a weekend, a book sale, and what to read next.

Hello and happy Tuesday evening.  It's the 25th, and I'm sorry (but honestly not surprised) to say that I've only read one book since my last post.  Out of context, that makes me sound like a bit of a maniac.  Ha.  I'm not too worried, though (and here comes something that will make me sound even worse), because I should be finishing my current read tonight, and then I'll cram in one more before February (more on that in a bit).

Maybe it was the snow last Friday, or the fact that the words "book," "sale," and "Blount County Library" were all together on one poster, but I could not stay away, and Joshua was gracious enough to give up a ski day and accompany me.  And it was magnificent.  And I've been wanting to blog about it every day since.

We all know how much I love that library, not to mention how much time I spend there, but I had no idea there was an entire warehouse of old books underneath it.  Yeah.  It's there.  They may only bring out the books for the sales, but it was still impressive.  And. So. Much. Fun.

We walked away with 40 books for just over $35.  Most of them came from a Surprise Box of Assorted Fiction that only cost $2.  Yeah.  Two bucks for 26 books.  Granted, pretty obscure books (the exception being a copy of Bridges of Madison County-- whoo-hoo), but still.

Here are a few of my favorite finds (not from the Surprise Box):

[Note:  I was feeling too lazy to charge my camera/upload pictures today, so I opted for the quicker Photo Booth approach.  Of course, I wanted to counteract the backwards-ness, so you could see the real covers.  Thus the double image.  Just... look at the one on the right.]

A copy of the 1950 edition of Jane Eyre, with dust jacket!... *swoon!*

Isn't it just gorgeous?!

This copy of Grimm's:

Yay illustrations!

Proof of pictures:

It's the frog prince!  I like this version.

The Wreckers, which I vaguely remember existing way-back-when, and always wanted to read.  It sounds really interesting, and makes me think of the Shipwreck Historeum I loved visiting in Key West as a kid.

Yay yay land pirates yay!

And, most excitingly, and possibly not legally, they had a whole section of young adult ARCs.  Very cool, right?  Granted, they were almost entirely of books already released, but I did find this:

I like this cover better than the official one, I think.

...which doesn't come out until February 1st!  So... I've got, like, 5 days to read it and claim an advanced-copy-reader-status that will actually count.  [Hence the cramming mentioned earlier.]  I'm actually pretty excited about this one.  I hear good things about it, and I like Lauren Oliver's blog, and I have a cat named Oliver, so there you go.  Meant to be.

In closing: this is me having fun reading books:

Happy slumbers!

the first five books of 2011.

It's the 18th, and I've hit my book goal for the month.

But, shoo, what a selection.  I would have kept going with the Gregor books, as planned, but I was never able to get back to the library until today (hello, snowstorm), so I ended up going to the other library (the dinky Knox County one by the elementary school), and came out inundated with John Green.  By inundated, I mean I've read half his works now, and I'm a fan.  I think.  No, I know I'm a fan, I'm just not sure to whom I can recommend his books.

Julie, what are you doing reading books with teenagers having sex and engaging in mischief?  I thought that wasn't your scene?


I know, I know.  And it's true: non-marital sex (in movies, books, shows, and especially real life) makes me feel icky and squidgy and sad.  But something I have come to accept as a human being, a Christian, and a storyteller, is that I can appreciate--and often enjoy--anything, regardless of my personal convictions (most of the time--there is still a limit to this).  I MUST see the finished product for what it is.  I mean, look at Les Miserables.  It's my favorite musical of all time, and in the revival there is onstage "sex."  I could have done without it, but it doesn't make Les Mis any less my absolute favorite.


Looking For Alaska is ultimately not about sex, and if I had put the book down when it got uncomfortable for me, I would have missed all the wonderful things.  The good parts.  The big picture.  And the big picture of that book is that it's amazing, and it's one of my favorites.  Just don't go into it thinking, well, if Julie liked it, it must be tame, because, while it's not wild and downright filthy, it's not very tame, either.  Read at your own risk.

And think of me what you like.  I'm still counting it among the best I've read.

I think I intended for this post to be about all five books I've read so far in January, so here goes:

1.  Gregor The Overlander.  My goodness, Suzanne Colins, I adore the way you tell stories.  More, please?

2.  An Abundance of Katherines.  John Green.  Not as life-changing or gut wrenching as Alaska, but still fun and well written and highly enjoyable.  My only qualm:  it's supposed to be set in Middle Tennessee, but the girl went to high school in Milan, which, believe me, is in West Tennessee.  Also, the pronunciation of Milan (My-lan, instead of the "correct" Mi-lahn) is a gold mine.  Why didn't you go for that, John?  I would have laughed so hard.  Maybe that's because I'm the only person who would find it funny.

3.  Like a Thorn.  Clara Vidal.  This book caught me off guard.  I was attracted to the drawings on the cover, and the back sort of made it sound like a brief fairy tale, but it was ultimately misleading.  It's about a girl being driven to insanity by her equally unsound mother.  Kind of horrifying.  On a different note, it was written in third person present, which I actually enjoyed.  It was, strangely, a lot easier for me to read than first person present, which is always a challenge, even if I love the book.

4.  White Cat.  Holly Black.  Perfect example: Written in first person present, but I LOVED it (as much as one can "love" fiction, of course).  The world of this book is so bold and weird and scary.  It's like if "Heroes" had a magical mobster baby with "The Sopranos."  That's what this world is like.  I am so excited for the second book, Red Glove, which comes out in April.  Joshua laughed at me when I told him I wanted to buy it, but I don't care.  This is one for the bookshelf.

5.  Ah, Looking For Alaska.  Also John Green.  Sigh.  There may have been a few things that made me squirm, but who cares.  Ultimately, this book is so wonderful and true and important (albeit sad), that I can't hold anything against it.  It cracked me up (especially at the basketball games) and made me weep, and even made me cheer.  No wonder it won the Printz.  Excellent.  Excellent excellent.  Another one for the bookshelf.