Reading

Dewey The Library Cat

It’s been quite the year. I survived a wild, whirlwind of a summer followed by an even more wild fall. In September I started my masters program in Library Science, began a new job, and moved across the state. Now it’s November and I don’t know where 2016 went or how it’s already time to pull out my Christmas movie watch list again!

I have been blogging, just not here (I know. Terrible). For library class we each keep a blog of our class reflections and reading take aways. If you’re dying to read some stuff that makes little sense out of context, check it out.

Meanwhile, I’ve been making a Herculean effort to keep up with my personal reading. Hopefully getting back into my blog updates will help with that.

deweydookLast Friday I finished the book Dewey The Library Cat by Vicki Myron absolutely bawling. It’s the true story of a kitten that was abandoned in a library book return in rural Iowa and grew up to become the joy of the small town public library. Dewey was a big, fluffy orange tabby who spent his days snuggling with kids during story hour, sitting in on important meetings, and sleeping on as many laps as he could. Honestly, living in a library has always been a childhood fantasy of mine so I was incredibly jealous as I read about Dewey’s glorious life.

There was also a lot in the book about the changes rural Iowa went through during the 1980’s farming crisis and beyond. It was a part of history I’d never thought about, at all, and having it as part of this heartwarming story of a library cat made the book that much better. I wouldn’t say I loved the writing but I can certainly see why people loved Dewey.

If you don’t have time to read the book (and it’s past time to own up to the fact that most of us don’t), here’s a cute YouTube video from the Iowa Public Access story on Dewey. It’s very 80s and the librarian glasses are a riot.

RT Vegas Top Ten

In what is now a tradition, here are my top ten moments from this year’s RT Convention!

  1. Meeting up with friends from last year and making new friends. This isn’t a moment, this was the whole five days. I loved seeing my posse again and adding some new members. We’re taking on the world, one romance novel at a time.
  2. Pitching. I pitched my book this time and it was great! Nerve wracking, very scary, and more than a little overwhelming, but great.
  3. Meeting Julia Quinn. A lot! Julia Quinn is on my list of authors to meet during my lifetime and I met her!
  4. The Help! Crazysauce Broke the Interwebz… panel. If I am ever in the middle of a media blitz, these are the ladies I want handling it.
  5. The Smart Bitches Trashy Books reader recommendations party. Basically we went around and recommended books to each other. There’s nothing I love more than hearing someone talk about a book they love. I came away with pages and pages of new books to track down and read.
  6. Lady Jane’s Salon. The above times a thousand because this was authors reading from their books. Nothing makes me want to read a book more than hearing the author of said book talk about it. This particular event led to #7…
  7. Receiving an advanced copy of J. Kenner’s Dirtiest Little Secret. I told her I’d heard her at the salon and desperately needed to read the book she shared so she gave me a copy!
  8. Jennifer Armentrout, who no doubt met hundred of people in those few days, remembered me from one of her panels. Did I feel special? Absolutely.
  9. The romantic comedy panel. Last year’s led me to Wallbanger and everything Alice Clayton. After this year’s I need to read everything by Christina Lauren. It’s on.
  10. Making new friends everywhere. I made a friend while waiting to pitch who I hope to see at Spring Fling in Chicago. I made friends in every line I stood in and waiting for my plane at the airport. Everyone at the convention loves books so we always have something in common.

There are more and the minute I post this I know I’ll think of them. I miss RT already and am looking forward to Atlanta 2017!

Romantic Notions

Sometimes I feel closely akin to the Romantic poets and writers of old. The melancholy, the heartbreak, the overwhelming feelings. I could pontificate on the state of the human heart for hours in these moods but, for your sake, I will not. The attention span of audiences is not what it used to be. Including my own.

What has brought on such a state of unmitigated woe? A book. A mere physical piece of paper and ink. I am reaching the end of a trilogy, one that has engaged me heart and soul. I don’t see a happy ending in sight without one or the other character sacrificing all they have worked for. Can I respect a character who has given up their purpose in pursuit of a happy ending? Could you?

There in lies, stems, inhabits the dilemma.

Ten Best Books I Read This Year

I made this list for obvious reasons. Obvious to me but since you’re not in my head, here they are:

  1. I love lists.
  2. It’s the end of December* so end of year top ten lists are all the rage.
  3. I read a whole lot of books this year that you should read too.

