(Debby)
Katriona – The sequel to Kidnapped (or, as I think of it, Kidnapped! – it has to be said with an exclamation point as far as I am concerned) follows in the same, highly successful vein, only pausing to get, if anything, more wrapped up in Scottish politics and clan concerns. And this time, unlike in Kidnapped!, there are some female characters, who are respectively arch, crude, and fiery. On top of this Extremely Good Time, there is the fact that most of it is written in Scottish brogue, and that they use words like PRODIGAL.

As in, the Prodigal Son. I am ashamed to say that I always assumed that Prodigal meant ‘once gone but now returned and rather contrite and ashamed to be wholly accepted by the generous and selfless love of his father.’ No no. It means “extravagant; wasteful; reckless with money”. I learned that the day before I came across it in Katriona, when I was going though my How To Prepare For The GRE book. Yep, trying to study for the GRE. I’m just really, really excited about Political Ecology and also Social Geography right now. Excited enough that I am willing to re-learn geometry. Will, I haven’t re-learned geometry yet. I’m kind of stuck on fractions (harder than you would think. Fractions! Very tricky). But anyways, I’m thinking that I’d like to go back to school, and even if I don’t do it right away, I would see it happening in the next 3 years (how long GRE scores last), and this seems like as good a time to take the dang thing as ever.