Merry Wanderer of the Night:
sunday salon

So remember how I went on a book buying ban in March and everything went swimmingly? And then I bought quite a few books right after it but felt guilt free about the whole thing? Well in the last week I somehow managed to obtain 18 new books. Which is a lot and now I feel guilty and stressed about it. For awhile I've been trying to read thicker books in order to get another shelf of "read" books on my shelves but the length of most of these books is daunting for me. I've also been in a reading funk, which isn't helping. On Friday I picked up Juliet, Naked

because it was short and I knew I'd be pulled in right away since I love Nick Hornby. I ended up finishing the book yesterday and that is when I realized it. Short books.

After I finished Juliet, Naked I went to my bookshelves and pulled all the books that looked to be about 200 pages or less. I found eighteen books which comes out to about 2500 pages total. My goal is to read about 80 pages a day and finish all of these books in the month of May. 80 pages a day, that is totally doable. And in one month I can clear off a huge chunk of books sitting on my shelves. Another great thing about this is the selection of books. It's pretty evenly spread between books I've just gotten and books I've had for quite awhile. It's also pretty even between fiction and nonfiction, classic versus modern and so on.

Short books are great because they don't seem like a huge commitment. If I get fifty pages into a short book and I don't like it then I can put it down knowing I read at least a quarter of the book. Amazingly, I often put off reading short books because I think they'll be better for a week when I have a lot going on or when I'm doing a readathon. Short books are great for those things--but I never try to read them when I have a lot going on. I also buy short books a lot because I think there is no way I won't read it if it's only 150 pages. Obviously all of these assumptions are a little sketchy since ten percent of the books I own are of the short variety.

Anyone want to join me?

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to give Briana at The Book Pixie a shout-out. She sent me Capote in Kansas during April for Random Acts of Kindness. I'm looking forward to reading it around Halloween as it is a ghost story! If you haven't checked out Random Acts of Kindness you definitely should. I've really enjoyed sending others books and getting books in return.

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Hopefully I'll be back to normal blogging this week. I have plenty of reviews and things to post. I've been spending a lot more time thinking about my life and what I want to do than I have reading recently. I'm reading my first self help book right now, which probably has something to do with it. I'm not really a big "self help" person necessarily, but when I saw Jillian Michaels' book Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life

I was really drawn to it. I'm a big fan of her work-out videos and I loved her show Losing It With Jillian. A lot of people think she is mean and scary, but I find her commitment to honesty and helping others inspiring. She's no joke and her book has really pushed me to analyze my habits and attitude. I've really been searching for myself over the past year and I think this book came at a great time. It's Spring, a time of renewal, and I'm taking some of my first steps towards life after graduation even though I have a year left of school.

When I started this blog I wanted to read more and read like I did when I was a kid. I wanted reading to be fun again. I think I've accomplished that goal, but I don't ever want to make reading stressful or not fun. Lately with the amount of school and work I've had it's been hard for me to balance the blog with my life outside it. I was also struggling with friendships when I started this blog, but now I think I have a good solid group of friends and I've become a lot more social--hence less time for reading. I'll be done with school in three weeks, but until then I'm going to allow my blogging to be a little irregular. Once summer comes I should get back in the swing of things.

I've thought a lot about priorities recently. My blog is a big priority to me because it brings so much joy into my life. While I'm glad I've had the opportunity to go to college school has never been my number one priority. I'm an A-B student, but I could probably get better grades than I do. It's always seemed to me that when I work really hard to get straight A's other things in my life start to fall apart. My parents never stressed good grades to me and for that reason I've let things slide a bit more this semester. I also decided I didn't want to go to graduate school right after college, which has lightened my stress. I guess sometimes I wonder what that means, to be in college and have school not be my number one priority. I know I'm rambling, I've probably rambled a lot lately.

