I have never appreciated a weekend more than I do right now. I'm even on call and I'm still glad it's the weekend! I just finished my first five-day work week in almost a year. (Oh, yeah. I know you're all out there feeling sad for me. It's okay. I know I'm spoiled.)

But I'm damned tired.

I worked hard. I accomplished a lot. I felt useful.

I also felt fat. And lazy. And old.

It's a double edged sword.

As I was telling a friend, I'm a complicated girl.

Last night was our "Holiday Party" at work. More like, "meet at the local watering hole and have finger food". Potato skins, buffalo wings and little spinach pies. Oh, and soft drinks. That's it. I stayed for an hour. I noshed and I chatted with some people I don't get to chat with as much as I would like.

Then they passed out the gifts and I left. They were nice gifts and certainly not expected. Last year we got rearview mirrors for our computers with the company logo. Imagine my surprise when we got $25 gift certs for Borders!

So I left the part and went ... to Borders!

I purchased a MikWright calendar (which proceeded to crack us up all day at the office), The Spirit of Writing (a book of essays by writers about writing), Honky (a book about a man learned by growing up as the only white kid in his neighborhood), Great Expectations (because I need to be more well read and I wanted to start with Dickens) and a basic cookbook.

I love books. This whole idea of digital books disturbs me. I love the heft of them. I love the smell of them. I love the feel of the pages. I love library books that come with cellophane over the dustcovers and the stains of previous readers.

Some of my favorite gifts have been books. Special books with inscriptions on the front cover (either by the giver or by some giver of long ago). I lend my books freely and am careful with the books of others (even if I do dog-ear my own pages). I re-read books I love. I judge books by their cover, often. I'm not afraid to stop reading a book in the middle, if it's boring, but I try to give it another chance. And, when I can afford it, I buy books rather than borrowing them.

So, since I am so passionate about my books, you would think I would be more well-rounded in my reading. One would think that, along with having read every single stinking Stephen King novel (most of the earlier ones several times), I would have also read more Twain, Bronte, Fitzgerald, and Dickens. But I haven't. And I think I've missed a lot of other great authors or just great books in between.

Therefore I have a project for you all: Please provide me with a list of your favorite books. Or even just a list of books you think I should read. Five or ten or twenty, I don't care. Email, notes or guestbook. Let me hear what you think I need to read.

I look forward to it.