Phantoms on the Bookshelves

As some of you know, I have trouble walking in to a public library to return something and then leaving with...nothing. It hardly ever happens. It is one of the hardest things in life that I have to do. As is becoming a habit with me, since I now work in a library (where I don't get fines) I try to limit my public library use (where I do get fines). It's hard for me to remember that even though I am reading every night and racing like a mad thing to get the book finished, the public library frankly doesn't care and if they can't renew it (even if there isn't a hold on it for ANYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD) will not renew it for me. No matter how much I beg. It's even gotten to the point where I will no longer ask for a renewal for my inter-library loan books but rather, call the lending library directly to ask for more time. Oddly enough, they renew the book without any trouble. Who knew. Well, I do. Now.
Anyway, I was either returning something or picking something up and this book caught my eye: Phantoms on the Bookshelves. The first praise on the back says "Bibliomaniac Jacques Bonnet welcomes us...into a delightful, idiosyncratic world created by his 'monstrous' obsession with books." (Peter Stothard, Daily Beast) With a boast like that, how could I refuse? I think I picked it up, glanced at it, put it down and turned away...only to turn back round and snag it off the shelves. It is a thin volume, 9 chapters and only 123 pages with an almost 10 page bibliography in the back. I am so glad I turned back for this book. It made me think of something Lewis says about friendship. We realize it in the instant we say to someone, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” (A quote from Mere Christianity...I think? Google wasn't very forthcoming with information and I haven't my book in front of me...anyway. Forgive the lack of source, Jack. I still think you are the man.)
Maybe it is a book lover thing. Maybe it is a book owner thing. Whatever it is, I think M. Bonnet and I are made from the same stuff. Some of what he writes, even in translation, is hilariously funny. Some of it, you've known all your life but find comforting to see in print. Like the fact that he too keeps lists: "lists of books to read or re-read, or of the few indispensable books I would take to a desert island." (67)
M. Bonnet begins a chapter entitled "Organizing the Bookshelves" like this: "Any person who owns several tens of thousands of books its faced with an inescapable problem: their classification." (32) Ah. A man after my own heart. He presents many ways of classifying books but ultimately ends with the solution: "combine several of these orders, allowing some latitude to one's own rules. A principle you could extend, of course, to life in general." (40)
Seriously, I want to buy this man a coffee and just sit and listen to him talk. My lack of French doesn't bother me. I'm more concerned about looking the fool, as I haven't heard of half of the books he mentions. 
If I could, I would buy a copy of this book for all of my book loving friends. In fact, the month is still young...I just might do that... 

What book would you, if you could, buy and share with all of your friends? 

First Loves

San Diego ComiCon was this weekend. I was not there, but I watched my Twitter stream update every second with pictures and panel updates that made the geek girl in my just about cry with joy. (And, of course, a bit of pain was mixed in there as well. Come on! 10 year anniversary panel for Firefly? Why could I not be there?? Geek girl flail!!!)

But it got me thinking about what first got me into the things I love now. I first started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it was such an iconic show that practically everyone had seen. That was my entry drug to the Joss Whedon universe. I think what I love most about Joss and his work is his ability to create characters that feel real, put them in real life situations and then kill them off without mercy. BUT he does it all for the good of the show. It is something I've noticed other directors and writers shy away from, and I have since learned to love the fact that Joss does not. From Buffy, I turned to Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and Dollhouse. 

You can also trace my Felicia Day love back to Joss. And, thanks to my exposure to Geek & Sundry, I am now in love with Eureka and Colin Ferguson...right before the series finale. I have perfect timing. 

And of course, all of that love got me thinking: what was the first book that really got me into reading? To start with, when I was in kindergarten I was  anti-reading. I gave my mother so much stress about that! Oddly enough, I remember nothing of that experience. However, I do have early childhood memories of asking my mother, after being told I could take a couple of books to bed, "Is a "couple" one or two books? Or is it two or more books?" I've always had problems with math...

But what I think of when I remember the book that made me love reading is something that happened when I was in 6th or 7th grade. By 4th grade, I was checking out books above my reading level and hiding them in my desk. And reading during class. Oops. By 6th grade, I was reading Gone with the Wind (a book of almost a thousand pages), when others were still reading chapter books that didn't go over 100 pages. But somewhere in there, I discovered a book called Beauty. 

I read it. 

I loved it. 