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My book buying ban is finally over! I bought quite a few books over the weekend though, so now I'm starting to think I shouldn't buy any more books until school gets out. To be fair I only bought four books though, my mom came to visit and bought me some books while we were shopping. So I really didn't do that bad on my first weekend back to book buying. Here is what I ended up with:

1. An American Childhood

by Annie Dillard. I just finished Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

and was really impressed by Dillard's writing.
2. So when I saw An American Childhood and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard on the buy 2 get 1 free table I couldn't pass it up. My mom got the third book.
3. Missouri

by Christine Wunnicke was on a display for GLBT books. I thought it looked interesting because it was a western about two gay men in Missouri. We'll see how I like it.
4. My friend Katherine told me I might enjoy Essays of E.B. White

, so I decided to get that when I saw it in the essays section.
5. Unfamiliar Fishes

by Sarah Vowell. I've heard so much about Sarah Vowell I thought I might as well give her a shot even though I originally planned on listening to her audio. My copy has two book jackets, I assume by mistake. Anyone else ever get a book with two book jackets on it?
6. After I picked up Unfamiliar Fishes I saw The Wordy Shipmates

as a bargain book, so I got that too.
7. The previous six books I got when I was with my mom. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

by Barbara Demick I got on my own. Kim's review at Sophisticated Dorkiness has had me wanting this book for a long time. In fact, Kim influenced me to want several books during my book buying ban.
8. Annabel has been all over the blogosphere since it came out in January and I think it sounds like a fantastic fiction book.
9. Not pictured, I also got And Hell Followed With It: Life and Death in a Kansas Tornado

, which I also heard of from Kim and The Only Dance in Iowa: A History of Six-Player Girls' Basketball

.

So apparently I pretty much caught up for not getting any books for one month. I think I should probably read ten more books before I can go book shopping again! Did you get any books this week?

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I've said for awhile that I would never put myself on a book buying ban. I didn't think I was buying that many books and after all, if I was having a bad week a new book on the weekend could make me feel a little better. For some reason I've bought a lot of books since I got back from Europe. Maybe because I wasn't buying any while I was there? It just seems like there have been a lot of sales, coupons, and books wanted over the last two months. My TBR pile grew substantially and my reading pace slowed down a bit. I'm realizing I need to stop.

For about a week I've been on an unofficial sort of ban. I'm going to continue this ban until April 1st. It's not so much that I can't buy any books at all, but I really shouldn't. I've just gotten too many lately. However, I'm visiting my parents this weekend and last night I went to the mall with my mom. You know how moms are... Anyway, she gave me a little book money and I went ahead and spent it on a few books. In the spirit of shopping.

And since some of you want to know, I got the following books.
1. Oryx and Crake

by Margaret Atwood because I've only read one book by Margaret Atwood and that needs to change.
2. Delirium

by Lauren Oliver even though I wasn't going to buy if after all the hype. I still think it sounds really good.
3. Flapper by Joshua Zeitz, which is a historical nonfiction book about flappers. I thought this would be fun after Bright Young Things.
4. The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow, finally, after a year I bought this because the hardcover was on sale for six dollars and I've wanted it ever since it came out.

I just don't think I can make myself not buy any books, so the ban is really more of an attempt of awareness. Awareness of how many books are coming in and how recently I've bought a book and how quickly I can read the books I'm bringing in. I got into some bad book buying habits over the summer because I was reading so fast. When you're reading three books a week, buying a couple new ones doesn't grow the pile that much. When you're reading one it makes a pretty big difference.

Have you put yourself on a book buying ban? A bit of a ban? How do you manage your book buying habits?

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My mom always asks me why I love essays so much. "I always hated essays when I was in school. I hated writing them and I certainly wasn't searching them out to read for fun." This seems to be the attitude a lot of people take towards essays.

It's unfortunate that creative essays share the word essay with academic essays, because they are completely different. I have to write academic essays for class. I have to read academic essays for class. I don't care much for either practice, even if I am a literary theory person. I mean, I like it as a form of study, but I don't search out academic essays to read on the weekends.

When you say essay to me, these are the things that come to mind. Joan Didion. Travel writing. Montaigne. Ryan Van Meter. Exploration. Narrative. Story. Dialogue. Chuck Klosterman. Michael Chabon. The Believer. Creative.

I'm beginning to realize that when I say essay to most other people this is what crosses their minds: boring.

This is what you make me do when you call essays boring.


I'm sure there are people out there who truly do hate creative essays and do find them boring. My guess, however, is that the majority of people do not. If you open your mind to the idea that a creative essay can be creative, interesting, innovative, you might be surprised by the amount of great writing out there you are missing. And it's all over the stupid name of the genre. This is why a lot of nonfiction enthusiasts have taken to calling it by different names. Creative Nonfiction. Literary nonfiction. Nonfiction writing. But to me these are good names for the practice of writing nonfiction creatively, and not so good for the practice of writing short creative nonfiction pieces. I suppose you could call it just that, short creative nonfiction, just like short stories.

