The Love of a Good Book

I just finished the most wonderful book, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. I came across the author originally through a twitter post by Neil Gaiman about a fundraiser he was doing...I think...maybe it was a blog post...either way I found the fundraiser, thought it was cool and ended up donating. I tooled around the site a bit and thought I might like to check out his book, but ended up putting that thought on the back burner as I was reading other things and couldn't really afford a new book purchase.

Fast forward to about a week ago when I found myself at the library with a friend. I'd thought I'd look up to see if they had the book and lo and behold they did. In hardcover. And it was huge. I don't have it with me now, but I think it's somewhere in the 600-800 page range. A bit daunted I picked it up anyway and lugged it home. I started it a few days later and couldn't put it down. I loved it. I had forgotten how much I love fantasy stories. Good ones at least. One of my top favorites, the Belgariad series by David Eddings, I've probably read through at least 3-4 times. The exciting and slightly sad part is that The Name of the Wind is just the first of three books for this series (YAY!) but the rest aren't out yet (sad). But true genious takes time. And as Mr. Rothfuss has very nicely explained in a post about a year ago he is simply a man trying to write a good story. And I am not one to ever rush a good story. So, please Mr. Rothfuss, take your time. Please create a wonderful tale. I'll be here to read it whenever it's ready.

Another fun fact about the author is he lives in northern Wisconsin. And that just makes me all warm and tingly inside. I love that his upcoming visits include Waunakee, WI, a place that outside of the friends I know from there, I wasn't sure anyone had ever heard of.

The Greatest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Feel Good Raffle Ever

Just in time for the holiday season I have come across a delightful way to possibly win some cool ass shit and help out what looks to be a pretty nifty organization. Combining my love of all things science fiction/fantasy and making the world a better place I bring you Patrick Rothfuss and his amazing charity raffle!

To be fair, I haven't actually read anything by this guy, but after tooling around the site for about 10 minutes I'm sold and will be heading to the library on my lunch to see what I can find. I came across the site, due to my love of all things social networking, when I read a tweet from Neil Gaiman about it. Really, what the hell would I do all day without twitter/facebook/blogger?

Basically he's teamed up with Heifer International and he's matching 50% of ALL donations made through January 15th. Make sure to donate through HIS PAGE for this to work. There are a couple of different ways to get in on the prize action if your interested. For me, I'm going to check out option #1, The Lottery. For every $10 I donate, I get an entry into a lottery for a chance at what looks to be a kick ass pot of possible prizes. Hardcovers, first editions, most signed by the authors. All the kinds of things I LOVE. And there are a ton of books donated for this thing. But since he's already raised over $10K in 3 days it sounds like there are a ton of people donating money as well. I'll still throw my hat in the ring though. $10 (tax-deductible!) for a chance at a random new book? I'm all in.

Check it out. Take a spin around the site. If nothing else the writing for this post (and his bio) are a good read. If it's something that makes you smile and you are part of a social networking site (really, who isn't these days?) then pass it along.

A tiny little book update to start your weekend

I just went to my own blog page and saw that it still says I'm reading Heart Shaped Box, which by the way I finished what feels like ages ago. Yet instead of going to the layout or settings or whatever back end section of this thing I go to to update these things I decided to write a blog post about it. Hmmm. Not the most efficient use of time, but too late now.

So I've finished Heart Shaped Box so long ago I don't think I can give an accurate review. I do remember liking it, good little horror story with an interesting premise. Guy obsessed with death orders a suit online and a ghost comes along with it. The tale that spins out of it is intriguing, enough to make me read it pretty quick if I remember right.

Since then I've knocked back a bunch of others but since sadly I haven't been keeping track here on this blog so I can't really remember what. I know I did read Enrique's Journey which was fantastic and I think everyone should go out and get it now. In fact I think it should be required reading in high school as well. Who really needs more Brave New World anyway?

I also knocked back a bunch of comic books on a recent bus trip to Madtown. Including Marvel 1602 and the third volume of Buffy.

Right now I'm reading World War Z. And I'm freaking loving it! I've seen it around a bunch on the train and in coffee shops and finally broke down and bought my own copy a few weeks ago (only to realize later that boyfriend owns it and I could of totally borrowed his, ah well I've now done my part to help keep bookstores open). If you haven't had a chance to read it yet I highly recommend it. Just now googling it to get a link I saw an IMDB link that says it's being made into a movie! That should be interesting.

