Nora (norabelle414)'s chapter 4 - In which three bookcases is not enough

Read so far this year:
1. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
2. Fool – Christopher Moore
3. Room – Emma Donoghue
4. The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
5. On Stranger Tides – Tim Powers
6. Packing for Mars – Mary Roach
7. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
9. Native Tongue – Suzette Haden Elgin
10. The Tombs of Atuan – Ursula K. LeGuin
11. I Love Knitting – Rachel Henderson
12. The Postman – David Brin
13. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
14. Beastly – Alex Flinn
15. The Magician's Assistant – Ann Patchett
16. Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer
17. Lost in a Good Book – Jasper Fforde
18. The Well of Lost Plots - Jasper Fforde
19. Something Rotten - Jasper Fforde
20. Thursday Next: First Among Sequels - Jasper Fforde
21. One of Our Thursdays is Missing - Jasper Fforde
22. Sorcery and Cecelia – Patricia C. Wrede
23. Magic by the Lake – Edward Eager
24. The Anubis Gates - Tim Powers
25. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
26. The Prague Golem – Harald Salfellner
27. Hoot – Carl Hiaasen
28. ReWired – Larry D. Rosen, PhD
29. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
30. The Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie
31. Fodor's Prague & the Best of the Czech Republic – Maria Teresa Hart
32. Blindness – Jose Saramago
33. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
34. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler
35. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith
36. Snotty Saves the Day by Tod Davies
37. Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
38. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
39. Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card
40. Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce
41. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
42. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
43. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
44. Soulless by Gail Carriger
45. One Day by David Nicholls
46. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
47. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
48. Watchmen by Alan Moore
49. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
50. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
51. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
52. Napoleon's Buttons by Penny Le Couteur
53. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
54. Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
55. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
56. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
57. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
58. Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin
59. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
60. Dead of Night by Jonathan Maberry

Currently reading: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Currently listening to: The Body by Stephen King

Today at the Friends of the Library Association booksale, I bought the following:

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Othello by William Shakespeare
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
An H. G. Wells omnibus including The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, and The Food of the Gods
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

All for $21.50

Good haul!

Yes, excellent haul and happy wishes for a good 4th thread.

Awesome! I have The Red Queen on my wishlist, I just haven't managed to bring myself to hit the 'request' button...

Wow, nice list of books!

Nice!

>6 Ape: Matt Ridley is a god. He's by far the most readable genetics author I've ever come across. I read his book Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters a few years ago and it was phenomenal.

An impressive haul!

I read Genome a couple years ago, was reminded of The Red Queen earlier this year when ffortsa reviewed it, but after a flitting moment at the top of the mental TBR stack, it succumbed to the sad reality that reading occupies time.

Hmmm, I guess I need to look into Matt Ridely in general. My local(er) library has The Rational Optimist. Maybe I'll look into that one as well. :)

Excellent shopping, Nora! Lots of good titles. I've never heard of Matt Ridely before, but something tells me that I should have. Have you (or anyone else) read anything by Bryan Sykes? He's a genealogical dude and I've heard great things about all of his books. I've got his Seven Daughters of Eve on my shelves and have been meaning to read it "soon" for the last 3 years. :/

Fantastic haul, Nora. Several good books that I've read and a few more that are hanging out on my TBR list. Oh and I've left a star for the shiny new thread.

Work today sucked big-time. I had a hair appointment at 5 but I quickly cancelled it when I realized what a bitchy mood the supervisor was in.

My booksale high lasted a record low of 15 hours.

:(

Today sucks too.

Like seriously. Someone just got fired. I'm not next, but I'm second from next.

It's going to take several hours of re-alphabetizing my books to get my stress levels back to reasonable.

I know, it's disgustingly cute and won't help a bit, but still! :(

Oh man, I'm sorry, Nora. I really hope things start looking up for you at work soon. Super soon, even.

12: I haven't read Seven Daughters of Eve, but LT recommends it to me... Onto the wishlist.

14,17: Horribly stressful day after day and week after week. I hope you can extricate yourself before you have alphabetized the entire world. :-(

Ugh, are you still looking for work elsewhere? I highly recommend you find something quick, for your own sanity. Maybe we can make it into a race... :P

21: *gulp* Oh, shit. I know you're not happy there, but it is a paycheck. Hang in there and alphabetize away, my dear. Crossing crossables that you can find another (and better) job ASAP.

You know how to avoid crappy supervisors? Start your own business...somehow. Then hire me. ;)

Yiiiikes, it may be time to start the hunt for a new job. Preferably one that doesn't stress you out so much with such an awful supervisor. :) Good luck!