In essence, however, short creative nonfiction pieces are short stories. The generally accepted layout is a little different, but they are essentially the same thing. I think if you explore some essays you will find writers you identify with, writers who thrill you, and writers who make you see things in a different way. At the core, this is what essays are to me: Pieces of writing which make me see things in a new way. And what is there to dislike about that?

If you're interested in reading more essays, please check out my weekly Saturday feature Awesome Essays, or if you looking for something more classical, check out my Montaigne Mondays to explore the father of the essay.

Do you already love essays? Are you thinking about giving them a try? What can I do to make you consider reading an essay?

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To be a lover of nonfiction is a dangerous and confusing thing. I have become aware of a major difference in the way readers who primarily love nonfiction shop over the way readers who primarily love fiction shop. When you go to the bookstore and you look for a fiction book, there is generally one place you're searching. Maybe two if you like YA or three if you like romance or western. If you love nonfiction there are an unlimited number of places you might find your books. This can be dangerous and frustrating.

For example, after a recent trip to Half-Price Books I purchased seven books and they were each in a completely different section.

• The first place I always look is in Essays and Memoirs, which is generally only one or two shelves of a bookcase (in a normal store there might be one whole bookcase). In this section I found Coop, which is a memoir, I suppose, of Michael Perry's life as a farmer and parent.
• I moved to the Sports section where I found The Lost Art of Walking, a history and discussion of walking.
• Nearby was travel, where in the further category of Iowa travel I found Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America

  

  , a profile of a town in Iowa.

• I went to graphic novels and found the graphic memoir Blankets

  

  .

• I caught up with Jason in the Science section where I found The Compassionate Carnivore: Or, How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old MacDonald's Farm, Reduce Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat

  

  on the one shelf of sustainable agriculture books.

• From sustainable agriculture I moved towards nature writing where I picked up The Control of Nature

  

  , a book of essays by John McPhee.

• I ended by trip in the close-by section of Green Living, which had a really neat copy of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

Seven books. Seven sections.

Can you see why loving nonfiction is a dangerous and frustrating process? Dangerous because, as you've just seen, it's very easy to hop around the whole store and find something you're interested in in every section. It's too easy, especially in a store like Half-Price Books, which organizes its categories down into smaller categories.

It's frustrating, however, because if you are looking for a specific book there can be at least three places it will be located. Is it in essays and memoirs? Is it in environmentalism? Is it in cookbooks? I've found Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in every place. Even from the books I purchased you can probably see some overlap. The Compassionate Carnivore, The Control of Nature, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Coop could have easily been found in the same section, but for some reason Half-Price Books distinguishes them. The distinguishing factor might be something as arbitrary as what type of writer wrote the book. Was it a journalist? A farmer? A scientist?

Part of this is just that the majority of the books in a bookstore are nonfiction, and bookstores do distinguish all the nonfiction by subject because that is how most people look for it. But when you're a general lover of all types of nonfiction it gets frustrating when there isn't just a single section titled Essays that contains all the books of essays. Since nonfiction is a constantly evolving genre (I'm not saying fiction is not, I'm saying literary fiction has a more established, concrete history) it's difficult for a lot of readers to make the distinction between literary nonfiction and what I would consider "How to" nonfiction. How to travel in Mexico. How to become a Buddhist. How to farm sustainably. Versus. My travels in Mexico. My experience as a Buddhist. My experience as a sustainable farmer.

Do you read nonfiction? Do you find yourself running around the store looking for a book? If you are a fiction reader, how many sections do you generally look in?

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I read a lot of nonfiction, but sometimes when it feels like I've read tons of nonfiction books in a row I get a strong desire to cheat. Usually on weekend mornings when I want to read in bed a book about the environment or a memoir just aren't going to cut it for me that morning. I want an escape, something I will sink into my pillows with and forget that I'm wearing pajamas. When that desire happens it seems like I almost always reach for a YA novel.