So that's what I've got for today. It's a gorgeous day in the windy city and I hope wherever you are you get a chance to get outside and enjoy. My final thought for the day (totally unrelated to books) is a line from a blog post from a friend because some day I also hope to be "a woman so magnetic she fucks up compasses"
Cheers world.



All links brought to you today by sources other than Amazon

Update (since I have nothing more creative to title this)

It's been a bit busy in my life lately and feel I have neglected my half dozen or so readers here for which I apologize profusely. Or as profusely as one can do through a blog. Some updates on life in general - I'm still reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and it's still really good (it's over 1000 pages so this one might take awhile). I went to The Good show last weekend and had a great time (though abandoning the BF and friend while I danced away at the front was probably not the nicest thing to do in retrospect, damn you hindsight and your 20/20 vision). I also am now left wondering how to craft lamps that spell out words (and what words I want). Booked a hotel room for the upcoming Wisconsin winter wedding adventure, $190 freaking dollars to basically just crash at the end of the night is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. There should be some kind of "I'm not going to use any of your child filled indoor water park rides so I should get $80 off the top" pricing. But alas, there is not. So it went on the BF's credit card and I have to figure out a way to pay him back for at least half of it...or figure out a way to not mention it again. Oh and I'm meeting the BF's mom tonight. That is a whole nother post in and of itself. I'm usually pretty good with parents, for the most part they like me, but I am a bit rusty so wish me luck.

Probably the biggest news of all though is that this Friday I'm getting on a plane (cross your fingers on that one!) and heading out to DC for 6 days. Do the math... I'll wait... Yup I'm going to inauguration. Do I have tickets you ask? Nope. Do I care? Nope. While I admit it would be much cooler to actually have tickets to the lawn area I think that just being on the mall during this amazingly historic event will be something I remember for the rest of my life. And more than being excited I am also scared out of my mind. 4 million people freak me out. But I'm crossing my fingers it all goes well and that my camera doesn't freeze, break, or get stolen. I will be back with tales I am sure.

Final Book List

I've just started reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and since it's almost 1,000 pages long I don't think I am going to finish it by Wednesday. So here is the final book list of 2008. I kept count after I hit the goal of 52, listed back in this post from September, though I feel towards the end I may have gotten forgetful. With the additional 27 listed here my grand total is 79. Not too shabby.

September: (7)
Jitterbug Perfume. By Tom Robbins.
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! By Terry Brooks.
A Thousand Splendid Suns. By Khaled Hosseini.
Bone Vol. 1: Out from Boneville. By Jeff Smith.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. By Judy Blume (my very own autographed copy!)
The Sirens of Titan. By Kurt Vonnegut.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower. By Stephen Chobsky.

October (6):
The Hummingbird's Daughter. By Luis Alberto Urrea.
Lamb; The Gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal. By Christopher Moore (a re-read for me)
Ocean. By Warren Ellis.
Scars. By Warren Ellis.
Crooked Little Vein. By Warren Ellis.
Y the Last Man: Volume 1. By Brian Vaughn.

November (10):
Y the Last Man: Volume 2. By Brian Vaughn
Y the Last Man: Volume 3: By Brian Vaughn
Fahrenheit 451. By Ray Bradbury.
Y the Last Man: Volumes 4-10. By Brian Vaughn


December (4):
Dracula. By Bram Stoker
Zombies Calling. By faith erin hicks.
Higher Power of Lucky. By Susan Patron.
American Gods. By Neil Gaiman.

What are you doing this weekend?

A few awesome looking things happening in Chicago that I wanted to share in case anyone is looking for something to do. First up on Saturday, dust off your inner geek and come check out the first annual Windy City Comicon, come on, you know you want to! Okay, maybe you don't want to, but I do and it would help if I had some company :)

If that's not your style then on Sunday how about clearing off some of those overburdened book shelves and dropping them off at the Great American Book Drive! (and on the 29th there seems to be a book swap...hmmm.....). It's a good cause, and you might get to run into one of my favorite bloggers who is the one that first shared the event with me.

Personally, I'm going to try and do both (since this week is a bye week for the Bears and all...oh dear god did I just say that!). Though I also have 2 a.m. plans possibly on Saturday night so we'll see how it all goes.

Whatever you do I hope you do it well.

My new home

I want to go here. Even more than that, I want to work there, live there, spend all my time there. For more pictures you can go the architects site here.

52 Already? Or 2008 books part two

9 months ago I made a New Years resolution to read 52 books this year. I cast the net pretty wide, including graphic novels and young adult books because I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot (it's been awhile since I made and kept a resolution of any kind) and especially since I had told so many damn fools about this one I was determined to keep it.