And promptly forgot about it. Until a year later, when I found it again and fell in love with the magic of it all over again. Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley. I found it to be ten times more magical than the Disney movie. There was something about how blatant but mysterious the magic was, almost as if it could have happened exactly that way. 

It is the story of a father with three daughters who all move out of the city to a small village on the edge of an ancient wood. While her older sisters get married and start having babies, Beauty continues to find more pleasure in books and nature than she does in men. As it happens in every story, a dark and stormy night finds Beauty's father far from home, relying on the mysterious stranger in a dark castle. However, the stranger's help comes with a price--Beauty's father must come and live with him. Unattached to anyone except her father, Beauty volunteers to take her father's place. She finds herself treated like a princess and forced into beautiful gowns, which she tries to tear off her body. She struggles, at first, as she finds that living in a magical castle is more difficult than she ever imagined. Eventually, of course and as all the stories go, she learns to live at peace with herself and the Beast, even counting him a friend. It ends the way you hope it ends, full of magic and love. 

There are some complaints my friends have launched against this book, and to an extent, I agree with them. For instance, some say Beauty whines a lot and is selfish. Eh, sorta. Sure, to the whine. But I think she needs some of the selfishness to surface because without it she would be too perfect a protagonist. 

This book has another special place in my heart. It got my little sister into reading, too! My sister will never be the reader I am; she doesn't crave it or care for it quite the way I do. And that is totally fine. But we share a love for this book and I honestly love the book a little bit more for bringing us together in that way.

What about you? Can you pinpoint a book, movie, TV show or video game or a specific event that was your "entry drug" into something you absolutely love doing today?

Tribute to Maze Runner

I was perfectly content to live in a post-Hunger Game world. Well, as content as you can be when your heart is ripped out of your chest, stomped on and returned to you in a pile. I had gotten my friends addicted to the series, so at least I had a few people to commiserate with after the series ended. And then of course the film came out, prolonging the true end of the series. I am a bit of a minority, but I loved the film. I thought it was done well, even with bits of the story twisted up and tweaked. It had me on the edge of me seat during key moments, like the tribute parade and the entrance to the arena--even though I KNEW how things would end! Lovely. 
So there I was, minding my own business, when my friend says, "Oh, have you read 'The Maze Runner'?"

I guess that was his payback to me for getting him addicted to The Hunger Games. 
 
I proceed to loose about 3 weeks in this series. When I finally finished book 2, The Scorch Trials, I put 2 copies of The Death Cure on hold at the library. I needed to find out what happened next, and right now!


I've asked my friend to type up a little blurb about the books for ya'll so that is in the works. I really had time to only read one other book this month. More on that a little later. The last two months of reviews will be up shortly. 


I've picked up "The Wizards of Earthsea" finally, so I'm currently working on that. 
After Hunger Games & the Maze Runner books (which will soon have a prequel! So excited!), I have no idea what I'm going to read next!

a review or two: water for elephants

I read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen sometime last year when I was working & living in Gettysburg. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times-- it pays to work in libraries and I will always need to work in one. You get first pick of new books, first pick of returned books, the opportunities to browse bookshelves when you are re-shelving and, the pièce de résistance, no fines! Seriously, it's the best. 
Anyway, I found it in the library, finally made time to read it and loved it. I told all my friends about it and eagerly awaited her next novel. It took me ages to finally see the movie. But it was totally worth the wait! I was hesitant, I must admit, to see Rob Pattinson play the lead. I was not thrilled with his role in Twilight and I had little hope for him. However, I am glad to admit that I was dead wrong. 
With the time that had passed between my original reading and viewing of the film, I can't say how close the two were. I was pleased with the film and ,based on what I remember, was quite close to the book.  
As always, I recommend reading the book first. However, seeing the movie will not ruin the beauty of the story. And maybe it will renew your faith in Robert Pattinson, too!

is there such a thing as too many books?

Just in case you didn't quite understand the problem I have with wanting to read more books than I actually have time for from my last post, let me tell you a little about my morning.

Since the snow did it's little magical dance, I didn't have to go into work today. Instead, I went to the library with my dad to drop off some movies.*  I swear, that's all I was going to do. 

I left with a new book. That was not on my list for this year. Oops.

How will I ever have time to finish all of these library books?! Gah. Well at least I have a few extra hours today to read, and I guess I know exactly what I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon! 


*For the curious, I was returning Easy A, The English Patient, and season 1 of Dollhouse. And yes, I recommend all of them. If you decide to watch The English Patient, don't forget the tissues.