OK, I'm a bit behind on posting these.

#1: Richard Hammond's Car Confidential by, well, Richard Hammond. This was one of the two Richard Hammond books that I got Angie for Christmas, as opposed to the one I got her for her birthday. Her celebrity crushes certainly make it easier to find presents. Anyway, this was a silly book of lists about cars that we read to each other over the holidays, and I finished it on New Year's Day.

#2: Rough Weather by Robert B. Parker (audio). The latest Spenser novel, and significantly better than several recent ones. I didn't like the ending, though.

#3: Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America by Allen C. Guelzo. This started slowly, but turned into a fascinating read that is going to be a post of its own. Everyone has heard about the Lincoln-Douglas debates, but this tells the whole story of the 1858 Illinois Senate campaign and how Lincoln might have sacrificed the 1858 election to make certain that Douglas and the Democrats couldn't win the presidency in 1860.

#4: As You Do: Adventures with Evel, Oliver, and the Vice-President of Botswana by Richard Hammond. The other Richard Hammond book, this one is a story of his adventures in Africa, the Arctic and Montana. A fun read.

#5: Idlewild by Nick Sagan. Considering how many cons I attend, you would think I'd read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I don't. Lately, it has been mainly stuff written by people I know. Angie recommended this, though, and I greatly enjoyed it. I'm already looking forward to getting the second book from the library.

Normally, Britt listens patiently when we tell her the family-friendly stories from ConFusion, but this year was different. When Angie told her that we had met Scott Westerfeld, she freaked out. It turns out that the Uglies series was a huge hit at Girl Scout camp over the summer, and she's been dying to read them. Unfortunately, she had forgotten the name of the books, so hadn't ever been able to ask for them. That made it even more disappointing that the con had sold out of the books - we had been planning to get her an autographed copy.

She's home from school again tomorrow - they had today off for MLK Day and tomorrow for Records Day - and she's still getting over her cold, so I thought I'd stop on the way home and get a copy at Barnes & Noble.

Nope. They had a couple copies of Scott's other books, but there was a large gap at his part of the "Teen" section, and not a copy of "Uglies" to be found. I'm not sure I've ever had that happen before for a F/SF book. I've never even had any trouble getting a copy of the Harry Potter books.

I'm impressed, and I don't impress easily.

(Angie just looked, and the Birmingham Borders has it, so I'll go in the morning before Britt gets up.)