Sympathies on the horrid work situation. :(

Ugh. I hope the re-alphabetizing goes well!

The whole situation is just ridiculous. I definitely agree that you need to accelerate your job search.

Aww you guys! I know I'm very drunk but I really love you all right now. Thanks for being there for me.

I had some kind of weird heart-to-heart with my mom tonight and I don't really remember what I said but I know my mom said a lot of good stuff about me and my future which is a first. It made me feel a lot less lost and alone.

Love that first from your mom. You needed that! Take the energy from that and put it into a search for a new job. Pronto! Jobs are not that easy to come by now, but if you do find something good, you can finally just move quickly into a place where you are appreciated.

Ditto! And, I hope you're not hungover today, cuz that would suck. Hang in there Nora, we're all rooting you on!

Book #61: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - Much better than I was expecting. The plot could have used a little more subtlety, and there were a few places where the characters' logic didn't add up, but mostly it was fantastic. Clare has created a solid and complex underground world, and I'm definitely going to keep reading.

Up Next:
Othello by William Shakespeare
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

Oh goody! Another fan of the Mortal Instruments. Hope you enjoy the other books as well, Nora. :)

Thanks! I have borrowed City of Ashes, City of Glass, and Clockwork Angel from my coworker, and I can pretty much rely on her to get the subsequent ones too :-)

Nora, I don't know how I've missed your thread until now --- just over from seeing how Madeline is progressing with Emma. Please let a stranger say how sorry she is that you're having work worries. It's hard to work for idiots. Wish I had some pull in DC.

Wide Sargasso Sea is really great so far (I'm all the way on page 15). I love classic novels because I love the way they've worked their way into society, and the way they inspire other media. The idea of a woman a century later, on the other side of the world and from a completely different life than Charlotte Bronte being so inspired by Jane Eyre that she wrote a story based on it, and then having that story become a classic as well is too fantastic for words.

I'm reading the Norton Critical Edition, and I'm conflicted: the footnotes are both enlightening and distracting.

I really liked Sargasso when I read it a couple of years ago. Personally, I'm not a footnote person, especially when it can be distracting. I say skip'em and come back later if you feel like it. Then again, I'm getting to be lazier and lazier when I read lately, so you know, grain of salt and all that.

Footnotes can definitely be distracting, especially if they are the long kind. I started reading Siddhartha last month(I think?) and there were 3 footnotes in the first 2 sentences, and each footnote was a paragraph each. Crazy. Worse, they were in the BACK of the book, so flipping back so often made the book itself completely unreadable.

I say skip them while you are reading, then go back and read through the footnotes separately after you finish a chapter, or every 10 pages or, or something.

The footnotes have lessened as I've gotten further in the book. The editor assumes I'm less stupid now :-)

I'm debating whether I want to read the rest of the Norton Critical Edition-y stuff, or just read the story and be done with it. I can obviously skip the excerpts from Jane Eyre, but there is an essay about the Sargasso Sea by Rachel Carson that looks good, and a bunch of poetry by Jean Rhys that looks bad. (I'm not a fan of poetry.)

Work today is okay. We had a visit from the Company Boss and he had short individual meetings with everyone. The end of our contract is coming up and so he was assigning contract-writing-related duties to everyone. And he felt the need to assure everyone that their job was not in jeopardy. Isn't that sad? That's the second time in two months that he's had to assure all of us that we're not getting fired. Something is wrong.

Glad you're enjoying your current read and hopefully the work situation remains ok for a while. :)

"Book" #62: The Body by Stephen King - audiobook from the library - This is my first Stephen King book ever. Aren't you proud of me?! I've never felt any desire to read a Stephen King book. But now there is a tv show on the SciFi channel called Haven, which is based on various Stephen King stories, and I love it and wish I got more of the references.
I was under the impression before I began this book that the story was not necessarily typical Stephen King, and so I focused more on the writing style. I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the short story format as well, and felt it was the perfect length.
My library also has the audiobooks of Christine, Cujo, The Dark Half, The Eyes of the Dragon, Firestarter, It, and The Tommyknockers. Any suggestions as to which I should listen to next?

Currently reading: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Currently listening to: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Up Next:
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
Othello by William Shakespeare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

41: I've never read Stephen King either, but maybe you are on to something...

I'm not a Stephen King fan, but I have listened to one of his books on audio and it scared me. It was Cell, and it got me through about a week of work at my hellish job. Maybe it was the job (*shudder*) but I don't think so. If you can get your hands on it, I'd rec that one. But, since it's not on your list, I'm going to randomly pick ... Tommyknockers!