Awhile ago I posted my first 6 month summary where I had knocked 36 books out of the park. Today I went in and updated my recent reading, did a quick count and realized I was exactly at 52 books read, and I'm almost done with 53. Damn, ahead of schedule by a few months (and some cold/wintery locked in my apartment months at that!). I thought I'd have a big "woo-hoo" moment, but it was pretty anti-climactic actually. But since I'm done I wanted to put up the final list. I will probably keep listing them just to see at the end of the year how many I've read.

Quick Numbers:
Books Read: 52
Time: 8 months and 14 days, or 36 weeks (rounded down), or 258 days, or 6,192 hours, or...you get the idea.
Average per week: 1.4
Average per month: 6.1
Graphic Novels: 18, or 35%

July - 5

Wanted. By Mark Millar. Okay so technically I finished this one in June (June 29th to be exact) but I've already posted my first six month summary so this one is getting lumped in with July. It's a graphic novel, one of the set that my dad got my for April/Christmas and we can discuss the fuckedupedness of the fact that my father bought this for me in some other blog. Regardless of that, it's good. It's dark, violent, disturbing, and very very well done. So much darker than the movie it spawned that it makes that version look like something from Disney. The language is at times hard to take when one lives in a world where most of those terms are deemed unusable, but if you can get past it it is worth every page. I want to cut the last page out and frame it but then I'd have to probably stop inviting people over. Oh, and if you are into graphic novels and read this after this post, don't skip to the last page, trust me the wait is so worth it.


Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad. I went on a date with a boy once who indicated this was one of his most favorite books. I no longer wonder why we didn't go out again. It's good, though I feel I missed a lot and will have to read it again as the years go by. I do want to now go watch Apocalypse Now again, I feel I will have a better appreciation of it.

Paula. By Isabel Allende. Heartbreaking. Wonderful. Amazing. I love her works of fiction and this story, a memoir of her daughter who died, was a beautiful look at her own life and the pain of losing a loved one.

The Walking Dead. By Robert Kirkman. Another graphic novel from the post Christmas pack from the dad. Great stuff, I think there are more out there that I might have to go buy now.

On the Job: Behind the stars of the Chicago Police Department. By Daniel P. Smith. Good, felt the history sections dragged a bit and were slightly unfocused at times. The pictures, while interesting, mostly distracted me but I think that is more about my reading habits. Liked the behind the scenes look at the individual officers, does help you remember these are men and women with lives, emotions, and memories each and every day. Still not sure that I trust the Chicago Police scene, but my eyes are a bit more open.

August - 9

Catch 22. By Joseph Heller. I was really skeptical to begin this book, everyone I knew who liked it said it took them a couple of times to get into it. I don't understand why, I was hooked from sentence number one. I loved it. I think everyone should read it.

Interworld. By Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. One of Gaiman's YA books, actually quite good. Some of the stuff I wondered whether I would of understood it if I was, you know, an actual Young Adult in the literary sense, but none the less as a "adult" I still really liked it.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice. By Laurie King. Quite an interesting mystery actually, and mystery is not my usual thing. Got it from mom awhile back, finally picked it up. First in what looks to be a series around these characters - it's a Sherlock Homes thing, but with a lead female apprentice character, quite good. Never read any Conan Doyle Holmes, so nothing to compare it to.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home. Season 8, Vol. 1. Joss Whedon. Oh Buffy. How addicted I am to you. Tore through the show on DVD and got this first volume of the comic that takes up where show ends for my birthday. Love it. Will have to go out and get vol. 2 though that's it till November I think. Hate reading things that are still being produced, but I think I'll try with this one.

Skinny Dip. By Carl Hiaasen. Received on a Friday for my birthday, started on Sunday, finished by Tuesday. Quite an entertaining read. Quick, slightly snarky, modern mystery feel to it. Except it's not a mystery, because you really know what's going on the whole time, so I guess mystery is the wrong word. Good stuff, will probably check out his other stuff.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You. Season 8, Vol. 2. By Joss Whedon. Starting to lose a bit of the appeal but still am enjoying it. Sucks that I have to wait till November for the next installment but then I guess I will just re-read these first two so it won't be too bad.

Three cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time. By Greg Mortenson. Go out and read this book. Stop what you're doing, stop what you're reading. It's that good. I went out as soon as I was done and ordered a copy for my mom (and if you order through their site a percentage goes to them) and now she is loving it. It's a true story of one guys random mission to educate the girls of Pakistan and it's a beautiful story.

