I am half tempted to call people out by name, but I know that some of the few people who still pop by here (Hi! I have a blog! I even remember to write something sometimes!) are: writers, librarians, amateur novelists, former literature majors, teachers and big time book readers.
If you haven't done so already, brighten your day (and someone else's), donate something to the Dewey Donation System. Children's books are so inexpensive!
I've purchased and read nine books since Feb 3 with many thanks to Mom for the gift cards that funded much of the binge. So, I figured I should give someone else that same gift and sent a bunch of books. You should too.
What I read:
Lake News: This was one I picked up in the airport. It was much better than I expected it to be. It's not nearly as trashy as the cover lead me to believe.
I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies): I love Lauri Notaro. This book was just as good as We Thought You Would be Prettier or There's a (Slight) Chance I Might be Going to Hell, which is to say that it was hilarious.
The United States of Arugula: I am the last person to get around to reading this. I buy my books on sale! Because I read in bulk! Anyway, it was really good. Like, it took me days to get through it. It probably would've taken days even if I hadn't been spending those days at the hospital.
The Friday Night Knitting Club: I am so mad at this book. I was loving this book and then it went and broke my damned heart and made me have nightmares. There should be warnings on these things. It should just say "delightful until suddenly it's very depressing. Don't read this if your mother has ovarian cancer." I am super relieved I didn't read this one until I was back in Phoenix.
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married: Just as fun and engrossing as anything else Marian Keyes has written. This one doesn't have quite the mid-point horror show of Anybody Out There? or even Rachel's Holiday. I appreciate the fact that those books gave me such a punch in the gut feeling, but I also appreciate that she doesn't always have to throw a horrible twist in there.
The Backdoor to Enlightenment: Drew's mother's cousin wrote this book. I appreciated the structure, because I have a heck of a time with some non-fiction. Because while I can use a reference book, I don't want to READ one, like, cover to cover. This had a nice story that I was genuinely interested in plus little interludes of "don't forget this is non-fiction." I think it might be more useful as a chapter a day kind of thing, but I... can't stop reading a book.
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: Because I love Lauri Notaro. This is her first book, and it's good, but it's not as good as the stuff that came after. I still found it hilarious, just not as completely hilarious as the others.
Compost: A housewarming gift. Very useful in general terms, although the author keeps talking about the challenges of keeping things warm enough and I'm like "... huh? Isn't wet more difficult than warm?", but it seems to be written for Britain and it's not a kill-you-hot desert over there. I still used it as my reference for setting up my compost heap last weekend.
