Large chunks of the last couple of days have been the kind of days when I’d rather be somewhere else (health stuff; no, I don’t particularly want to talk about it today). So I dug out an old favourite, Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword and shut the world out. I want to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to all good stories with happy endings (and swords, and ponies, and magic, and battles!). The world needs more sword and pony books. Especially ones with big cats, heroism, and saving the day.
I’m too tired to tell you why it’s such a great book, but if you want to know what I like in general about YA then read this post.
I hope you all have a favourite book that can whisk you away from the less-than-thrilling moment of life when necessary.
Nicola Griffith 
Thanks for the tip, and keep your pecker up.
Lisa, wow, I can't remember the last time I hear that phrase, especially when directed at me :)
Ah, get out of the gutter: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/217400.html :-)
Lisa, I know, I know. (BTW, pecker is nothing to do with the mouth–it's nose.) But I've lived in the US a long time–it distorts my imagination :)
Apparently there is a (very!) high-brow literary explanation for the American usage, which I do not believe:
pecker: n penis. A common misconception is that, to Brits, this means “chin” – hence the phrase “keep your pecker up.” Sorry folks, but in the U.K. “pecker” means exactly the same thing as it does in the U.S. The phrase “keep your pecker up” is probably derived from a time when a “pecker” was simply a reference to a bird’s beak and encouraged keeping your head held high. I understand that the word became a euphemism for “penis” after the poet Catullus used it to refer to his love Lesbia’s pet sparrow in a rather suggestive poem which drew some fairly blatant parallels. (http://septicscompanion.com/showcat.php?cat=thebody)
You should consult the OED. Filthy literary stuff came from British public school boys; Americans never read Catullus in school.
Lisa, Lisa: I love the OED. Got my own copy. Use it a lot.
Penis and nose have been notoriously interchangeable in symbolic terms for, well, as long as there's been symbolism…
I know you do, and given this access to reference books and the vortex-like Web, it's impressive how much you accomplish; we're all proud of you.
Lisa, why thank you, ma'am!