Thursday, April 10, 2014

books books books! and horrifying unidentified book objects.

It's pollen season in Georgia. If you're not from 'round here, that probably means nothing to you. If you are a fellow lucky Southern pollen-state resident, you're probably not even able to read this through your watery, itchy eyes, fuzzy head, and nonstop sneezing. Ugh. We only get to enjoy spring for about a week before the beautiful blooming trees, weeds, and grasses all conspire to kill us with their death pollen. It sucks. Especially when you're me and you'd much rather be outside enjoying the trees and flowers than doing anything else. Boo and extra boo.

Luckily I've been on a book reading rampage that makes being stuck indoors much less miserable. My new BFFs are the folks at the holds desk at the library. And my friend Colleen, who has been knocking it out of the park lately with her book recommendations. Last week I read Red Rising-- "Hunger Games for smart adults," Colleen called it. And she was very right. It took a little while for me to really get into it (which Colleen had warned me about), but once things got going...it was amaaaazing. My main complaint with the book is that the author is a very good looking infant baby child who has already written a bestseller and he is ONLY 26 YEARS OLD. So like, that's just insulting. What have I done with my life??! On the plus side, at least he has a good eighty years of writing ahead of him. It sucks when you discover an amazing author and they didn't start writing books til they were like 60. OH THE WASTED YEARS.

After Red Rising I knocked out this month's book club selection, This is Where I Leave You. It was really funny and also really uhhh...scandalous. So. There's that. It made me alternately laugh and squirm quiiiite a bit. Should make for an interesting (or short?) book club discussion!

As soon as I closed TIWILY I moved onto Colleen's next pick.

Source
 I was super excited about this one because Dave Eggers is the author of the best short story collection of all time, in my humble opinion: How We Are Hungry. Despite the fact that my college besties and I read HWAH (out loud to each other) cover to cover probably 20 times in college, I haven't actually read any of his full-length novels. Come to think of it, I bought A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius at a yard sale last year and haven't read it yet! It must be hiding on a shelf somewhere. Hm. Anyway, as soon as I read the summary of The Circle I knew I had to read it immediately. I'm not quite finished with it, but I can already definitely highly recommend it. It's blowing my mind and creeping me out on so many levels...I need everyone to read it immediately so that we can discuss. Thanks!


I have about 40 pages left in The Circle, but I'm already thinking about what I'll read next. (Yes, I'm also the kind of person that starts planning her next meal before she's done with the current one) I'm torn between The Rosie Project and Room. I think it's going to depend on how creeped out and stressed I am when I finish The Circle. If I need a mental break from anguish, I'll probably go with The Rosie Project, since it looks more lighthearted. If I feel like doing some more stressing and deep thinking, maybe Room. Or maybe sometime between now and the time I start my next book, Colleen (or someone else!) will open my eyes to something even better! The possibilities are endless, and that's really good, because pollen season is looking kind of endless here, too. 

I've been getting most of these books at the library because none of them met my 'free to $3' Kindle purchase requirement. And it's been working out just fine; I can find them on the library's archaic online library system, and 400 clicks later, reserve to have them on hold. Then the library magically contacts whichever remote backwoods Georgia library has the one available copy of the book I want- I'm guessing they do this via smoke signals or carrier pigeons, based on the time it takes and the prehistoric nature of their webpage design. Then the book travels to the Athens library (probably via covered wagon), and a few days later I get an email notifying me that it's available for pickup! And it's awesome. I mean, I mock, but really-- it's awesome. And since I have so many books I'm already reading, I'm not in a huge rush, so I don't really care that it kind of takes forever to get a book that's supposedly at a branch 30 miles away. Whatever. I appreciate the freeness of it.

What I do NOT appreciate?

Turning to page 184 and discovering a random brown crusty thing stuck to the page of my book.

EW EW EW EW EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

What IS IT?!?! Toast. OBVIOUSLY it is a crumb of toast stuck to the page because I really just cannot allow myself to think about what it REALLY looks like (BOOGER BOOGER BOOGER) because then I would die of being grossed out. ICCCCKKKK. So...I don't know. This disgusting library book phenomenon has happened more times than I'd like to recall lately, and I will have to say...there are many, many amazing things about 'real' books (as opposed to Kindle books). I'll never judge you for being on Team Real Books Are Awesome and E-books Are Stupid. I get that. But can I just say...unidentifiable gross crusty objects on page 184 NEVER HAPPENS ON KINDLE. So...take that, Team Real Books.  

PS. I don't know if anyone cares, but for the record, none of these are affiliate links. Click away with abandon knowing I won't earn a single fraction of a penny off you! But for the record, I wish they WERE affiliate links. And that I could redeem the penny fractions for MORE BOOKS, preferably on Kindle...for obvious reasons.

