Note to Self:

Life is too short to read books by Dean Koontz. Don't forget this again.

I'm sorry, Dean, but seriously ... I know you're cranking 'em out and I know they sell like hotcakes and I even recall that 20 years or so ago I read one about a dog that could read (*Watchers,* I think it was) and I thought it was pretty cool, but that was before I began reading Anne Rice and found that horror can be elegant. Why use one word when you can use four, eh, fella? And why not string together all the longest (and also the least juicy) words you can think of to describe something simple? This stuff is so painfully descriptive that it has all the life of a technical manual.

I forgot once before and I picked up -- oh, geez, I enjoyed it so much I can't even remember which one, maybe it was *Ticktock,* (note within note: I had to go paw through the paperbacks and find it because even looking at all his titles didn't ring a bell -- it was *The Taking*) and pushed pushed pushed myself through it because I have this thing about finishing a book once I start it. Made a mental note not to pick up another. But *By the Light of the Moon* has such a pretty cover!!!

So after a week of feeling like I doing an odious assignment, I put it away. Only 130 pages into a 460 page book, what a pity, what a guilt trip! This time I'm writing myself this reminder. It isn't like there aren't about a gazillion books in this house, I'm sure I can find someting else. I see by the back cover that Mr. Koontz has a nice Golden Retriever, though.

Perhaps some lovely Phillppa Gregory to cleanse the palette!