12 posts tagged “reading”

...and its name is Barnes & Noble. And Half Price Books. Or [enter a bookstore's name here]. Some women are shoe people. And when it comes to apparel and accessories, I'm definitely a handbag person. But my worst money offense is buying books. And lately, it's been cookbooks.

I don't know what it is about a new cookbook that gets me really excited! I'm obsessed with the bargain section at B&N that houses JUST cookbooks. I can't stay away from it!! I've dipped so low as to copy a recipe out of one said cookbooks just so I wouldn't buy it. I. Love. Cookbooks. Maybe I should write a book about loving cookbooks and then recommend some good ones. Hm.

I've gotten much better about not buying so many other books; I love fiction, non-fiction, memoir, biography, etc.But thanks to my new best friend PaperbackSwap, I can easily get books I want for free!! You sign up for free, post some books you're willing to get rid of, and every book you send to someone gives you one credit. You only have to pay for shipping the book (media mail through USPS) to the person who requests it. So it's averaging to about $2.38 per book, depending on weight. But when you request a book from someone else, it only costs you one of your credits! I love this service and have been swapping books for a few months now.

My husband appreciates that I can feed my book obsession without blowing lots and lots of money. I also spend quite a bit of time at our library, and lucky us we live a 4 minute walk away! It's smaller, so sometimes I have to do an inter-library loan to get a book or CD that I want, but all in all it's great. AND the library has some great...you guessed it..COOKBOOKS!

Ok. My one free night this week will probably consist of an easy recipe I know by heart, but that's ok. My other books are wanting some attention. And Glee starts tonight!

I think it's weird that even though this is my personal online space, I can't always blog about the things that I really want to. Like if I want to gripe about work or spout off about something that pissed me off, people can read it and that may not always be good.

I realize that I could make a post "private" but then I feel like I'm cheating. Even though I have no readers. Like I said. It's weird.

Dan got a job! He's working as a Physical Therapy Aide at a PT clinic in Johnston. Basically when he's not at school he'll be working there. It will be nice to have just a little extra cash from his job to help with expenses. And it's in the field he wants to work in. And I think it will look great on his resume and applications for PT school. And he's a pretty cool guy so who wouldn't want to work with him? He was excited because he learned how to do an ultrasound today. You know, science-y stuff I don't really know or care about but he tells me about anyway ;) That's ok, I tell him about the great cookbooks and other reading material I find so I'm sure we're par for the course.

I'm reading Water For Elephants right now. I never thought I'd choose a book about a circus train during the depression but it really is interesting. I've flown through the first half and so far I'd recommend it.

Is it weird I'm already thinking about what I want to do for Christmas cards? We made postcards for our wedding announcements and they turned out great, so I'm thinking we might want to do that again. We can put our own photos on it and stuff so it's kind of fun.

Long day today. PR job 8-5 and retail job 6-10. Yay bills.

I've decided I really want to write and publish a novel. Based upon my honeymoon and perhaps the first year of marriage. Is it bad that I've only been married 3.5 weeks and I already have material for a book!? 

I know I've been on the Bill Bryson train lately, but I just can't get enough of his stuff. It's hilarious. I was crying last night from laughing. My roommates thought I was in hysterics because I was stressed out about planning my wedding. Nope. Just happy that Bill Bryson knows what it feels like to ride in the car across the Midwest. My favorite bit from last night's reading, from The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America, by Bill Bryson (on vacation driving with his family):

So for a long time now, I've thought about what I really want to do with my life. What in this world makes me happy? What should I be spending my limited number of days on this earth doing? The first answer is traveling. And an incredibly-almost-neck-and-neck second answer is writing about those travels. I want to be a travel writer. And if I throw in some PR and some music and some painting in there, my life will be complete. But I'll settle for the traveling part.

I love Bill Bryson's books. He's an incredible witty and careful writer, and I admire his style very much. PLUS: he's a native Iowan (from Des Moines) AND a Drake alum (go Bulldogs!). So when I found out that he was giving the Bucksbaum lecture tonight at Drake, I really wanted to go.

My future mother-in-law (also a Drake alum) calls me on Monday and says she loves Bill Bryson, she wants to come see his lecture and hang out with me. So today! I get to: go to a Q&A with Mr. Bryson, attend his lecture and a booksigning. I'm really excited, and I think today will provide some good in-law bonding time. I'm so excited!

I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy this weekend. It wasn't bad, but it just sort of....ended. The entire book was this incredible journey of survival, then the last ten pages were...anti-climactic? Maybe it's just me. My mom and I were in Barnes and Noble this weekend and she made me buy some "fluffy" reads because she thinks I'm reading books that are too depressing (The Reader, The Road). So now I'm on to The Little Lady Agency. Talk about a one-eighty :)

I normally don't shy away from big books, and sometimes I really like them (the thickness makes me feel like I've accomplished something). The book I just started, however, is brutal. It's like trudging through thick mud with flip-flops on. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is 973 pages. The story so far isn't bad, but the writing is dull and I just can't seem to put it down. My roommate says to just not finish it. I hate doing that. I've put away 200 pages so far, I think I'll just keep trudging. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is on it's way to my via half.com. It looked interesting and I think they're making a movie out of it this summer. And I can't usually resist a Pulitzer Prize winner.

I finished Twilight 4: Breaking Dawn. MAN that thing drags in the middle. And was a little anticlimactic...if you ask me. On to new and different reads!

I took yesterday off of work for my birthday. I needed a day off. I spent the day lounging and it was fabulous. Marley was so excited to have someone home with him all day. I actually made it to the gym!  But that was my only productive act of the day. Most of it was spent on the couch watching Will & Grace on DVD and reading my book. Fabulous.