Walking Dead; Vol. 2-4. By Robert Kirkman. Still absolutely loving this series. It's a great look at what happens to people when faced with an entirely new way of life. The zombies, while entertaining, are just a back drop to the story which I think is one of the things I really like about it. From the Amazon description

..."An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead
to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months, society has crumbled:
There is no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. Rick
Grimes finds himself one of the few survivors in this terrifying future. A
couple months ago he was a small town cop who had never fired a shot and only
ever saw one dead body. Separated from his family, he must now sort through all
the death and confusion to try and find his wife and son. In a world ruled by
the dead, we are forced to finally begin living. "

September: 2

Walking Dead; Vol 5-6. By Robert Kirkman. Tore through another 2 volumes of this series while trying to keep up with the leaking walls of my apartment this weekend during the 3 day rainstorm we just had. I am totally in love with it, but am worried I'm reading them too fast and that I'm catching up to single issue city which I don't like. I think there are two volumes left before I run out.

Oops, I did it again

I wonder somedays at what point in ones life do they begin to learn from their mistakes? I thought by now there would be certain things that I would of simply picked up on, figured out not to do again, and again, and again...Perfect example, tequila. Really never a good idea at 2 AM but have I figured this out yet? Nope. Maybe once I crest the golden age of 30 that lesson will stick past 1:30 AM. Another life lesson that I seem to be groundhog daying? Men. There are certain habits, which I will not go into on this page for personal embarrassment reasons, that I continue to repeat over and over with nothing ever learned. To be honest, it's starting to get a bit old. Now, if I manage to learn the tequila lesson, then maybe these other bad habits will fade away, but until then I am doomed to continue repeating the same dumb mating/dating moves apparently regardless of geographic location. Next time. Next time I will figure this out.

On to happier news, though still on the "I will never learn" front. I managed to find myself another book fair this past weekend. The Newberry library has an annual sale that I found myself immersed in Saturday morning. $18.50 and 19 books later I was on my way home. And by the way, 20 books (I had one in my bag to begin with) is no light affair. I have now run out of room in the existing set up of my library with this purchase so am trying to find a way to rearrange the over 350 books that live with me. Which means that the floor of my living room is covered in piles and stacks of books. I'm hoping by Friday to have them reshelved...we'll have to wait and see on that one.

2008 books - 6 month summary

It's June 27 and I just started Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad today. Being as it's the weekend I doubt I will get it done before June is over and done with so I'm going out on a limb here and finally posting my first 6 months of books. I typed these as I went and my "reviews" are not really all that insightful but at least I have a record of where I'm at to date.

To catch everyone up I made a new years resolution to read 52 books this year. So far I've knocked out 36 which means I'm just over 69 percent of the way there. It also means I need to average just under 3 books a month for the rest of the year to hit the goal. I still think I can do it and I've got a stack of unread graphic novels I can crank through in case I start to cut it close.


January (10):

The Book Thief. By Markus Zusak - Phenomenal! Read it.

52 Volume 3

If ever I returen Pretty Peggy-O. By Sharyn McCrumb

Sharp Objects. By Gillian Flynn -

52 Volume 4 - Series was good, but since not a big DC reader hard to follow. Not sure what is real and what is made up by these writers.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. By Ken Kesey - took a bit to get into but enjoyed when done. Intrigued to see movie now.

Soon I Will Be Invincible. By Austin Grossman - Awesome.

Street Angel. By Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca. - It's a teenage homeless girl heroine who skateboards. What more do I need to say?! I truly hope there is more than just this first volume.

Identity Crisis. By Brad Meltzer - Finally read this after owning it a year. Took me picking it up in DC at a friends house and then finishing it here in the city. It's good - the end scene with Robin's father brought me to tears. A first for a comic book.

Doctor Zhivago. By Boris Pasternak. The first 100 pages almost made me quit. Again and again and again. If you can get through those it's great. I really want to see the movie now, I know there was a bunch I missed due to my uneducated ass not knowing much about Russian history.

February (3):

Scar Night. By Alan Campbell. Pretty damn good, was recommended to me as a combo sci-fi(which I do not read)/fantasy, so I thought I would try it. Loved it and am now anxiously awaiting my next trip to the book store to see if the sequel is out yet....I don't think it is (boo).

Zombies Calling. By Faith Erin Hicks. Recommended by the guy that had the recommendation at the book store for Street Angel (there was no sequel and I was looking for something in the same genre). Very, very funny. The art leaves a little to be desired, a little too chaotic at times for me, but if you ever watched a zombie movie, and enjoyed it, you will connect with this comic.

