Reading Rambo

Occasionally in book blogging circles, so many people read/review a book well that you begrudgingly (if you're me) say "FINE. *FINE.* I will read this damn thing." And then you usually like it and are strangely irritated about liking it. "I GUESS you guys are awesome and have awesome opinions. I guess ." I will do this to your faces until we all feel awkward Tell the Wolves I'm Home , for the two of you who haven't read it, is a first person narration about a girl in the 1980s whose uncle contracts AIDS and dies from it. The uncle (Finn) was her favorite person on earth, and she finds out after he dies that he'd been in a relationship for years with a man named Toby, who is now all alone. The majority of the book is about her friendship with Toby, and this all sounds like a huge bummer, BUT I REALLY LIKED IT AND IT'S REALLY GOOD AND YOU SHOULD READ IT. You know all those times I'm like "ughhhh this is too sad I can't get in...

I am officially reading an insane number of books. I don't know when it got this out of hand. I suspect early January. I have one book I'm technically ACTUALLY reading, and then five billion others (slight exaggeration possibly) I'm picking up at random intervals. So this being my blog where I talk about unfinished books, let's look at some of them: Lamb , Christopher Moore. Ah, recommended by  Alley  and then forcibly lent me by someone (for reals, we didn't discuss it; he didn't ask; it was just shoved at me). I'm...liking it? Yes. I am liking it thus far. But I am not very far. Surpassing the Love of Men , Lillian Faderman . Right. This book. How to explain this book. The title is awful, but it's a product of the 1970s and WE WERE FEELING A LITTLE DEFENSIVE OK. I actually passed this book with an eye-roll about ten times at the library before I found out that 1) Lillian Faderman is the best, and 2) Oh, it's actually a historical/literary surve...

I got Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods . It's pretty spiffy so far, but he hasn't actually set out into the woods yet. He's kinda just talking about all the ridiculous equipment you need to not be eaten alive by raccoons. Something that's on page one hooked me: "Who could say the words 'Great Smoky Mountains' or 'Shenandoah Valley' and not feel an urge, as the naturalist John Muir once put it, to 'throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence'?" Yes. That thing right there. Because HIKING. I love it so much. Some weird combination of my hatred of staying still, my liking of nature and general love of being in a location where contemporary civilization isn't obnoxiously present and I can say 'I AM LEWIS AND CLARK'S UNMENTIONED THIRD PERSON.' So yes, kind of a cliche, but hiking is the greatest. The day I get actual hiking boots will be a banner one for the Alice/Shaan hou...

Before proceeding any further, you have to be aware that I read books for humor, character development and love stories. I don't really care about anything else. Oh! Good writing. That's kind of implied, but this is why I don't just read romance novels. This book has ALL THOSE THINGS. Plus the fun format of emails for about half of it. Ok, so Lincoln is the new nightshift IT guy for a Nebraska newspaper, meaning he reads emails flagged for inappropriate workplace language and then sends the offenders a warning. Plus I think he does some other IT-y type things, but this is not important. Two women's emails keep being flagged, but they are so hilarious and heartwarming that he keeps not sending them a warning. And then...then shenanigans happen, i.e. he falls in love with one of them. And  NO MORE PLOT. Because it unfolds in a delightful fashion and I love it so.  I started out being like "ha-hah! this novel is so amusing" and then it turned into "YOU ...

I had some unexpected free time after work yesterday, and as I was walking home, I passed the train station Waldenbooks (our train station has magical glass walls, so its insides are visible). It said most of their stock was 50% off, so, despite still working on about four books, and having an insane number on my shelves to finish, I went in. And guess what was left! After all the manic shoppers and bargain-hunters and slow browsers had gone through, they left me a copy of Rules of Civility ! Happy day! For those unaware of it, Raych at books i done read  recommended it out the wazoo, and as I highly respect Raych and her love of writing things in caps (it's really the only way to go), I put it on my to-read list and put it on hold at the library, but it was taking FOREVER, so owning it now is excellent. Also, look at that cover. How can you not want to own that book? It's got a '30s lady reclining! That's what I want to do all the time! Only without the Great Depressi...