for the first time, oddly enough. I have been trying to get through Joyce's Ulysses but it is really difficult. I mean War and Peace is a lightweight romance novel compared to that! I love moments of Joyce's writing, but there's no thread to hang onto...Or there's a thread, then not, then there is, then there isn't.
I'm working on editing another excellent YA novel right now--the first in a series that is sort of a female Harry Potter, with Dragons--I'm really enjoying the project and I think the manuscript will be ready for the author to pitch it to agents and editors at the Southern California Writer's Conference in February.
hasta pronto!