Kafka on the Shore. By Haruki Murakami. Weird. Have to read others of his I think.

March (7):

Snow Crash. By Neal Stephenson. Recommended by Schmidlap and it was great! Took a bit to get into the language of a sci-fi, geek tech book but once in (28 pages) I was hooked. In the middle it started to get a bit murky with all the religion=virus=drug talk, especially since my fundamental knowledge of any type of historical religious information is bankrupt (thanks mom!) and I got lost more than a few times in the Sumerian history and gods. But once you pull through the murkiness and accept that you're probably missing something it gets really really good again. And I know have to get a dog to name Hiro Protagonist...maybe a german shepard...

The Picture of Dorian Gray. By Oscar Wilde. This was my first Wilde and it was a bit difficult to be honest. The language was thick, sentances long and drawn out, and quite a bit of philosophical musings that ate up entire chapters. After Snow Crash it was a bit hard to get into it, but it was good none the less and I'm glad I read it.

Zodiac. By Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash sucked me into the Stephenson craze and Zodiac was the only one on the shelf that looked small enough to fit in my bag! It was good, an eco-thriller that makes me want to tackle his bigger works.

Odd and the Frost Giants. By Neil Gaiman. This book was written for World Book Day in the UK - it's where authors get together and write books for free distribution to kids, it's an awesome idea. I found out through Gaiman's website that I could order them for 1 pound each through Amazon.UK so I got four copies! I think I paid more in shipping that I have for my last three books but it was totally worth it. It's a kids book and it's adorable, when it comes out in the US you should read it.

Stardust. By Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. This was the graphic novel version of the story (so now it's my third version of the story). The art is amazing and it's really more like an illustrated novel than a comic book. If you can, read or watch this story, it's great!

Sin City Volume 1 - The Hard Goodbye. By Frank Miller. I've seen the movie and if I remember correctly I enjoyed it. Casey said now that I was in to graphic novels I had to check out the original. As usual, he was correct. It's great. Dark, violent, black and white. Now I've got the next two volumes on my to read list and I have to go back and watch the movie.

The Good Fairies of New York. By Martin Millar. I got this from the damn Amazon "customers who bought X also bought Y" advertisment scheme. It works on me every time. And usually it's worth it. Especially in this case. I started with Millar's "Lonely Werewolf Girl" (probably to be reviewed in the next month) and they said I should also buy Good Fairies. It's much smaller than Werewolf so I started with it and I love it. Scottish fairies throwing up from too much whiskey and magic mushrooms? You can't get better than that.

Summary for Quarter 1: 20 books finished, 32 left to read. Percent complete = 38%. With 32 left to read in 9 months the average is three and a half per month. This update done on April 14th - I've already read four books in April. I am secure in meeting my goal of 52 books this year.

April (5)

The Historian. By Elizabeth Kostova. - Good, my first vampire book. Took forever it felt to read though I enjoyed the whole story.

100 Bullets. Volume 1. By Brian Azzarello. Fucking amazing.

100 Bullets. Volume 2. By Brian Azzarello. Still fucking amazing. However, sections that contain French slightly confusing. Good enough art though got me through (and having a visitor who speaks French hepled translate).

100 Bullets. Volume 3. By Brian Azzarello. Review getting old, but still fucking amazing.

Oil!. By Upton Sinclair. This is the book that "There will be blood" the movie is based upon. I had no interest in the movie (and if fact at this point still haven't seen it) but when I heard that Sinclair wrote the book I was intrigued. I really enjoyed The Jungle so thought I would equally enjoy Oil!. Not quite. I did enjoy it, but there's just something about it that didn't quite make it. Maybe it's the ridiculous usage of the exclamation point throughout the whole book - we are talking about at least 3 per page! Then there is the fact that up until the last 50 pages it doesn't seem like it's going to end well. Not "well" as in good/happy but well as in satisfactory...does that make sense. There was a feel of bull dozing at the end to wrap up the story quickly as though we were running out of time. And the end while done okay was less than satisfactory.

May (6)

Burning Chrome. By William Gibson. Recommended to me by my father after he heard how much I loved Snow Crash (stephenson). Didn't realize till I started reading it that it's short stories. I'm not very good with short stories, mostly because most of the ones I've read sucked. The short story is a hard format to master, hell writing in general is hard, but I've been especially frustrated with the short story - it's the cop out zone for so many writers. Chrome was not this bad. In fact, it was pretty decent. Some of the sci-fi took me a bit to get into but once I figured out what the hell they were talking about it was okay.