Hi Nora - The Eyes of the Dragon is more traditional fantasy, so that seems to fit better with your tastes. Firestarter, Christine and Cujo are all earlier King - as they are not as long as some the others on your list they might be better starting points. Of those three my favourite is Firestarter but others might disagree:)

I've only read 2-3 of King's books and none of his big, popular horror novels. I liked Cell though, and one of the other ones I read was Eyes of the Dragon. It's a very simple fantasy tale originally written for his daughter (I believe?) and I remember the book had art work in it, so it might be better to avoid the audio version. *Shrug*

I haven't read Stephen King, and I'm not likely to start either. Horror really isn't my thing. But I hope you're enjoying The Hound of the Baskervilles. I definitely like that one. :)

The narrator for The Hound of the Baskervilles is really difficult. I think this is an old recording because he sounds very old-fashioned. I can barely understand him, and I've been watching British tv/movies since I was born.

ETA: His name is David Case.

Bummer about the narrator. I don't have the auditory attention span for audiobooks. My mind wanders too much, so I've stuck to print. If you end up ditching the audiobook, Hound of the Baskervilles is pretty short as a physical read.

I'm doing okay with it. I only listen to audiobooks in circumstances in which I absolutely could not be reading a book, such as while walking on busy sidewalks or while I am working. I do have to backtrack sometimes if I realize that I haven't been paying attention.

It helps that a few of the audiobooks I've listened to, I already knew the plot.

I'm glad that there exists a Company Boss who seems sort of reasonable.

Of the bunch, I'd pick Firestarter or Cujo

Ah, Jim. I was hoping you'd chime in. I think I'll go with Firestarter next.


I forgot to mention that I messed up my back AGAIN the night before last. Yesterday it was excruciating, but today it's not as bad. Just a twinge of pain if I turn too far (whereas yesterday it hurt to breathe).

Getting old is hell, isn't it? :x

Nora, I'm sorry about your back. Whatever Stephen says about getting old, he can't know the half of it, and anyway, I'm guessing that you're still in the spring chicken range yourself. (I'm afraid I don't know the half of it either.)
I seem to have read a lot of S. King in my misspent youth. Your list comprises some titles that I particularly dislike. I believe that Firestarter would be my choice too. Definitely not Cujo or Christine, and Tommyknockers and It are way too long but more typical of the man's earlier career. Of those two, I'd go to It.

I'm a couple days older than Stephen, actually. He has no idea what it's like to be this old.

I am looking more for the earlier King books, since those are the ones that are referenced in my TV show.

You sure are getting picky about your books in old age...

Nuh-uh! I'm reading some Stephen King books now, and that makes me less picky than when I refused to read them at all :-P :-P

What's that? You're mumbling, did you forget to put your dentures in again? Something about Stephen King books, right? Be sure to get the large print ones so you can see the words. :P

I am unintentionally on a roll with the Halloween books. Why didn't anyone ever tell me that Wide Sargasso Sea has voudou and zombies in it?!

Really? Damn, now I've got to add it to my list...

> 41

I usually love Stephen King's books, but I do find that some are way better than others. My favorites are Duma Key, Hearts in Atlantis and Everything's Eventual (short stories).

Of the books you have listed, I only read the Dark Half and Christine, not liking either of those all that much. I never finished the Tommyknockers.

It is a chunkster which I've never read, but that book scared the hell out of my husband. It's fast reading. I never read it because my husband told me the whole story as he was reading it. :/ I'd say go for It (if you're not scared of being scared). Mwa-ha-ha!

I ffind that Stephen King nowadays doesn't write so much horror as he does surreal stuff. He has such a terrific imagination!

Some great short stories by King are: "The Langoliers", "1408" "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" (I loved the waiter whose bow tie was askew!), "L.T.'s Theory of Pets". I could read those over and over again and never tire of them.

>61 SqueakyChu: It's fast reading.

Well, it's an audiobook so it doesn't matter how engaging it is, it gets read at the same pace! ;-)

> 62

I guess you have a point there!

So do what I do. Borrow the hard copy from the library, and "read" both copies alternately. :)

leaving work earlyish! *dances*

I hope you didn't use illness as an excuse to leave early, what with the dancing and all. :)

Happy early-off day!

No, we had an out-of-towner visiting our office for training, and she was done at 3:30 but she doesn't know how to use the Metro and someone had to show her and what do you know, she's going my way anyway. So I volunteered to leave at 3:30 so I could show her.

66: Generous. :-)

It's nice to know some people are willing to above and beyond for the company they work for. :)

Happy 83rd birthday to Ursula K. LeGuin today!

