Introducing my new reading buddy

Meet Bella, the delightful, idiosyncratic feline my husband and I added to our family at the beginning of March. Since mid-October, we have been grieving for 'K,' our 19-year-old kitty who succumbed to old age. When we visited Bella in the shelter, and she divided her time between both of our laps, we knew this 2-year-old cat was the one to fill the void in our lives.

Although she enjoys cuddling, Bella is also an active cat, so I spend much of my reading time turning pages with one hand and dangling a toy in front of her with the other. She has already discovered how much fun it is to nudge at books on the lower shelves until they topple to the floor, where she can sniff them all over. In the picture, she is balancing on the back of the desk chair in our office (a.k.a. book room).

I realized today I made a mistake when signing up for Carl's Sci-Fi Experience 2008. I missed the bottom line of his post where he wrote the challenge would end Feb. 29. I thought I had all year! Whoops. I'll be more careful about signing up for challenges in the future. In the meantime, I still plan to read some science-fiction this year.

I'm behind on tackling "The Chunkster Challenge" but I will start soon. I will probably read some books for the challenge not on my original list, since what I'm in the mood to read keeps changing. But I'll see if I can finish a few more chunksters than the minimum four books required.