Invisible Man - H.G. Wells. Good. Short read, odd narration, wonder if it's been made into a movie? Surely it must have.

Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris. Delightful. Loved it. Already lent it out to a friend. Stealing "I'm not an alchemist" for my own repitoir.

Narcisuss and Goldmung. By Herman Hesse. This one took awhile, it was good but I was disspointed to have the namesake character Narcisuss dissapear for the majority of the book.

The Time Traveler's Wife. By Audrey Niffenegger. Amazing, fantastic, totally surprising. Alyssa lent this to me and I have to admit, the back cover did not pull me in at all. Some love story that honestly sounded boring. But I gave it a chance because she said how good it was. She was right. It's written beautifully. The setup, which could have been confoundingly confusing, was done in a such a way as to easily keep track of where and when you were in the story. It's just over 500 pages and I have to admit, about 100 pages from the end I broke into gut wrenching sobs at a particular scene. Read it. It's worth it.

Lonely Wearwolf Girl. By Martin Millar. This was recommended to me by my brother and I finished it in about two days (being off work helped with that). It is the second book of Millar's that I've read and I absolutely loved it. Over 500 pages, it is huge book to hold, but it's totally worth it. I can see why Gaiman recommends him.


June - 5

Guenivere. By Sharan Newman. Fantastic! Made me want to pick up Mists of Avalon again and see how the character is portrayed as she gets older. This version really centers on her youth - before she meets Arthur.

Treasure Island. By Robert Louis Stevenson. Picked this up at the Printers Row book Fair (which was awesome!) and figured I'd knock out another one of the classics before the half way point of the year was here. I quickly discovered that Johnny Depp and the Dread Pirate Roberts were in no way a satisfactory prep in pirate speak. I fear some of the story got lost in translation between the pirate gab and the boat specifics, but overall I enjoyed it.

Indigo Sound. By Regina Harris Baiocchi. Picked it up from a local author at Printers Row. Really good story, that flows the main character from chapter to chapter by following up on someone mentioned in the previous chapter...does that make sense? I wished at some points that I could have more of specific characters, but overall I think it's an interesting story about life and the connections between people.

Running with Scissors. Augusten Burroughs. Again, picked it up at PR. This one was made into a movie a few years back and got a lot of attention. It was good, but I'm not sure what all the commotion was for. It's a pretty fucked up story, with some fucked up childhood stories. Even disturbing on some levels. And at times it got a little random for me.

I love everybody (and other atrocious lies). By Laurie Notaro. Picked it up at a garage sale mostly because of the title. Not so much a story as a handful of random stories by the author, but still enjoyed it. She has a witty, sarcastic style that I can deeply appreciate. I think if I were to ever get off my lazy ass and write a book it would sound something like this.

Wordle

I am such a thief. I get my best ideas from my other blogging friends. I even might try and steal this one and incorporate it into my work somehow. I got this one from here. You can make your own here. This one I made from the really, really long draft post I have going of all the books I've read in 2008 (which I may have to post at the sixth month mark so it doesn't become it's own novel.)

Enjoy as I head back to work.

Tiny version that links to one in gallery...

Garage sale challenges

I have a friend in town so while I take a quick smoke break in the other room I thought I'd throw up a quick post. Today after coffee in the rain we saw a garage sale sign pointing us a few blocks south of our current location so of course we had to check it out. She ended up with a picture frame and a shirt for her boyfriend (which I think she will actually keep) and I walked away with 3 books and 8 CD's for $10. Not that I really need CD's but I felt it was good karmic payback to help someone unload their leftovers...and I got Public Enemy which just makes me smile.

As for the books, there were mostly baby books and computer programming which while tempting I felt I could leave behind. I did however find The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. I snatched it up when I saw the author after my love of Snow Crash. But then I saw it was book two of The Baroque Cycle. Yup, the same Baroque Cycle as this post. Did I dare try and add it to my arsenal of 2008? Plus it was book two - that did me no good. But, always up for a challenge, and never one to pass down books for a dollar, I added it to my stack and now I am a third of the way to taking on Stephenson's epic. Once my current binge is done (supplied by the fine folks at Printers Row) I think I might have to throw a summer gathering where I invite Mr. and Mrs. Schmidlap to come and plan on promising to trade my fantastic punch for the opportunity to borrow book one.

Random pictures, not too much to actually say

So I decided to upload some random pictures for your viewing pleasure, mostly because I don't have that much to say today and I'm trying to avoid doing my dishes.

