Lost

I finally watched the last two episodes of last season's Lost last night.

( Lost spoilers. Is there anyone left to spoil? )

In other news, Bella is at doggy daycare for the first time today. She's settled into our household routine well, and we're better at speaking each other's language for sure, but she's still a little timid when confronted with new people and things. She spooked when a truck used its air brakes as I was walking her to daycare this morning, so she arrived there feeling kind of jittery. I could see her thinking, "And what fresh hell is this?" as she was led away from me. She does love playing with other dogs, though, so I know she'll have a good time there when she loosens up. And I'm going to go and pay her a lunchtime visit ::checks watch:: right about now to see how she's doing.

Book Recs?

When I first started seeing Jim, MiddleJim was the Jimlet most opposed to having me in his father's life. He was still smarting from his parents' separation (which, for record, had NOTHING to do with me) and hoping for a reconciliation. I met him once and then didn't see him again for a full eight months, when Jim judged that he'd be more open to the idea of me. I didn't try to push my way into MiddleJim's life--I stayed in the background, occasionally showed up with little gifts, and generally let him come to me in his own good time.

I guess my strategy worked, because MiddleJim is the kid with whom I probably have the best relationship now. We're alike in many ways: we both listen more than we talk, we feel things deeply but don't wear our hearts on our sleeves, and hey, we shared a pair of shorts over the summer. :-)

There is one big difference between us, though: I read. MiddleJim doesn't.

Unfortunately (from MiddleJim's perspective), he's gonna have to start reading because he's at the age (just turned 13) where he's being asked to write book reports for school. So I went through my library and tried to pick a few books that I thought he'd like. He judged Watership Down and The Hobbit as being too long. I'm not sure why he decided against The Golden Compass. When I left this morning, he was trying to pick between Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and two Enid Blyton mystery/adventure books.

He's never read for pleasure, so he doesn't really know what his tastes are. He really liked The Golden Compass as a film, so he might discover that he liked fantasy if he started off with a good one. He says he'd like to read a mystery, which is why I gave him two of my Enid Blyton books.

Anyone have any recommendations for books that would appeal to a 13-year-old boy?

ETA: Holy cats, you guys are amazing! I'd say that he has enough to keep him going until he graduates now. :-) And I'm thinking I might have to read some of your recs myself!