My name is Alice and I’m a book buying addict.
I’m not mocking people in 12-step programs when I say this. It’s true. I have shelves and shelves of books that I bought because they looked interesting. Some of these poor things have remained unread for years. While I was dusting shelves on Thursday, I decided that I’m going to do something about my stash.
Winter is coming and I’m trying not to spend money, so I figure I’ll have plenty of time to read. Here’s the plan. I’m going to read my way through the to-be-read mountain and report on the books here. Also, because life is short, I’m going to do a page 50 evaluation. If the book is not working for me at page 50, I can move on to the next.
I won’t try to pretend that I’m not going to buy any new books but I intend to make it through five books before I get a new one.
And I thought give up coffee was hard.
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I always read bits of books while I dust the bookshelves. Today I came across this passage from Cathy Lamb’s The Last Time I was Me.
“Here’s a tidbit of info I have learned during my nervous breakdown: If you have worked your buttocks off for years and you suddenly find yourself in the position of being able to work for yourself or at home, or maybe not even working at all (by choice), it is almost unbearably impossible to put yourself back in the position of working those hideous hours again with strange, mind-boggling people you would not normally want to hang out with unless forced to by a gun. You feel like the life is going to be sucked out of you an inch at a time. Through your nose. And the sad reality is: You are right.”
That one’s for all you working stiffs. The sad reality is: She is right.
2 comments:
Books, how I love thee! So many different worlds waiting to be discovered. I mean, if I can't come up with a 10 million dollar idea (I figured I better raise the amount if I want to ensure not ever having to work again), then I might as well leave this reality and live in a different one for a few hours everyday.
I'll be very interested to read your reviews. Btw, The Book Thief was AWESOME!!!! Markus Zusak is an amazing writer and really shook up the format of writing...haven't read another book that was quite like his.
Hmmm. The Book Thief isn't on my shelves but it's definitely on the list. The problem is there are way, way too many books and not enough time to read them all.
One I'd recommend is "Then We Came to the End". If you've lived through a layoff, you'll understand this book. Plus it's written in first-person plural - I loved trying to figure out who "we" was. Good stuff.
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