First - I officially dumpster dived a few weekends ago and snagged this from the alley across from my apartment. Didn't really need it, but it was too cute to let it get hauled away...I'm sure I'll find a reason for it (what I really want now is one of those old time candlesticks with the handles to place on top!)

Next - One of many bags I accumulated during the Printers Row book fair last weekend. This one happens to be from Powell's books - which if you ever find yourself in Portland, OR, I highly, highly recommend you spend at least half a day there. It takes up an entire city block and it's fantastic.

Finally - what happens when you leave above Powell's bag on kitchen floor after getting caught in a torrential summer down pour on your way home. I almost don't even want to wash my floors, it's like my own abstract art.

Okay, I guess it's time to start the dishes. Have a great weekend.

300

No, not the movie filled with hot guys running around nekkid with swords...hmmm...nekkid guys with swords...sorry where was I? Oh yeah, 300 is the threshold I just crossed as a book owner. Thanks to my twenty new purchases from Printers Row book fair (if it weren't for all the other people that fair would be my own personal vision of heaven) I am officially at 302 according to Library Thing. I think I may even be higher than that since I know there are a bunch that either won't enter or that I've missed.

So now I must delve into my new purchases and contemplate if it's time to actually shelve the 30 or so that are sitting on the extra shelf in the computer/storage room as opposed to the library set up in the living room. Unless of course the thunderstorms stop (which they sound like they have) and I work up the energy to go check out the neighborhood watering hole.

Oh, and that last post's title? Yeah, I titled it before I started writing - there was a whole nother direction I was intending to go and then never went back and fixed the header. Teaches me to write first and title last, sorry about that. And Rob, my hair is actually naturally curly which I only embraced last winter when I went to St. John with my brother. I'll try and get a recent pic that isn't too bad and post it, it's some crazy stuff :)

Just a few headlines...now back to work

Too busy today (and probably the rest of the week for that matter) to do a full blown post but came across a few news items I wanted to make sure I got links up to. First, with no link, it's start of baseball season but since I'm still knee deep in the madness I can't really pay attention to it - that and it's awfully rainy here in the city so I wonder if the cubs are even getting started. Second - I actually participated in this new (or new to me) concept of "earth hour" where on Saturday night I turned off my lights (but not my tv) between 8 and 9 pm. I heard the next day that the city of Chicago had a 5% decrease in energy demand which means nothing to me but then this article today provided a more relative number for me. Just think what we could do if this was a weekly, or even monthly event...too bad we can't focus for more than an hour in our society.

And finally, I have to admit that I have used someone's reading list (or lack thereof) as a make or break in my dating world. Granted, it was almost always more than just what was on his reading list that made me flee from certain ex's or drew me like a moth to a flame to others- but as you well know books are a big part of me and who I am so it is one of the things I look at in potential partners. Usually I don't care what you read, as long as you read something. And for me it usually isn't a level of intelligence thing but an activity to do together - one of my favorite pastimes is laying in bed Sunday (or really any day) morning with coffee and a book or newspaper, it would just be sensible if my partner was with me.

Okay - back to the grind, just one last link to a site that I may have to go back to when my one year blogging anniversary hits (whenever the hell that is). I don't do a lot of pictures but it would be neat to have a hard copy version of all this mish mash I'm spouting...and really I will take any excuse I can to add more books to mys shelves :)

So many books, so little time

It's the end of March and I am 6 books away from halfway through my goal for the year...this gives me optimism that I'll make it, but only time will tell. At my last visit to my bookstore I had them look up my totals - I don't have the exact numbers but this approximately where I'm at.
$994 spent since November of 2006 with over 80 some books bought. I think as far as habits go, this one might be the most healthy for me.

The sun is out so I think I might venture for a walk, rediscover some of the music hidden in my i-pod. Maybe break the 1K mark on my book record. It's amazing what a little sun will do to your disposition. Have a great weekend.

Sunday Update - I got a printout from the bookstore yesterday so I could see all my purchasing power in its glory. 95 book bought between November 19, 2006 and March 22, 2008 which boils down to 5-6 a month. 15 of those were gifts for others (about 16%). The winner by far was the graphic novel category ringing in with 42, scifi was next at 12. I've been through 3 $25 credits (which you earn for every $300 spent) and I think I'm about $200 shy of getting another one which shouldn't be too hard since one of the damn workers got me to start another comic book run at $10 a shot and probably 9-10 volumes total.

Weekend Wrap Up

Well I am headed to vacation tomorrow for 5 glorious days so I figured I'd better do a quick, random thoughts in my head kind of post so I can clear it all out the way and simply relax for the next hundred hours or so.