This is exactly what happened yesterday morning. I've been working my way through Triumph of the City

for a couple weeks and I really love it. I'm going to review it later this week and I'm talking about it on my podcast because I'm just that enthusiastic about it. But on a Saturday morning I felt like cheating. Not thinking about cities or the environment and just think about something fun. I knew exactly what the perfect book was too, Bright Young Things

. I bought this book the day it came out because I loved Anna Godbersen's Luxe series. I was completely devastated when the series ended and couldn't wait to read what she had next. The second book in Bright Young Things doesn't come out until September though, so I've put off reading it a little bit. I can already tell I'm going to have the same experience with Bright Young Things, I can't put the first book down.

Of course now I need to finish Triumph of the City quickly because I have a review obligation with TLC Book Tours, so I probably should have finished it earlier. I don't feel guilty. Bright Young Things is exactly what I needed this weekend.

What kind of books do you pick up when you're looking to cheat? Do you cheat on your books, or do you just power through until the end?

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Awhile ago I announced that I planned on reading all of my humongous Montaigne essay collection in 2011. The year tends to start more in February for me than January, because January is my birthday month so I'm never on a "normal" schedule. I'm planning on updating the Montaigne reading list later today so you can follow along with what I'm reading if you so choose. I'll post my thoughts about the essays I read every Monday along with some questions about them. EDIT: The new schedule is now available online.

I bought a few books recently that I'm really excited about. The first is Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books

, which is about Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her career as a book editor. I heard about this book in December on Books On the Nightstand and wanted it immediately because I love biographies and I think biography in books sounds like the best kind of biography. I also got House of Leaves

due to a superb recommendation from my friend Marleen. The book looks super bizarre but I can't wait to read it, which is unfortunate because I don't think I'll get to it until Spring Break. I bought Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd

on a whim while perusing the newly arranged Young Adult section at the Barnes and Noble in my mall. It's a story collection including stories and art from M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Westerfeld, and several others.

Today I'm catching up on some reading and doing a little homework. Jason and I are also recording a new podcast for Green Reads. I'm talking about a book I'm super enthusiastic about, Farmer Jane: Women Changing The Way We Eat

and Jason is talking about The 1,000-Year Flood: Destruction, Loss, Rescue, and Redemption along the Mississippi River

. Keep your eyes peeled for that so you can hear about these great books!

Is anyone else going to Book Expo America this year? I'm going and I'm still looking for a roommate if anyone is interested-- let me know!

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I moved into my townhouse with three bookshelves and they were completely full right away, so I knew a new bookshelf was in my future eventually. I finally got sick of all the random stacks of books around the house towards the end of last semester and yesterday I bought the bookshelf. It's the biggest bookshelf I've got so far. Apparently I've become more realistic about my growing library. I'm amazed by how many of the books I own I've purchased since I started blogging. Apparently I just didn't know what books to buy before my blog and now I'm constantly bombarded with books I want to read plus I find ones on my own. Book blogging has definitely changed the way I approach shopping in a bookstore-- but that is a post for a different day.

The bottom shelf is games and children's books, two things that didn't really have a home in my house so it makes sense for them to go on a fairly empty bookshelf. Above that is about two shelves of unread books. Just by looking at my bookshelves it seems like I'm finishing one shelf of books for every shelf of new books, which means I'll never get past that one bookshelf worth of books I haven't read. I'm pretty okay with this ratio right now, obviously I would like to read more books than I'm taking in. The worst part is that I have two shelves of books that I've owned for a long time but still haven't read. When I look at the books I think I want to get to them someday, but I don't want to read them as much as the new books I bought in the last year. I should probably get rid of some of the books I haven't read but I honestly think getting rid of books is a humongous pain in the butt.

The second shelf from the top houses literary magazines which were previously under my coffee table. This collection is only going to get bigger in 2011 because I not only have a subscription to The Believer (my second year with it) but I have one to McSweeney's as well. The very top shelf has some beer bottles from Germany on it. Not much to do with books, I just thought they were pretty.

Have any of you gotten a new bookshelf recently? Do you need one? Are the stacks of books taking over your house?

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Hello blogging world! I am officially back in my own house in Iowa City. I'm still not freshened up from my trip, there is laundry and unpacking to do, but I couldn't wait another day to write a blog post. I had every intention of posting more while I was absent, but if I'm being totally honest I loved the break from blogging. I think I really needed it. And now I'm back to bombard with you with pictures from my trip. Jason and I hit up four countries and five cities in seventeen days. It was crazy.