Stephen, if Nora's old, I must be positively ancient, being a whole year older than you. :P

I've never read an Ursala K. LeGuin book. I checked one out of the library once but realized after I got it home it was part of a big series so I never read it. :(

Micky: Ancient, you? Nah, no way! *Hugs* ...more like elderly. :P

My alma mater is just a little bit awesome at football this season.

>71 Ape: Some of LeGuin's stuff is awesome and some of it is awesome but also too long and dense. I really recommend A Wizard of Earthsea for you. It's short, and the first in an excellent fantasy series. And Catwings, which is a kid's book about kittens who can fly :-)

I think it was an Earthsea book that I checked out. *Looks at the series page* Yeah, The Other Wind, that's the one.

Well there's your problem. You have to start with the first one.

My alma mater is just a little bit awesome at football this season.

Ain't that the truth!

If I'm elderly, does that mean you're paying my pension, Stephen? ;)

Nora: Genius! *Bows*

Micky: Yes, I suppose. Don't Canadians get paid in waffles?

No, this is Canada. We get paid in bannock.

Canadians get paid in monopoly money. But instead of an old rich guy with a monocle, their money has an old rich lady with a crown.

The following books are up for grabs:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?tag=deaccession&view=norabelle414&am...

PM me if you want some. But do it soon, because the post office down the street from me is closing soon, and I'm not walking all the way to the other post office.

It's pouring rain, I have tea, and I'm going to bed to read at 8:30. Heck yes.

*Thumbs up* :)

I went to bed at 8:30, turned off the light at 10:30, and it still took me about an hour to fall asleep AND I almost slept through my 3 alarms :-(

I'm sorry you suck at being an early bird. :(

Well the thing that sucks is that I'm not normally like this. I used to go to bed at midnight and wake up at 6am sharp and be a little cranky but mostly ok. I'm not sure what's going on or when it started. It could just be the darkness.

I saw this thing that you would like, Stephen. Neil Gaiman is promoting something called All Hallow's Read, where you share your love of reading (scary) books on Halloween, perhaps by giving away scary books to some trick-or-treaters.

Also, because I love all of you so much, Please take this with you to your next date or romantic outing.

That is all.

Ha! That's great. Also, good information. The more you know.

*snerk*

85: Interesting! I live way out in the middle of nowhere though, no trick-or-treaters around here. :(

86: Thanks for that, I'm pretty certain I'm not a zombie now...I think...

Last night I went to bed/lights out at 10:45, fell asleep around 11:15. Woke up at 6:08 (that's my 3rd alarm), got ready quickly, had time for breakfast, and was out the door at 6:55 (when I would ideally like to leave). For the past month I've been so cranky that I haven't left the house until 7:10. So I had forgotten how freaking dark and cold it is at 6:55 :-( The sun didn't rise until I was almost to the Metro station. But it does feel good to be at work 15 minutes early instead of 1-2 minutes late.

Early is good. I like having that little bit of time to settle down a bit, instead of rushing all the time. I strongly encourage it.

Considering all the crap you've been going through at work, I think you have a right to be cranky. :)

For the whole drowsy thing, Nora, you might try taking Vitamin D supplements. It's highly recommended up here in Canada for big chunks of the year simply because we don't get enough sunlight to actually produce our own. It really does help, at least in my case. :)

Iiiiinteresting. I don't doubt that I get the required amount of vitamin D, but maybe supplements would be helpful.

I do get plenty of sunshine as I walk a mile to and from the Metro twice a day (no matter what the morning looks like, it's always sunny in the afternoon). I just HATE waking up when it's dark outside.

Turn on your porch light?

*ducks and runs away*

I agree that it *is* hard getting up in the dark, but I feel so much better about myself when I manage to do it. I try to get up at 5am so that I have a couple of hours to myself (and some LT time) before Charlie gets up.

I love the summer, when I can wake up at 5:30 and it's already light outside :-)
That's really the only thing I love about summer.

ETA: I've finally lost all the weight I gained while on vacation, so I'm celebrating with my first donut in over a month. Yummmmm.

"Book" #63: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - audiobook from the library - The narrator of this book was SO difficult to listen to, but I made it through. The only thing more painful than his 1930s British high society accent was his fake 1930s American/Canadian accent. The story itself was good, but of course I more or less knew the plot already (thank you, Wishbone)

Book #64: City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare - just a continuation of the first book, pretty much. Each book is not really its own story. I could see that being extremely frustrating to me under different circumstances, but since I'm reading them all (or at least the first 4) at once, it's irrelevant.

SPOILERS!
I really hope that Cassandra Clare is an only child, or this book is super creepy. Having a brother myself, the romantic-tension-y bits made me extremely uncomfortable.