First - right now the vote is one for and one against my plan to bring 5 pairs of shoes on vacation with me. Technically it would mean packing four pairs and wearing one - the breakdown is one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of low-top chucks, and three pairs of dress shoes. See I have to attend a wedding while I'm there and I think I should have options when the time comes to get ready....plus dress shoes are tiny(ish), right?

Next up - like the film industry needs any more of my damn money. I feel this is just some ploy to reach into my wallet and take an extra $15 from me, but like shiny advertising I am sure I will fall for it when the release date arrives. I read the book - forgot the beginning before I got to the end kind of read - so can't say with any authority if the claim that "there's just too much information for one movie" has any validity.

Want to see a picture of the cutest dogs ever? Come on, you know you do. Just click any one of the obnoxious word combos that I've made into links here in this paragraph. I like to claim they are my dogs, and while technically I did find them, they are 110% my mom's now. Awww, man I miss those guys.

In the news world there is the whole Spitzer thing - but really does anyone need to hear more about that? Didn't think so. I did however find this really depressing and scary section of the online Chicago Tribune. The section, titled "The Blotter", has a tagline that reads "Short takes on local crime and mayhem". The top headlines?

• South Side man charged in weekend slaying


• 2 shot on West Englewood street


• Man robs LaSalle Bank branch in loop


• Body found in garbage can in Englewood alley

Not exactly a warm and fuzzy section to start your morning.

Book update - 249 books owned (in Chicago). 15 books read so far this year (and almost done with #16).

That's all folks - I'm out for the great state of Oregon. If I get a chance I'll do a traveling hello from the West Coast. Have a great weekend.

Brick Wall

I started 2008 reading like a maniac. I took down 10 books in the first month and figured making a new years resolution to read 52 books would be a resolution that even I could keep. Then February hit and my reading slowed down exponentially. We are one day away from the end of the month (and that is only because we are graced with a leap year this year) and I have only finished 3 more books. I still think I can make the 52 goal, but I'm going to have to step it up (or get back into graphic novels).

A few weeks ago I asked my internet world for some book recommendations as I was struggling to find something that was capable of wisking me away from the horrendous Chicago winter we are in. Schmidlap came through with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash - even promised to reimburse me my purchase price if I wasn't hooked in 50 pages. Sounded like a good bet to me - with little to no risk involved.

So I headed down to my local independent book store and was surprised to see half a shelf of Stephenson books (surprised because the Science Fiction and Fantasy are combined into one bookcase so there's not a lot to choose from - damn new release readers taking over my store!) However Snow Crash is not one of the titles available. But because my bookstore rocks I special order it and have it in my hands in 4 days.

In the meantime I was struggling through Murakami's Kafka on the Shore so I put Stephenson to the side for a few days. Sunday (as in 5 days ago) I headed out to a local coffee shop with an almost finished Kafka in my bag - at the last moment I threw in Snow Crash just in case. I was right in doing so since I finished the crazy Japanese story and began my descent into the not so distant future.

Schmidlap said 50 pages was the hook point. 14 pages in I thought I might actually get my $15 back (if I had the nerve to ask for it that is), 28 pages in I was ready to pay him $15. It's now Thursday, I was sick all day Tuesday, and went out drinking all night Wednesday and I am on page 206. It's fucking great. I now have the name for my second dog (the first one will be Atticus) -- Hiro Protagonist. Thanks Schmidlap!

Weekend update

As the weekend comes to a close I have to say that overall it was relatively productive. I managed not to go out of town or do any work related thinking, I had a 16 hour long date, and I got to watch The Good rock out Saturday night. I got to watch a friend who "doesn't dance" spend the majority of the night up next to the speaker jamming away, I've recovered most of my hearing, though it's still a little like living underwater which is unnerving, I finished Kafka on the Shore and began Snow Crash which looks promising, restocked my OJ supply and now am ready to settle in for Oscar night.

The headlines when I open up my Internet window tell me that Nader has thrown his hat in the rat race again for presidency. It's been too good a weekend to even glance at the story so I'm putting off any commentary or even the slightest thought about it until at least Monday.

I found out my brother might be swinging through the windy city in a few weeks, so I finally get to show off my digs to him which promises to be fun. I got a haircut, a new 600 thread count sheet and a curtain rod so I am once again able to bathe my bedroom in darkness.

As of 4:30 this Sunday evening life is good, quiet but good.

DONE

I. Finished. Doctor Zhivago.