We landed in Amsterdam first, and that was the only place I blogged from. It was also my favorite place we visited. I loved biking around the city and how Amsterdam is a city yet really feels more like a small town.

Favorite Amsterdam moment: Absolutely everything was closed on New Year's Day, so we ended up renting bikes and just riding around all day. It was frustrating at the time because none of our plans worked out, but now that I know we got to do everything we wanted (pretty much) I look back on that day with a great fondness.

From Amsterdam we took a short day trip to Brussels where there is a comic strip museum. Count me excited! Brussels also has a ton of amazing food and was probably the best food we had over the course of our trip.

Favorite Brussels moment: My mouth is still watering over the mulled wine and scalloped potatoes with ham and cheese. What a delicious snack. The comic strip museum was a lot of fun as well, although their gift shop was a huge letdown. Their English selection was one shelf. So yeah, the food wins.

Our next stop was Berlin, which is must say is one of the strangest cities I have ever visited. There is so much street art and punk culture there, which I really loved, but I found that the people were very abrupt. Not rude, just a little harsh. The way Berlin exists today is also about as old as I am, which was weird. You can really see the history of WWII and Communism there, which only makes the city feel harsher.

Favorite Berlin moment: I really loved this particular section of the Berlin Wall, but it's not my favorite moment. I'd have to say the best thing we did in Berlin was visit this bar called Kaufbar. You could buy the vintage furniture in there and they played awesome music. It was a very relaxing environment and felt more like a normal coffeeshop in the United States than a bar.

We took a day trip to Prague from Berlin. All we really had time for was a tour of the city and then some time at bars that evening. This is where we met one thousand Australians because they are all on summer holiday right now. I've met one Australian my whole life and I go to Europe and meet all of them. Crazy.

Favorite Prague moment: We stayed a night in Prague and after having a crazy day where we tried to see everything it was really nice to wake up the next morning and just wander around. Prague is a really beautiful place and the train ride there was even more beautiful.

Our final stop was Munich. We were getting fairly tired at this point but we still did quite a bit. We visited Hofbrauhaus, Dachau, Neuschwanstein, and did some shopping. They love their beer in Munich, so it was a pretty fun place to turn 21 for an American.

Favorite Munich moment: Even though it's not in Munich, the best day we had was my birthday (at least I think it was the best day). I was super hungover but visiting Neuschwanstein was so much fun. Pictures really don't do justice to the beauty of the snow covered forest on the walk up to the castle. It was a fairy tale birthday.

So that's my trip in a tiny nutshell. I had an amazing time and got just the break I needed. Jason and I are already talking about where we want to visit next!

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Happy Holidays to all of you! I think this is the longest I have ever gone without blogging, and it will probably be like this for the next couple of weeks. This week was obviously busy with all of the holiday parties and things, plus I don't have a reliable source of Internet at my parents' house. On Tuesday I get on a plane and fly to Amsterdam. I will be gone for 17 days so I'm going to miss a lot in the blogosphere! I have a few posts scheduled and I will probably be able to go to an Internet cafe every once in awhile to update you all on my travels a bit, but I'll be so busy with other stuff blogging in obviously not going to be my main concern.

Did everyone get books for Christmas? I told everyone not to get me any-- but I'm pleased with the books I got. I got The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century

and Farmer Jane: Women Changing The Way We Eat

from my fiance's family. My mom gave me Clockwork Angel, which really surprised me! She must have really paid attention to me in the bookstore. My fiance gave me An Object of Beauty because I love Steve Martin. I also got an Iowa Bird book from my fiance and a set of binoculars-- I'm excited to do some birdwatching in 2011.

I gave a few books this year too. I gave my fiance's mother How to Repair Food, even though she is a wonderful cook. When I heard about it on Books on the Nightstand I immediately thought it would be something she would enjoy as a former food science major. I gave his sister Firefly Lane

per the recommendation of Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner because she really enjoys Nicholas Sparks. I gave my fiance The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City and Bicycling Science.

Out of all the gifts I got this year though, I would have to say the Wii my parents surprised me with is the total winner. I wasn't expecting to get much for Christmas this year because I only asked for money for my trip, which I got. I was totally cool with that and we had pretty much finished opening all out presents when my dad handed me this big heavy box. I thought it was for my mom and tried to give it to her. Let's just say I was in total shock when I opened it. I've already spent way too much time playing Super Mario on it! Hopefully the novelty will wear off before classes start again? Yeah, I kind of doubt it too.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Did you get or give any books this year?