Currently Reading: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Finishing up the 'extra features' of my Norton Critical Edition)
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Currently Listening to: Firestarter by Stephen King

Coming Soon:
Othello (I'm going to see the play on Nov 18)
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

stopping by to say I hope today is a good one for you!

Thanks Linda! It's Friday so I get to wear jeans. So far, so good :-)

Yay for donuts. I totally suck as a fat kid it seems, despite being moderately...errr, round. I went into a Dollar General thinking I would treat myself today with a soda and some junk food. Came out with orange juice and raisins. I fail.

HUGE fail. I'm eating Halloween candy and girl scout cookies while typing this.

Nora, 2 things:

1) (re: the spoiler comment in #97) Uh, then you should definitely stay away from Martin's Ice and Fire series. Definitely.

2) (re: #101): Ohmygosh, me too! Seriously. Shall we synchronize our sugar comas?

>102 scaifea: I didn't have a problem with A Game of Thrones, probably because that's a fantasy world and Cassandra Clare's world is supposed to be more of a hidden world within our own. Plus, the incidents in aGoT were only between antagonists, not protagonists. Also, the incidents in aGoT were more straightforward, and less "omg I'm going to be super angsty and think about this constantly"

101: I'm picturing you typing with both hands, eating cookies and candy from the surface of your desk now. Just saying.

Don't be silly. The candy and cookies are sticking out of the top of my bra and I'm eating them by bending my chin to my chest.

Oh, right. *adds clothes to his mental image* :P

105: ooh, like Molly Ringwald in The Breakfast Club? Only with cookies? I mean the ones with chocolate chips? :)

Yep! I am not boob-eye coordinated enough to apply lipstick that way, though.

Yeah, I want to say something about your spoiler, but I'm worried about spoiling other things in the next books so... carry on.

My boob-eye coordination is pretty good too. I can drive by women jogging and, while I might give myself whiplash, I rarely run my car into anything that could cause more than minor damage. That counts right?

You guys. It totally snowed today. A lot. In October.

Whaaat? You got snow in DC today? Inconceivable!

*Adds roaring fireplace and snow magestically falling through the bay window to his mental image*

Hmmm, this is starting to get hopelessly cliche.

Ooh fire in the fireplace. That sounds like a good idea. Too bad all our logs are soaked now :-(

Wow, I just stumbled across this feed by accident. You guys are great! Norabelle, how are things going on the work front? I am in Melbourne, Australia.

Oh great, let me guess, I have to remove my flannel top and chop wood shirtless now. *yawns* So predictable.

This is like Facebook, only with book-loving strangers!

Just finished reading What she left for me / Tracie Peterson. Don't read it though, cos it's really bad. I read the whole thing though cos I was desperate! Christian propaganda!

>115 ATalbot: Hi ATalbot! Welcome. I apologize for all the nonsense. I swear, sometimes we talk about books here.
Work is going okay for now. How are things in Australia?

>116 Ape: Yes.

Well, can we at least replace the rug in front of the fire place with something a bit more...disposable. :P

Wanted to say Happy Belated! Hope your day was spesial.

Carpet made out of diapers it is

Well, Melbourne is living up to its reputation today and it is cold and wet! (It's nearly summer!!) I recently had to read a bunch of young adults book for my course (Diploma of Library Studies). These ones were great: The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian / Sherman Alexie; The book of everything / Guus Kuijer; Matty forever / Elizabeth Fensham.

Norabelle, please say you don't work in a library?

Those aren't less expensive! :o

>121 jacqueline065: Welcome Jacqueline! Thanks, but my birthday was in April!

OOPs! I hope you have a great weekend!

>123 ATalbot: LOL no, I work in a government office building. I'm the youngest one in my office. Don't worry, I'm not corrupting any children :-)

Ha ha no I wasn't worried about the corruption of children. I asked because I am hoping to work in a library and would be sad if it turned out you were having all these issues in one!

But yeah, petty government despots!

Well. That was an interesting weekend. Back to reality now.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Hope you had fun at the party.

http://cognitiveaxon.blogspot.com/2011/10/zombie-brain-conclusions.html

That's pretty sweet. Thanks Katherine!

Well. Eventful day today.

As some of you may remember, I said back in August that I was going to call a friend/old boyfriend (let's call him 'Dexter') who I had been upset with for various little stupid things. And so I did, and we've been talking about once a week since then. He's a Marine, he lives in Pensacola, his family is fine, etc. etc.

So then today, he called me at TWO IN THE AFTERNOON, to tell me that he was not just in DC, but a few blocks down from my office, and asked if I had time to hang out with him sometime before 5:30. The 'Supervisor' was not in today and so I managed to get away at 3:30, met him outside, and we went to a cafe to sit and chat. And then he told me that he's engaged, and took me to meet his fiancee.