18 comments:

  1. Ha. Haha-ha. I needed that. Today started out miserably, so I desperately needed to read about crusty things on page 184. So awesome.

    I've been exceptionally limited in reading free time lately. And when I have had time, I've felt required to read, errr... "important books" (aka faith, fertility, adoption stuff). Plus, I've been trying to finish my FAVORITE series of all time now that the 14th book came out for about a year... my awesome plan to reread all previous 13 books has left me stuck on book four for approximately 6 months. BUT when I finally break through, I'll definitely need to check out Red Rising... I'm all for Hunger Games for smart adults.

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  2. Forget 26...the Divergent books were written by a girl my little sisters age (25 depending on when her bday is. She could potentially be 26 already, which would make my point less valid.). While she was in college. Let that sink in for you. Graduate college with a New York Times Bestseller AND a movie deal? Let me wallow in my "what have I done with my life" misery.

    Update: (already!?) My curiosity got the best of me and I googled Veronica Roth. Her birthday is in August, making her officially 25.

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  3. You've read more books this month than I've read in the last year! Oops. On the bright side, I've come across zero horrifying unidentified book objects, so I'll call it a win!

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  4. I've never commented, but I follow your blog! I must say that both Room and the Rosie Project are wonderful! Room is one I could NOT put down, and the Rosie Project was a light easy read! Hope you tell us your thoughts on those two when you read them. :)

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  5. Given your description of the interlibrary loan process, do you break into a rousing version of "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man when you go to pick your books up? Because that would be awesome... :)

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  6. AUGH! I hate UBO's! Although, I am firmly on Team Real Books. You must sacrifice for the things you love. :-)

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  7. Please put your name on the borrow list for Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill. I'm reading a library book right now and no crusty surprises yet but I have had that happen....gross!

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  8. Once again, I am super impressed with your lightening fast reading super powers! Please pass some off to me mmmmmmk?

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  9. Your book suggestions are great. They seem to align with my type of books. I only wish I had as much time as I sed to to read. I read "Room" and it was really good. I am not one to recommend books for fear that the person will HATE it. But my cousin wrote a book, Amontillado. It's pretty good. It takes about 3 or 4 chapters to get into, and then I could not put it down. If you are interested, I could lend it to your kindle. Also, I just reserved "This is Where I Leave You" from the library. Annnnnd it only took 28 or so clicks. Pretty impressive for the SMALLEST library ever.

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  10. Thanks for the book reviews... Is it bad that I'm intrigued by the "scandal" in This is Where I Leave You? I hadn't even heard of that book yet. I'm reading Panic right now by Lauren Oliver. I kind of just stumbled upon it in the Kindle store and thought it sounded good. It is YA fiction with a hunger games/survivor/ sweet valley high twist. I don't think it will be the best book I've read all year, but it's good so far. :) Thanks girl!

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  11. You've put me back in a book reading mood, so I started browsing my shelves last night for something I haven't read yet (I'm ashamed to admit that I probably haven't read half of the books I own...). Thinking about starting As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me by Nanci Kincaid tonight until This is Where I Leave You arrives with my most recent Amazon order!

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  12. I have nothing to contribute regarding books but I HAVE been suffering from allergies, too, so I can commiserate on that front. The drainage gave me a special raspy voice at the beginning of the week and the sinus drainage made my teeth hurt so badly that I thought they were going to explode out of my head. So that was fun. Yay pollen!

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  13. I laughed outloud through this entire blog, but I seriously almost lost my cookies on the BOOGER BOOGER BOOGER, because I too found gross stuff in my books this week! (Someone decided to bleed on The Impossible Knife of Memory, which is okay, because it was not my favorite.) I'm so glad someone else has now read Red Rising. I don't know why this book isn't a bigger deal. I'll be interested to dish with you on The Circle. I loved it, I tore through it, but I also thought it was about 70 pages too long. I'm trying to think of awesome book recommendations: State of Wonder is pretty fabulous, and Finding Emma by Steena Holmes are two favorites....

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    1. Yes, yes, yes, State Of Wonder. And also Bel Canto also by Ann Patchett.

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  14. I feel the need to read all these books now! Thanks for the suggestions

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  15. Pollen season... um, yes. I can't quit sneezing!!! Thankfully, it's not just me!!

    Thanks for these suggestions! :)

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  16. I don't think I will ever be an e-book reader but those library books where the pages stick together get me closer to that side of the e-book side. You should have seen the disgusting things I found working at Chapters (Canada's Barnes and Noble). Anyways, thanks to this blog post my holds list at the library is long again. And unless the book is out, it only takes two clicks and about two days for me to get my copy.

    Room is great but oh so disturbing. But you should definitely read it.

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