Ten Best Books I Read in 2015

Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski – have questions about your sexuality? (if you don’t are you sure you’re human?) This book is for you. It’s for all of us.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari – It makes you think, it makes you laugh, and I loved it.

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton – Oh wow. Just so much love for this one!

The Duff by Kody Keplinger – This is an awesome YA novel to read at any age and the movie absolutely doesn’t do it justice.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – This one is a life changer for sure.

Sandman Volumes 1-10 by Neil Gaiman – I don’t recommend binge reading these like I did. They are intense.

Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson – I was surprised to find out Jeanette Winterson wrote a book for young readers. Turns out it’s only in the youth section because the heroine is twelve.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown – If you haven’t read anything by Brene, do so now.

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster – delightful

How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran – Hilarious, insightful, and relevant.

Happy reading!

 

*Note: When I started writing this list, it WAS the end of December.

 

 

Stuff I’ve Done – The Outtakes

  • I have managed to spill coffee on myself, my couch, my afghan, or my floor every day for the past three months. I’m not even surprised anymore.
  • I finished my NaNoWriMo challenge with 2 days to spare! The last week was tough because what I thought was the midpoint was actually the climax and the whole book needs to be rewritten from that scene onward. So I wrote down how I want to do the rewrite then wrote some fun scenes with the characters. Like fan fic of my own fic. Now the whole thing is simmering until I decide to pick it up again.
  • I got over the half way hurdle with the line edits on my novel. Now that there’s some semblance of an end in sight, the editing is going far more smoothly. One for the win column.
  • The Christmas movie watching obsession has officially begun! I’ve been watching them for weeks already but it wasn’t official until December 1st. Some of these movies I’ve seen a dozen times and watching them is like meeting old friends. And not the ones you’d assume. Oh I watch the classics – It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Elf, Love Actually…but the ones that I most look forward to? The ABC Family Originals. Particularly the ones with the insane plot lines and actors who used to be singers (or models or child TV stars). My end goal here is to some day have a list of the 25 absolute best Christmas movies ever, all defended with brilliant examples and screen shots.
  • I make my bed every morning and tell myself that it’s basically the same thing as having a clean house.
  • Of course I’ve been reading A LOT. I have a stack of books to share and I hope to get caught up before the year is out. I started two new reading challenges for myself – my own personalized 100 Books to Read Before You Die list (all the classics I feel I might not hate) and a list of romance authors to read before the next RT convention. More on these later. Also look for my list of the top books I’ve read this year – that’ll be showing up sometime around December 31st.
  • And now I’ve got another book to plan because why have one book project going when you can have three?

You Can’t Un-Read This

In a special edition of There’s Some Weird Stuff Out There, I bring you this, the weirdest of the weird. Thank you Carrie S. of Smart Bitches Trashy Books for reading and reviewing this…dare I say book?

Well, this didn’t take long. It has been brought to our attention that the ever-reliable Chuck Tingle has a new book out, Oppressed in the Butt by My Inclusive Holiday Coffee Cups. Because I feel that parody coffee cup porn is the perfect response to the ridiculous Starbucks coffee cup outrage, I volunteered to review the 4,700 word “book.” I even kind of enjoyed it. My mother must be so proud. I’m just going to … Continue reading Oppressed in the Butt by My Inclusive Holiday Cups by Chuck Tingle →

Source: Oppressed in the Butt by My Inclusive Holiday Cups by Chuck Tingle

Books, A Love Affair

I’m having a love affair with books. What we have is precious, a once in a lifetime romance. I always have more than one book going at a time in order to keep a well-rounded, healthy reading life. (P.S. my mother says that if I spend as much time and energy on exercising as I do on researching, acquiring, and reading books I’d be in great shape.)

My categories:

The romance novel. This one is partially research for my own writing but mostly a fun, tittilating read. I devour these books. I have to read them within days or else they consume my mind, making it impossible to think about anything but the book.

The non-fiction book. This is usually on my current, personal research topic. At the moment I am researching relationships, dating, and media. You would not believe the number of fascinating books on this topic that have come out in the past year.