FML. I would say I need a drink, but after this past weekend I'm never drinking again.

Old boyfriends/girlfriends are horrible for the self-esteem. I'd avoid them if, you know, I had any. :P

Less drinking is definitely encouraged. :)

I also finished a book but my head hurts so I'll tell you about it later.

Oh, Suckville, Nora. So sorry about the ex-boyfriend bomb. Ugh. Is she at least ugly? Or ditzy? I'm completely willing to hate this total stranger on your behalf; just say the word.

She's less pretty than me, but still pretty. I only talked to her for about 2 minutes but knowing him, she's very smart.

Oh, I wouldn't want to waste energy hating either one of them, but sheesh, a little hint over the phone might've been nice.

We can hate them a little, can't we? I'm so good at it!

Book #65: Wide Sargasso Sea (Norton Critical Edition) by Jean Rhys - This short story was fabulous. But the background of it is even more fascinating. Jean Rhys grew up as a white woman in the Caribbean and went to study in England when she was 17. Even though she never returned for more than a few weeks, she always considered herself to be a white Creole and resented the English. She read Jane Eyre and felt that she related less to Jane and more to the minor character of Bertha. (I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't read Jane Eyre.) So she wrote a beautiful story with Bertha as the main character. It's meaningful and interesting, and talks about zombies! (Although the voudou kind, not the contagious rage-filled monkeys kind)

Currently reading: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Currently listening to: Firestarter by Stephen King

Coming soon:
Othello
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
(Suggestions?)

Books remaining: 10
Days remaining: 58
Days per book: 5.8

#142: That's why I was offering to hate her (and him) for Nora - so she wouldn't have to waste time on it. :) Good to know Stephen's here to help me out, too.

Book #66: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare - Eh. These books are getting kind of predictable and I'm getting kind of bored with them. I guess that's just as well since I'll have to wait a bit to get my hands on the next one. I have Clockwork Angel read to go, but I might wait and read some other stuff first.

Awww, c'mon, you're just mad the guy on the cover had a shirt on is all. ;)

I recommended The Disappearing Spoon to my coworker Mike, and I figured if I was going to do that I should probably read it myself. So I'm working on that now.
I'm liking it so far, except that it has really interesting notes at the BACK of the book instead of in the footnotes. And the periodic table is at the back. So I'm constantly flipping back and forth :-( I can only imagine how inconvenient it is for Mike, who is reading it on his Kindle.

Also, I got @Soraya71 (my coworker who lent me the Cassandra Clare books) hooked on Soulless, and now she's bought the subsequent books and I can borrow them from her when she's done :-)

I hate back-of-the-book notes. Very very much. The last book I started with notes like that I set down after the 3rd note (on page 1.) Sorry, won't do it.

I consulted Mike and he says that when there is an asterisk in the text, he can scroll to the bottom of that page where there is a link that will take him to a bookmarked page with the notes. That is not any more convenient than my sticky tabs.

I prefer bibliographic notes and references to be at the back of the book. But any kind of informative or entertaining notes should be in the footnotes.

Work SUCKS today. I miss the days when I thought I was going to be fired. All we ever do here now is have meetings. I just had a meeting about the format of the agenda for the weekly meeting in which we update the agenda for the weekly meeting in which they talk about what everyone has been doing for the past week. NOT. JOKING.

150: Agreed.

151: I do believe there are websites that describe how to make explosives with everyday household items. Just saying. :P

Also, I got Soraya71 (my coworker who lent me the Cassandra Clare books) hooked on Soulless, and now she's bought the subsequent books and I can borrow them from her when she's done :-)

Brilliant!

I'm also a hater of endnotes (and I'm not exactly fond of most footnotes), so I just ignore them. I used to tell my students that if they used endnotes in the papers they wrote for me, I wouldn't read them.

#152: Tomm has a book called Backyard Ballistics; he's apparently very excited for Charlie to get old enough to help him with some of the projects listed there. I'm not sure just how terrified to be yet...

I won a free copy of Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire, and it came today! Hooray!

And it's really, really free. Like I don't even have to write a review of it if I don't want to!

ETA: This might be the most beautiful book I've ever owned (or I might be really excited about it). I can't stop looking at it. I want to sleep with it on my pillow next to me but I'm afraid I'll drool on it.

ETA again: The touchstone was working but then I edited and now it's not :-( :-(

testing.

