One of the reasons I wanted the house we're renting is because it has an entire wall of built-in bookshelves.
Home is where the books are.
Ben and I both love to read (which is great... we always have something interesting to talk about), and, between the two of us, we already filled up about half of the bookshelf space.
But then this amazing thing happened: the used bookstore I found and frequented in Hickory was going out of business (that part isn't so amazing) so all their books were $1.
In 20 mins. I had two baskets of books.
I really like to read.
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I feel like I've finished a reading marathon, in fact (10K, not a wimpy 5K). Within the last couple months I've finished 8 books, including Villette, a huge novel by Charlotte Bronte, and one of my new favorites, Ana Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, that is quite a literary achievement. Take my word for it. (And I'm D-Y-I-N-G to talk about it, if anyone reading this has read it and has a few hours to spare).
Ben is great, he always asks how my current book is going, but its no secret that he doesn't really enjoy my detailed descriptions.
All the books he picked out from the book store sale were Cliff's Notes.
I love Ben, and I know he loves to read, but if the book isn't nonfiction or in audio/ebook/podcast format he won't go there. Even his scriptures are electronic.
After looking for friends with similar interests, a wonderful thing happened.
I was invited to join a super exclusive book club sponsored by women from my church!
Tonight was our first meeting, an annual dinner they hold to pitch and pick the books to be read the next calender year. I thought about which books I would pitch for weeks. I decided on The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and The Stranger by Albert Camus.
The group read The Book Thief last year, but guess what... of all the books pitched, The Stranger was chosen as one of our six books for the next year!
I am so excited about this group.
I have to share some details from our dinner:
"There's some questionable parts, but nothing sexual."
"Then I don't want to read it!"
"So you're the one who didn't vote for Mere Christianity!"
"Nope. And I admit it. It sounded too much like a church book."
"This ain't yo momma's church book club..."
"What's the group's website?"
"It's r-a-e-ink.net forward slash..... oh ask Rachael the rest."
this is cute! i have lotsa love for books too! let's do something fun, ok? think of joining goodreads.com ok? it's a great site where you keep up with what your friends are reading and hear what they think...if nothing else, you can find someone to discuss that book you were talking about... ;) you'll be able to already find a few people you know. it's actually simple and wonderful, i think! glad all is well with you two! much love from your sc home!
ReplyDeleteAWESOME!
ReplyDeleteMan, I wish you were closer...you could join me and my 2 remaining friends! We're supposed to be reading Silas Marner but I'm not feeling very diligent about it.
I'm glad you liked Anna. I have a soft spot for her. Anna Akhmatova wrote a wonderful essay about Tolstoy and his malevolent feelings towards Anna...it's fantastic. I should dig it up for you...
No Alice? And I haven't read those other two books, so maybe I should get around to it sometime.... I did read a super-sappy won't-ever-recommend-it-to-anyone-I-know book during our drive yesterday, though. Yeah for me! (I only read it because Granny Bailey handed it to me and told me it's great and I should read it. Lesson learned.)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't suggest Alice... When it started going around the table I still hadn't decided what books to suggest, and the woman right before me got rebuked for suggesting a book she hadn't finished yet. I made the split second decision I shouldn't recommend one I hadn't even started! But I can't wait to read it on my own :) LoVED the suggestion!
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