What was I thinking?

When I just went and bought a bag of books I have no space for in my apartment and had never heard of?  More to the point, what was I thinking last night, because that's really the root of today's stupidity...  I swung by Cmark last night for just "a drink or two" - and I was feeling pretty confident that I'd stick to that, unlike the last couple of times I ended up disappearing into that Bermuda Triangle of awesomeness for hours upon hours.  After all, I actually paced myself on Friday night, despite it being a birthday party & being out with T (who is a very bad influence and a whole lotta fun all at the same time). 
But Boston is in the middle of a heatwave (today is day 3, makes it official), and it was H-O-T last night, so I was craving something icy and refreshing, and I had a good iced tea & vodka over the weekend, so my beloved iced tea/lemonade/vodka it was...  And I loved it a half dozen times or so.  As I did beer, and wine...  As always, the company of the lovely V was too fun to walk out on, so I stayed to close, made some poor choices, and woke up still drunk.
Needless to say, when I finally got up the energy to leave my cool, quiet office to get lunch, it had to be take out from Hong Kong (what did people do when they had hangovers before American Chinese food existed?).  And I forgot to walk on the far side of the street from the Harvard Book Store, so of course I got sucked in to the used book trolleys outside. 
I ended up buying FIVE books (total was under $8, thank goodness, but the stop still almost doubled the cost of "lunch") which I deemed "engaging enough to distract me from the fact my head is still spinning a bit, but nothing I really have to concentrate on, or think about" - as I explained to the sales clerk, who probably wished she hadn't tried to make conversation about the book.
What are these bits of fluff? 
Hangman Blind, Cassandra Clark, 2008
The White Witch of Rosehall, Herbert G. de Lisser, 1958
Cane River, Lalita Tadmey, 2001 (whoops!  this might not actually be too fluffy after all...)
The Black Tower, P.D. James, 1975 (I just realized this is the second time I've picked up a P.D. James for "hangover reading" at the Harvard Bookstore, and I told the clerk then, too, why I had chosen it, and she got all snippy about how James was not trashy.)
The Wine of Angels, Phil Rickman, 1998 (holy crap, am I still drunk?  I totally thought this book had a picture of Florence on it, and it's actually a little ye-olde-Englishe town.  Goodness...that is the problem with trying to get books from the bottom shelf of a cart when bending down gives you the spins - you just grab!  But this is the one today's clerk nicely suggested I start with, given my condition, so I guess it's fine.)

Success!

I was just writing about memory lapses when it comes to book titles, and I know that previously I wrote about a book I kinda remembered, that I kinda liked, that I would maybe/sorta read more books by the author, if I were in the right mood.  Ringing endorsement, I know, but whatever.  In any case, I decided to search about for it and googled "England Scotland "kidnapped son" spy mystery" - and f***ing FOUND it.  Crazy.  Anyhow, the book, a historical msytery set in 1819 England is called Daughter of the Game (now, that is a title I would think I would have remembered, even though the book was not all that memorable).  I remember now I picked it because of the title and because the author, Tracy Grant, studied history at Stanford and had a cool-sounding thesis topic, so I thought her novel might be fun.  And it was, I guess.  I am pretty sure I took it out of the library, so I am tempted to grab it again at some point along with what appears to be a sequel, Beneath A Silent Moon, skim the first just to re-familiarize myself with the major plot points (as I recall, there was a lot going on, although the big "surprise" was totally predictable, and I don't think I guess endings / plot developments well).  It's a little confusing because apparently Daughter of the Game was re-released with a new title and a "prettier" cover - see below - as Secrets of a Lady, but I think Silent Moon is the sequel.  These books would be a good hangover or bus read, even if they're not fantastic.  Like if I go to NYC to see R's new place and visit S & C (although that might require a few trips) - hmm...good plan.  Should stop writing / looking up books, now - all the typing while I am supposedly working with some immigration numbers I compiled is making my boss suspicious - I think he knows I am not really working, and keeps coming over to peer at the computer and ask what I am doing!

Jasper FForde is F***ing Fantastic

Until I figure out how to make this private, if anyone should stumble upon it, please understand I intend this as a basic "log" of books I read, etc., so I can keep track...and stop getting books that I've already read, or not being able to recommend ones I loved, because I don't remember the info.
And on that note, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (2009 or 2010) is a LOVE, although it's not the Thursday Next series - but it's got the same ridiculous sense of humor and terrible puns that had me cracking up last night even with crazy high blood sugar levels and a sore surgery site. Hooray for erduite cheesey fun!
I am also currently reading A Reliable Wife (or something like that - not a good sign if I can't remember the title and I started it yesterday) by some dude and The Great Stink by Clare Clark. I think I am going to really like the latter, but I when I got Shades from Widener it was already requested by someone else, so I had to abandon the Clark so I could finish the Fforde before it was due back.
Reliable Wife seemed pretty boring/predictable so far, but, to be fair, I picked it up on a whim at Barnes & Noble for a plane ride, and ended up starting it yesterday after a 3+ day debauch of Roman proportions in our nation's snow-bound capital, so being exhausted and hung-over and unshowered, the day AFTER I should have flown home, may have had something to do with my less than favorable impression. We'll see - the Globe called it a smart pot-boiler or something like that, which could be fun. May save it for a day when I am too hungover to concentrate on a real book, but not so hungover that over-wrought adjectives make me queasy.