Advice

[rkold]

I'd like some advice on two fronts, and neither requires and interest in dolls or anime. *shock*

Lately, I've been reading at the gym, and I just finished the two books given to me by muscatlove and yanchamonkey The Nanny Diaries and Good Omens. So, I'm looking for some book recommendations. I don't want anything dry or depressing, so nothing involving peak oil or politics. The main characters should be engaging, because I find if I dislike or hate the main characters I can't easily get through something. (i.e. Catcher in the Rye where I kept wanting Holden Caulfield to get hit by a bus.)

My other request is somewhat gym related as well. In 2005, I bought a unique H.Eaven purse in Harajuku. It's lovely in that it holds more than it should, always gets comments, is non-leather, and has a perfect strap. However, it is also big and bulky and I can't stand just carrying it to the gym. So I'm looking for a new small purse. It just needs to hold an ipod, and a few other things. I prefer cloth, I like straps that go around your torso, cause I find that is the easiest way to keep purses on. I know a lot of people love etsy, but I really don't know who is good and when I tried to find "purses" I got a lot of hits and some were for laptop bags ~.~ I'd like something cute and different with not too much white. (which is why I am not using my berry purse)

Any help or suggestions with either query would be most appreciated.

EDIT

LIKED:
Nickel and Dimed
Traitor's Moon
Bed Knobs and Broomsticks
Office Ladies and Salaried Men


Neutral:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Geisha of Gion


DISLIKED:
Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

Comments

[bramblyhedge.livejournal.com]

Bah humbug to purses! I'm a cute-&-functional backpack gal, or in the event of no backpack stuff-everything-into-your-jeans-pockets-until-you-look-like-you-have-deformed-hips.
:P

I see a Neil Gaiman recc and raise it Robin McKinley.
(More specifically, 'Neverwhere' and 'Sunshine', respectively).

Have you read Diana Wynne Jones's 'Deep Secret'?
And now for something completely different: 'Maurice' by E.M. Forster, 'Boy Meets Boy' by David Levithan, and 'The Blue Lawn' by William Taylor. Respectively: angsty, fluffy, and down-to-earth - all gay male adolescent stories, all short, all non-preachy, all very enjoyable when in the right mood for that topic. :)

I gotta get around to reading 'Good Omens'. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for months.^^

[bramblyhedge.livejournal.com]

EDIT: that should say gay male adolescent coming-of-age stories, hence it's better to be in the right mood.

Since I'm posting again, here's one more recc - anything by Margaret Mahy. Over and out! *salutes* ^__^