1 week left

Only one week of my summer job (actually only 2 days) left. I'm looking forward to the 2 weeks off before I go back to school. I definitely need a break after the frustration of endless research. 1 year of law school doesn't really prepare you at all for doing effective research on real cases -- I nearly pulled my hair out working on some of the assignments.

The judge was very good at finding legal issues that had no answers and then sending me out to research them. Equally frustrating is the fact that every single case I've worked on has settled -- good for the legal system, but bad for me because it essentially means that every one of the memos I've written ultimately wound up in the trash can. Fortunately, the memo I just finished related to a preliminary injunction. It's really unlikely that they parties will settle so early in the proceedings, so I'm looking forward to actually having the judge read my memo and make a decision on the issue. Good times.

Fortunately, due to flexible hours, I've had lots of free time this summer. Here are a few books I read that I think are worth checking out.

"The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse" by Robert Rankin
Thirteen-year-old Jack goes to the City to find his fortune, unaware that the City is in fact Toy City, where legends and fables walk (or stumble, if they've had too much to drink). He meets up with detective teddy bear Eddie, who is investigating the murder of Humpty Dumpty. When Little Boy Blue is offed, it's clear that a serial killer is prowling Toy City, leaving behind the titular chocolate bunnies as his calling card.

An utterly original book with memorable characters and a writing style that combines children's books and detective stories with fantastic results. I read this book straight through from start to finish.

"Wicked" by Gregory MacGuire
A retelling of the Wizard of Oz: In Maguire's Oz, Elphaba, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West, is not wicked; nor is she a formally schooled witch. Instead, she's an insecure, unfortunately green Munchkinlander who's willing to take radical steps to unseat the tyrannical Wizard of Oz.

"The Ethical Assassin" by David Liss
Finally, a book featuring a vegetarian assassin -- just what I've been waiting for. In sticky south Florida of August 1985, Lem Altick, a 17-year-old door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, witnesses the murder of two potential customers in a mobile home. Fearing he'll be fingered for the crime—or worse, that he's next—Lem establishes a wary relationship with the likable killer, Melford Kean, who is either a violent psychopath or an animal rights vigilante fighting agribusiness. Some of the reviews I read on this complained that the "social message" aspects of the book took away from the story, but I found the book fast paced, funny and very entertaining. Not the book for you if you see no difference between animal rights and Nazism (as one Amazon reviewer seems to believe), but if you like good books, I recommend this one.

Jamesland by Michelle Huneven
In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz, a motley handful of residents attends Helen Harland's casual and inclusive services at the local Unitarian church. There's Alice Black, hot off a string of bad love affairs (including one with the husband of a local movie star) and living in a house belonging to her great-aunt Kate. The intermittently lucid Kate, now ensconced in a rest home, is still pursuing a life-long writing project related to her illustrious ancestor, the philosopher William James. And then there's crazy Pete Ross, a failed husband, father and chef now living with his mother, a nun, as part of his therapy.

A book about people; the characters are fully developed and I found myself really interested in their lives, even the banal details. Like all of the other books I'm recommending, the setting here was so real that I felt I could almost step into it.