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After my last final on Friday I went to work for five and a half hours, so I didn't really feel like I was done with the semester. I figured once I got home it would start to feel like winter break, but I was overwhelmed by all the options. For once I could do whatever I wanted when I got home and be guilt free about it. It was such a change I think I was a bit in shock, and I still don't quite feel like it's winter break yet-- probably because I'm checking on my grades at least once an hour. I usually get myself a little something at the end of each semester to congratulate myself on a semester of hard work, and my package arrived on Friday, which was obviously perfect timing! I walked into my house and ripped it open as soon as the door was closed. So what did I get?

Lonely Avenue. 11 songs by Ben Folds and Nick Hornby. 4 stories by Nick Hornby. Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz. If someone wanted to create the absolute perfect gift for me, this would be it. It screams Ash on so many levels. I adore Ben Folds, I've seen him three times in concert and can't go a week without listening to his music. Nick Hornby is one of my all time favorite writers. Joel Meyerowitz's vintage style photographs fit my design style to perfection. This had to be the best thing ever, and I'm happy to say it basically is.

I've only read the first two stories by Hornby, but I really loved both of them. I've felt that Hornby has been a little hit and miss for me as of late but these short stories were fantastic and reminded me of all the things that made me love him when I was in high school. Each story is paired with a photograph, as are the song lyrics, and the photographs add a lot to the stories in my opinion.

The songs are also wonderful, and since this is kind of a concept album it's a little different from Ben Folds' other work. Although I think Ben Folds is one of the best musical storytellers ever. I've really enjoyed listening to these song while perusing the stories, but there are just so many stories happening I had to stop myself and try to really absorb each individual story. Which is why I love this! It's three totally different and effective methods of storytelling. You can listen to a story in a song, read a story by Hornby, or just look at the images and try to understand the story behind them. For a lover of music, books, and art this is an awesome find, and even more so for someone who loves Ben Folds and Nick Hornby.

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Snow has finally blanketed the fair Iowa City, just in time to lock me inside my house to study. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I won't be doing that today as the literary magazine I'm on is having a big meeting today and it could go for several hours. Hopefully I still manage to finish at least one paper today!

I had a party last night and several friends came over to play games and eat cookies. I made 100 cookies! Including the cookies Kim talked about at Sophisticated Dorkiness. They were delicious, a big hit. I actually used hugs and kisses for mine, and I think I preferred the hugs but I'm a sucker for white chocolate. The party was especially great because there was freshly fallen snow, cookies and warm drinks, a bright Christmas tree, and lots of laughter with good friends. It was very atmospheric, I would say. If someone from the outside were to look into our frosty windows I think they would smile at the good time we had.

I also got 500 Handmade Books from my friend Michael as an engagement/Christmas present, which was lovely. Although there is a book I saw in there that had human hair on it, which I thought was odd. It was one of the first books I looked at so I'm interested to see what can top that. In all reality, I'm really excited about bookbinding right now. Michael and I are taking a bookbinding class next semester and on Friday I went to see what students in the University of Iowa's Center for the Book made this past semester. There were so many amazing books, paper, and boxes that I feel I couldn't have seen everything even though I walked through it all. I hope some of my projects turn out as beautiful as the ones on display. I'm sure you can all expect posts about that next semester!

I'm off to continue writing about Sarah Silverman and eat some breakfast (brunch?).

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After my post on Thursday about avoiding finals I gave studying on Saturday the good old college try. I got some of my paper done, but not nearly enough. This afternoon I'm going to lock myself up in the library and I won't come out until I have at least 1.5 papers done and my reading for Monday. But this morning I'm going to relax a little bit, do some reading and eat some food. Maybe after a little relaxation I'll feel better equipped to plunge into paper writing. Maybe I'll pick up a peppermint latte or something to make myself feel extra prepared.

I'm not sure how other students are, but I really have to coax myself into studying for finals. The week before finals is probably about the worst week because the end is so close. I love actual finals week because you don't have to go to class, so you can just relax and study all week! This is especially true for me this semester because I only have one big final exam (anthropology, the bane of my existence) so for the entirety of finals week I will just work, relax, and study for that stupid exam, which have to do very, very well on. Don't be surprised if I start tweeting about skulls all the time.

