I Made It To Another Book!

(Notice I said "To" another book and not "Through" another book.)

How goes the Read Through the Centuries Project you ask? GREAT! I read The Scarlet Letter!

Oh hey....did that not impress you? Are you sitting there saying..."Wait...didn't you read that back in 2010?" and then did you think "and waaaait...didn't you say you were going to do some follow up on it once you finished?"

Yes and yes.

I read it awhile ago- what can I say, I'm slow. As for follow up....here it is:

I read it! It was good! You should read it! Don't let your Tenth Grade Self tell you it was stupid and boring! Your tenth grade self doesn't know what he/she is talking about! 

There's my follow-up. That is probably going to be what 'follow-up' will look like for this project. If I give myself too many responsibilities like Writing More Than Three Sentences- I'm going to quit. I just know it. We don't want that. So we are going to institute a "Did You Like It? Check Yes Or No" policy on the rest of the books in the project. I will write more if I'm moved to do so, if not, then not.

Plus, the point is just to read a variety of books, not to get all academic and whatevs. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

So ON to the next book!  Which is...(drum roll)...Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin. I picked that up in the library today. I was a history major in college (which probably explains this project) with a concentration in African American Studies (who knew right?!) so this book practically jumped off the shelf and said READ ME.

And who am I to turn down some poor lonely book when it just wants to be read and loved? No sir, I will not reject a book that throws itself at me in that way. 

Ok, so that might be an exaggeration. The book just informed me that it "in no way threw itself at me like some cheap paperback romance and that if I don't tell the real story its going to march it's cute little binding back to the shelf from whence it came".

Well ok, Book. I'll tell the "real" story. I was the one seduced by the shiny cover and the interesting sounding write up on the back. There. Happy now? Geez...books these days.

Although, I seem to remember that it MIGHT have shimmied itself a little in my direction. I refuse to take all the responsibility.

Anyway, I will start reading it as soon as I finish rereading The Memory Keeper, which I'm almost finished. I read that one before I had a kid, so its proving interesting to read again afterward. Its a good one. I recommend it. (And its recent for all you Don't Like Old Books people).

Now, thanks to this post, all I'm going to be thinking about for the rest of the day is why book is pronounce book and not b-ew-k. Cause that's how its spelled. English- who wrote the rules for this language?!

Nothing Holds a Candle to the Texas Panhandle

I am still reading The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl, which gets even better as I read. It's full of phrases like "the height of sloth", which I love. Since I'm still reading that and don't have more to write about it at the moment, I wanted to talk about a book I read before I started my Read Through the Centuries Project. I loved it (and think you should read it too). 

That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx.

This is not a book I would pick up on my own. The only reason I started reading it at all is that I had read most of the books on the shelves and wasn't in the mood for the others- and it was the only one left.  I'm almost positive that I didn't up pick this book and bring it home, it was most likely a free book picked up by my husband at The Book Thing in Baltimore (which is the best idea ever by the way, every city should have one of these!). I don't think I would ever look twice at this book if conditions weren't completely perfect for me to do so- conditions like having nothing else to read.

Well.

Was I wrong. I loved this book. I even used the word delicious to describe it and I don't throw that word around willy nilly when it comes to books. A book can't just be 'good' or even 'really good' to be called delicious. I have to relish reading it and not want it to end. This was one of those books. I won't do a plot summary, I don't do them well and I find them boring to write- it's easier and less painful for both of us for you to find the summary online- but briefly:

That Old Ace in the Hole is about young man named Bob Dollar who travels from Colorado to take up residence and scout for hog farm sites in the Texas panhandle town of Woolybucket. (Woolybucket!)

That doesn't sound like a book that would be called delicious, I know!  but the characters that fill the pages and the quietly witty observations made by the main character make it so. I would read 50 pages and feel that both nothing and everything had happened. Proulx did her research and beyond the plot and quirky characters, there is an obvious appreciation of an under appreciated area and the people living there. There is also a subtle environmental message I enjoyed, but mostly it's the characters.  I will definitely read this book again. There are very few books I reread, but this is one of them.

Holy Overdue Book Fees Batman!

I have recently renewed my relationship with the public libraries of my youth. My husband and I have instituted a regular read in bed time every night, and as a result I'm actually finishing books at a decent speed, and my budget can't keep up in terms of buying new books. I had kind of forgotten about libraries- when I was young I was a total library rat and whipped through piles of books from elementary school through high school, but after graduating from college and getting a job, the public library and I parted ways.

Until now.

I'm having so much fun going and getting as many books as I want- FOR FREE!- but unknown to me, my dear library system has changed a little since our relationship of old. I have always kind of sucked at getting books back on time (or doing anything on time for that matter), but in the past it didn't really matter THAT much because what would it cost...a buck or two? Not a problem.

So when my pile of books from last months trip to the library became a little overdue, I wasn't too concerned and didn't feel the necessary sense of urgency to get myself to the library to drop them off. But yesterday I had some time, so off I went. I entered the library, wandered around, chose a new pile of books to replace the ones I wanted to return. When I was finished, I took my little self and bag of readables up to the counter, smiling at the librarian and saying: "Hi, I need to check out this pile, and return this pile, and pay my fees." The librarian began doing whatever librarians do to return books, and then she turns to me and says:

"That will be $17.50."

SEVENTEEN WHAT?!

I tried not to look surprised, because I didn't want to reveal the fact that I hadn't been to the library regularly since the overdue fee was $.10, but inside I sobbed as I handed over a much cherished twenty dollar bill. And then sobbed even more when she handed me my TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS change from my TWENTY DOLLAR BILL.

Sigh.

So now the little receipt they give you that has the books you took out listed with their due dates is taped on the front of the refrigerator. Lest I pay more than the $17.50 that I've already paid for my privilege to read free books.