Out of Oz

Free free books are always nice. I've won a few through blogs/Member's Giveaway, and I always seem more eager to read them when there is no pressure to write a review, even though I write reviews for every book I read. *shrug*

I'm definitely going to write a review of it anyway. Mostly I'm just super excited that I got a book which was only released a week ago, without having to go to the store, and without having to pay $26.99

I'M SO EXCITED FOR BOSTON OWIRJAWOIEJRKLEJRGNKJDRHOTJH3JRNGLKRJNG

155: Yeah, touchstones have been wonky.
159: Have fun! Wish I could be there.

So when is this Boston meet-up, and is there a thread I can lurk on? :)

Tomorrow!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/124333

I'm at the airport, waiting for my plane. I love airports. I love Boston. This is a great day.

This weekend was so much fun! I really couldn't've asked for anything more. We went to SIX bookstores and the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. Some how I made it out alive, with only 7 new books. (Which is more than I can say for some people....cough@_Zoe_ cough):

From Raven Used Books on Newbury St: Bullfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bullfinch (Edited by Richard Martin)
From Brattle Book Shop: Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
Spook by Mary Roach
Bonk by Mary Roach
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
plus a free tote bag!
and from Harvard Book Store: The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett and
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin (my only unused book purchased this trip)

Photos, please!

I didn't take any, but I'm sure Zoe & Jeremy will post some soon :-)

I only took a few pictures, and I have to reduce the size of a couple of them before I can upload them. But here's one to start:


Nora and Mary, who apparently coordinated their colours and earrings.

Jeremy just posted a bunch in his member gallery too. I think this is the one everyone was waiting for:



As for book purchases.... Let's just say that I really don't know how I would have gotten home without the Brattle tote bag they gave us.

Someone in that photo looks mildly psychotic.

Heh!

What user names are Nora and Mary?

I'm Nora and Mary is bell7

Ah jeez. Could I be any more stupid this morning? LOL.

Sorry, I should have included the user names to begin with.

Also, Tim added a fun new feature for seeing tagged photos! http://www.librarything.com/topic/126780

164: Fun! Everyone looks like they had a good time. One day I'll go to a meet up now that I live on the east coast and it's more of an option.

We're trying to plan another big one in DC in May. That's not even as far from you as Boston!

All 75ers should chime in on this recommended improvement thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/126131

What's up with the meetup in the spring? I'd love to meet some of the LT folks!

Don't worry, I'll keep you posted. We just mentioned it kind of vaguely and Jeremy seemed interested. I'm thinking of a Library of Congress tour, Eastern Market, Capitol Hill Books, possibly Liber Antiquus, Riverby books, Folger Shakespeare Library, maybe a Smithsonian museum?

Probably about the same time frame as last year's May meet-up. Although I would like to have LT in DC meetups about once a week, I realize that people are more likely to come if they are rarer. However, I feel like we will have a good turnout if a) it gets blogged about and/or is in the SotT email and b) some LT staff show up.

Mostly I just want to plan the next time I get to see you people before the last time is even over :-)

If you do the DC meet-up in late April or very early Spring May, I'd be able to come. My younger son is getting married May 20 so I'll be pretty busy around that time.

By the way, the Gaithersburg Book Festival is scheduled for May 19, 2012.

I'll keep both of those things in mind, Madeline. I will be very busy the first and last weeks in April, and I don't think we want this to coincide with the gorgeous hellhole that is cherry blossom season. Or do we?

Well, we have awhile to decide.

How about the first weekend in May?

That is fine with me so far, but who knows what I'll be doing then so I think we should wait and see.

Heh! Yeah. Maybe my daughter will decide to get married the first weekend of May!

Then we could all crash her wedding!

What I really want to know is when Stephen will be able to make it to a meet-up in DC

> 185

Then we could all crash her wedding!

That would really make her elope, which is what she wants to do anyway. My son probably wouldn't mind if you crashed his, though! ;)

I think Jeremy is planning to attend the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, which is April 12-15. So we should a) have a New York meetup then; and b) make sure the DC meetup isn't too soon after. Three weeks is probably borderline reasonable, but I'd say four is better.

Except also in my calendar is a big book sale somewhere in PA on April 27 or 28, which Linda recommended. I don't know whether the logistics of this are remotely feasible (there would have to be a car involved), but it's something to keep in mind.

So maybe we'll just have meetups every other week after all!

I've looked at my work calendar and I can't do any trips in April. Especially not Apr 28, as my cousin is getting married that day in Houston.

186: Depends on too many factors to say right now, but most likely not. :(

New York is day trippable, so I'd be in for that. April 27-28 depends on where "somewhere in PA" is; do you know?

I'm not sure; my calendar says "AAUW booksale", but no location. I think (and hope) it may be this one, in Bethlehem.

