True Love

Last month, on a Saturday when I was particularly bored, Mike called out from the other room, "I may live to regret this, but come and take a look at this."

He was looking the cityguide page on AOL and the editor's pick for that Saturday was Smuckers' Stars on Ice. I was stunned. Mike can't stand ice skating. Whenever he finds me watching it in the living room, he turns tail pretty quickly and escapes.

But out of a pure desire to make me happy, he manfully offered to go to this Ice Skating show with me. And he didn't even complain at all while we were watching it, telling me afterwards that he liked the ensemble skating the best. (Mike is very tactful. He knows it would annoy me if he told me he hated it, so he subtly talks about the part he dislikes least.)

Mike, I know you'll never offer again to go to a skating show with me, but you're the best for giving it a shot once.

Books!

I am in desperate need for some good reading material. I've been without a good book for a month or two now, and I'm getting depressed. Please give me your suggestions!

My preferred books:

• *female authored
• *fiction
• *main character is a woman who is something of a non-conformist
• *set in the past

My very favorite books have generally fit into the above categories, but I'm open to any real page turner that you have loved. And just to give you an idea of some of the books I love so that you can better offer suggestions...(and I'm a little embarrassed here because not all of these are particularly high brow. Some are just fantastic stories ...err....even romances... that really swept me up and resonated with me.)

• The Red Tent
• The Secret Life of Bees
• Jane Eyre
• anything Austen
• Into the Wild
• Outlander
• Pillars of the Earth

I only ask for great character development (particularly within a powerful, interesting female main character), rich setting, some contemplation on human nature, and a page turning story. Thanks!