Oh, So That’s Where the Pothole Repair Money Went

As much as I love throwing money away on books I only read once, there is another way.  That’s right, I finally made it to the newly remodeled Belmont Library conveniently located just a few blocks away from my house.  Andrew actually pushed me into it on Saturday morning since we had a 2-hour car trip up to Great Falls that afternoon and had budgeted exactly $0 for a new audiobook.  Fortunately Belmont had many to choose from, including a lot of really great titles I had read the old fashioned way.  I was impressed by the selection and the price point.

I should have known the (did I mention it was free?) audiobook was a good sign – we made it up to the DC ‘burbs in record time despite the few snowflakes that made a ridiculous October appearance.

Cousins will brave any weather for a nightcap. 

...and of course, so will Andrew.

Ironically This Bookworm Criticizes a Long Title – I Mean Really, Doesn’t This Blog Boast the Longest Titles Of All? Awkward!

I just finished a delightful little book called The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder by Rebecca Wells, which was recommended to me my Book Friend / Real Friend Natalie as a guaranteed way to get out of a book rut. She was able to deliver this information by commenting on this very blog. It happens, people!

She was right. Besides the rather embarrassing mouthful of a title, I thought this book had many of the elements of a good read – great story, just the right amount of tears and closure at the end. I remember liking Well’s Ya Ya books many years ago, but for some reason never returned to that…Well(s). Wow, that was truly awful. Sorry reader.

This is the perfect book for my friend Erin who Doesn’t-Have-3-Minutes-A-Week to dedicate to reading the book blog of one of her best friends. Luckily that blogging friend still lent her this book last night and was kind enough not to point out how many three minute increments said friend has spent watching the Fast and the Furious movies – even those (and I assume there are some) that went directly to DVD.

Maybe I Wouldn’t Have To Work So Late If I Stopped Blogging

The best part about working late at an advertising agency is that finding videos like this one is legitimately part of the job.  It’s called mining for human insights, people.  And in this case we learn that not all kids want books for Christmas – hooray for the future generation!

Bookworm Does Not Wish To Be Judged By Camel Hair Blazer; Admits Cover Judging Is Wrong

This is the perfectly harmless
cover I have been judging.

I have been guilty of judging a book by its cover.  At least that’s what I think I did.  I always had a negative impression of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  For some reason I assumed it was a book for hipsters to display on shelves whether they read it or not.  Perhaps that is because I saw it featured in an iPad ad.  Or maybe it was the bird on the cover.  Either way I associated it with gluten allergies and bands I’ve never heard of, Things That Make Me Roll My Eyes. (I’m known to wear a camel hair blazer on occasion.)

Bottom line – I was dead wrong.  I loved this book.  It was a Big Thick Book with rich character development that reminded me a bit of a Tom Wolfe read.  The characters were interesting and complex, and Franzen definitely had a unique writing style.  I love the way the story was put together; it was sort of a book within a book since a main character – Patty – ‘wrote’ portions as if it was her autobiography.  Plus – and I know this is an annoying thing to say – I loved the last sentence.  It struck such a perfect chord, and boy do I love a book with closure versus leaving you hanging.  (I like specifics, Tony Soprano!  What exactly happened?)

This was a much needed book obsession after a couple of duds in a row.  It was the kind of book that I gazed at longingly before heading to work in the morning.  (Yes, I’m that lame.  Note camel hair blazer reference above. It looks sharp!)

Free Stuff Decreases Likelihood of Non-Existent Employee of the Year Award

I love living in Richmond, but one thing that is significantly worse than my life in Chicago is the morning radio choices.  True, I only listen to about 12 minutes of radio during the best commute in the world, but the morning chatter here is so bad that sometimes I actually think about the workday ahead instead.  This is what we call Hitting Rock Bottom.

Podcasts have been my savior.  I recently came across PRI: Selected Shorts, which are short stories read by an actor on stage.  Meaning they are read as dramatic monologues versus the talent performing all of the crazy character voices you often get from an audiobook.  The best part is they are free.  What a wonderful distraction from doing what I am paid to do.

This morning I finished my first podcast, which included two stories: The Briefcase by Rebecca Makkai and performed by Victor Garber and Diem Perdidi by Julie Otsuka read by Jayne Atkinson.  Both of these stories would likely have suffered withering reviews from the Bookworm if I had read them, but since they were performed so beautifully and hit my price point, I am 100% on board. 

Not a bad way to spend 12 minutes twice a day. There is also the added bonus of being able to feel my face when I arrive at work, unlike 8 months/year in Chicago.  Take that, cool urban friends with constantly changing hip restaurant choices!

Get Off My Back, Lane

A fairly awful picture of me and my
"I don't have time to both read books
and your blog, Allison" friend Erin.

This past weekend was perfect.  We had beautiful fall weather which was ideal for some of my favorite autumn activities, including but not limited to: visiting a pumpkin patch, wearing flat boots, attending a music festival, drinking seasonal brews, walking my increasingly rotund doggy, oh and reading a Big Thick Book that I can’t read fast enough to appease readership.  Lane.

I was also lucky enough to attend the hit musical Wicked which I have wanted to see for, oh, about 7 years.  It took me that long to decide to spend $100 on the ticket, which is absurd considering how long I spend deciding to purchase a dress.  Fortunately the show was wonderful and worth the wait and I really do love most of my dresses.

I never read the book by Gregory Maguire the show was based on, but I have read his Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister which is the untold other side of the Cinderella story.  My advice is to wait until it becomes a hit musical, then complain about the cost of a ticket for seven years, and then go see it.  In book form, it’s a dud. Yay for theatre!

The fruits of very little labor on our part.

Pumpkin picking just wasn't the same without World's Best Dog Norman
rolling around in chicken poo like last year...