If that's the case, I'd also be interested in doing a 5k, or maybe even a half marathon, in Allentown the next morning....

Bethlehem would make sense.

You're up to half marathons now? Or anticipate that you will be by April?

Nah, I'm not really up to half marathons yet. I did a 10k last month, and am signed up for a 15k next month, but I'm sort of dreading the 15k and think I may have overreached. And yet if that does somehow go reasonably well and I manage to maintain my training through the winter, a half marathon at the end of April isn't inconceivable....

Conversation about running is forbidden on this thread.

So, who sat on the couch and did nothing today? Anyone?

LOL.

I sat in my car. Does that count?

I'm not big on cars, but I'll let it slide.

LOL!

I like the plan! Looks like a multi-day event.

I couched it for most of the day, with the exception of going to OfficeDepot and the pet store.

I was hoping to drive out to Linda's big book sale too, but will have to wait and see how my car does through the winter.

>195 norabelle414: LOL. I did not sit on the couch and do nothing yesterday, as I was pretty much working from 9 to 8 (the "pretty much" is the hour off I have between jobs). I came home, made dinner, and THEN sat and did nothing.

Love the DC possibilities. Let me know a date enough beforehand and I will do my very best to make sure I'm not working that Saturday. :)

I think I'm falling into a reading funk. I'll finish Othello by Thursday (I'm going to see the play on Friday) and I should finish listening to Firestarter within the week, but I don't know what's going to happen after that. I'll be very sad if I get in so deep a funk that I don't finish 75 books this year, when I'm so close :-(

Tell me about it! I was so far ahead early in the year, and now I've barely read anything for the past two months. I'm still hoping to catch up, though.

Time for short books!!! Graphic novels!!! Fluffy, fluffy things!!! (my enthusiasm in all those exclamation points ought to scare any book funk far, far away).

I was going for 60 books, then decided to count magazines too (inspired by sibyx's New Yorker (and other) magazine support group), which made 75 feasible. Now I'm at 65, scanning the shelves for short books... but only short books that I'll actually be glad I've read. I'll be kind of annoyed if I end the year at 72.

Nora. Graphic Novels. Seriously. Stop ignoring me! :(

I don't have any unread graphic novels

>208 norabelle414: I find rereading an excellent way to stave off a book funk.

Also, as one LTer once advised me - When you feel a bad book mood coming on, read a book that everyone and their mother has been RAVING about. Either you really really like it too, or you can spew all sorts of vitriol in your comments about how horrible it was. Either way, book funk gone!

209: Genius idea and totally true!

Nora, I hope your book funk lifts. Sometimes when that happens to me I head to my nearest book store and MAKE one of the employees recommend me the last thing they liked. (Or librarian if I'm broke.)

I'm with ya on the reading funk. I've been so busy at work, I haven't had much reading time, and I feel like I'm dragging myself through books. I'll probably be down 10 or 12 books this year compared to the last few years. :(

>210 RosyLibrarian: I can't take credit for it - richardderus shared that with me awhile back, and I took his advice (fortunately in that case, I really loved the book I chose!)

Nora, I sympathize...I haven't finished a book in over a week, and it's definitely getting to me.

208: Didn't you just sign up for a new library card recently? If you feel guilty, read a BIG graphic novel. I recommend Flight, Vol 3. It's cute. Can't speak for the other volumes, my library doesn't have them.

Chiming in about book funks; I'm not sure I'm officially in one, but I am frustrated that I don't have more time right now to read, what with all the packing and taking care of a sick Charlie. When I do sit down for 5 minutes to read, I feel guilty because I should be doing something else. Ugh.

Graphic novel-wise, have you read The Invention of Hugo Cabret? Excellent excellent v. cool book; a fast read, but still somehow a meaty one.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is en route to my house as we speak ;-) I almost bought it in the DC airport on my way to Boston, but resisted on the grounds that I could get it at one of the 230948 bookstores in Boston. And then, of course, I couldn't find it anywhere. I even looked in the airport again when I got back to DC, but it wasn't there anymore. I was so sad. And then I got an e-mail from B&N, with a coupon for half-off young adult new-ish releases. Including The Invention of Hugo Cabret. So that happened.

It's really not a matter of having the right book to read. I'm currently reading The Disappearing Spoon (non-fiction science) and Out of Oz (fantasy) and Othello and really enjoying all of them. I just don't feel like reading most of the time, and have trouble concentrating.

I'm taking it easy this weekend, so maybe I'll get some reading done then. Plus, I'm the only person in my office working the day after Thanksgiving, so I'll probably just sit at my desk and read that whole day.

Oh yay! I can't wait to read what you think of the Selznick book!

This thread is now continued here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/127034