The bed stand book. This is also a non-fiction book and, frankly, one that puts me to sleep. I find it relaxing to fall asleep to a book. Though sometimes I start to dream, wake up, and continue reading and often I can’t distinguish what was in my dream and what was in the book.

The self help book. I know. You’re thinking – what can you possibly have to improve about yourself? You’re perfect already.

The book needs to go back to the library but I’m determined to read it before the due date. This happens more often than you’d think.

There you have it. The books of my reading harem.

Things I Have Done, Am Doing, Want to Do, Etc.

Time for a list, don’t you think?

  1. This weekend I went to Chicago to visit my sister. It was a huge wake up call for me. I’ve got to figure out how I can fit more reading time into my day.
  2. My new favorite animal is the Sand Cat. They are so cute! An dangerous predators of course. But mostly cute. I spent most our zoo time trying to figure out how get one of my own.
  3. I came home bemoaning the lack of used book stores in TC. We went to 3 used books stores within a few blocks of each other! And they were all different and bizarre and amazing.
  4. Let’s talk bonsai trees. These things are amazing. They are so tiny and adorable looking but they are actually super old, wise, and incredibly strong. If I were a tree, I’d like to think I’d be a bonsai tree. Here are some of my favorites that I saw in the Chicago Botanic Gardens this past Saturday:

IMG_20151010_145814132  IMG_20151010_145844634

IMG_20151010_145736393_HDR

IMG_20151010_145947788

So do I want to move to Chicago where I can be amidst the used book shops, sand cats, and bonsai trees all the time? Gah, I don’t know! I’ve been doing so much adulting today I can no longer do decisions.

This Week I Read… October 10th Edition

On this week I read, I introduce what as become an fascination of mine – dating and relationship books. One of my life goals is to become a relationship expert. Not an expert at HAVING relationships, an expert on how other people do, see?

Unknown-2Anyways, I read Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. You’ve probably heard of this book – it’s kind of a big deal. Unlike the other celebrity books that have come out in the past few years, this one is not a memoir, cookbook, or autobiography. It is a social study of modern relationships as explored through focus groups, audience interactions during comedy shows, and interviews with psychologists, sociologists, and relationship experts. It’s informative, it presents some fascinating ideas about dating and technology, and it has that wonderful hint of Aziz humor that we know and love. A great book if you’re:

  1. single and want to get into online dating
  2. frustrated with your lack of online dating success
  3. don’t understand what the deal is with online dating and why all these people are doing it
  4. studying to become a relationship expert
  5. really into Aziz Ansari
  6. need some interesting factoids to spice up your conversations during awkward social interactions

I personally am doing a bit of 4, 5, AND 6.

A Whirlwind of Books (Wouldn’t that be cool!)

Since I’ve been in the process of moving the site for the past week or so, I haven’t had a chance to update you all on my latest literary conquests! So here they are:Unknown-1

Last week I read Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. If you like smut, especially funny smut, you really can’t get any better than Alice Clayton. I aspire to write smut this hilarious! Thank you, Alice Clayton for writing this book and then for writing four more in the series so I don’t have to say goodbye to your comedy genius just yet!
Of course, before I go on to read the rest of the series, I had to finish up some library books whose impending due dates and lack of renewal opportunities rushed them to the top of the list. One of thesUnknowne was You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. It was transformative. Every time I read a passage I thought, that’s right, I am awesome, I can do this, I can be the best me I can be! Of course, as with most books, I’ve only retained about 30% of what I read. But that 30% is remarkably useful.

The section that really spoke to me was about money. I am someone who can get by on very little money. I am also someone who has lived my life up until now viewing money as the root of all evils. What Jen Sincero points out is that money isn’t an enemy or a friend, it isn’t anything really until we apply the emotional, cultural, and psychological aspects of our interactions with and surrounding it to the picture. Money is not the root of all evil. I don’t have to be afraid of making it or not making it. But I do need to accept that there is a certain amount of money that I need to  accomplish what I want (improving living situation, eating healthy, giving back, financing my writing, etc.). That amount is my goal. Not the bare minimum I can live on, not the money I’d make if I sold out my dreams, the amount I need to accomplish what I want to do. So I’m going to try out this new attitude and see what happens.

I am currently devouring Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari so look for that review coming up in a few days!