I'm a big romantic sap...

Stayed home today. I could have gone to work, but I decided to take a day of rest & warmth & soup & vitamin C.

I had loaned out Robin McKinley's Beauty, and just had it returned last week. So, I curled up on the couch with Sharra and re-read it. I love that book.

Beauty & The Beast is my favourite fairy tale, and Robin McKinley tells it so well. Even though I've read it several times, and know this version intimately, it still got to me.

I am a big romantic sap. And I love it.

Reading update

Robin McKinley wrote two versions of Beauty & the Beast. This afternoon, I read the second: Rose Daugher. Beauty reaches in and touches me so deeply that I ache. For that reason alone, it is my favourite of the two.

But I think Rose Daughter might be the better story of the two - more complex, with some writing that's truly lovely.

Roses are for love. Not forget-me-not, honeysuckle, silly sweethearts' love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole. Love that gets you through the worst you life'll give you and that pours out of you when you're given the best instead.