If you haven't yet, check out my review of Heart with Joy. I really enjoyed this book and my review doesn't do it justice. I also did a post about Gifts for English Majors you should check out for your holiday shopping. Yesterday I did an Awesome Essays post about and essay called Speaking American, which I think all of you will enjoy because you love language!

Thanks everyone for your overwhelming congratulations about my engagement. I'm obviously very excited about it! We're not planning to get married until after we graduate so it will be a year and a half, and for now I'm just excited about being engaged.

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I have returned to Iowa City, which is awesome and crappy at the same time. I have two and a half weeks between me and winter break and those weeks are full of papers and exams. Luckily, I'll definitely blog more because I won't be at my parents' house where it is quite difficult for me to blog. This is why I really sucked at blogging last week. I did some Black Friday shopping over the weekend (I shopped for five hours!) and got the backpack I will take with me to the Netherlands and Germany over winter break. I can't believe how close this trip is now, it doesn't even feel real.

Remember a month ago when I was all excited about recording a podcast with my boyfriend? It was called Green Reads and we were going to talk about books and the environment. Well it's back! We posted a new episode over the last week and you can read about it on our Green Reads blog and listen to the episode there. Please follow us and leave us comments! You can also subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and every episode will show up automatically for you. The road is a little bumpy right now, but we have another podcast in the works and it will get published very soon. We're working to make this the best we can.

Now I'm off to go for a walk and think about an essay I'm working on today. How were your Thanksgivings if you are in the States, and how were your weekends if you are not? Did you get any reading done? I, for one, did not.

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It's Thanksgiving Break! It's Thanksgiving Break! Can I say how thankful I am for Thanksgiving Break? Yesterday I celebrated by doing zero homework, which means I have to write a paper today but I'm accepting of that. Instead of doing homework I finished Wide Sargasso Sea first thing in the morning, then I wrote a blog post about the essay film Chekhov for Children. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix and then in the afternoon I got my next disc of True Blood from Netflix. I made chocolate chip cookies! Then I got a strong desire to go to Daydreams Comics downtown, so we fought the football game traffic to get there only to find out they were sold out of the comic I wanted, but I got the second Fables anyway. We tried to go to Harry Potter but it was sold out. We came home and drew while we watched A Beautiful Mind and Chicago. Yesterday was busy and awesome.

I went to a Thanksgiving Party with my friends on Thursday night and we went around the room saying what we were thankful for. Most people said they were thankful for their friends and all our yummy food (I made cranberry sauce and cranberry salsa) and so on. When it was my turn I said I was thankful for books and everyone laughed, saying they knew I would say that. But it's true, I'm really thankful for books.

Without books and reading some of the hardest times of my life would have been a lot harder--- this semester included. When I read I get to pretend I'm someone else, somewhere else, for awhile. I've also made some of my best friends in college through books. When I started blogging I became a pretty public reader and then people around me I'd kind of known for awhile became more interested in me because they wanted to talk books. I love to talk books! I will talk books with anyone! I love texting a friend (I'm talking about you Liz) right after I finish a book and saying I must talk to you because I know you read this book too. And I love getting texts from friends to hear they're starting a book I've already read.

Are you thankful for books? If yes, why are you?

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Hello fellow readers! I can't believe it but I only have four more days until Thanksgiving Break and I register for classes this week. I'm extremely ready for this semester to be over with. I don't know what's up but this semester has gotten me in such a funk as far as reading, blogging, and general attitude goes. I've gotten more in touch with other things I love though, like art and music. I'm so looking forward to a week off so I can get a rest and some good reading and blogging in before winter break.

I've actually been spending quite a bit of time on blogging lately, but it's been the behind the scenes stuff you don't know about. I'm trying to figure out how to improve the sound on my vlogs using Audacity, which is why there haven't been any vlogs recently. I hate that buzzing sound the built-in camera makes on my laptop. I also recently got Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, and I've been trying to figure out design stuff and how to edit some comics I want to post on here. And I've been considering moving to Wordpress.org-- which is a nightmare to even think about but I feel I would be happier there. If anyone knows about any good guides I could use for any of the above topics please let me know!

This week was all about writing as I (still) try to catch up on National Novel Writing Month. I did a video update and shared some of what I have. I also talked about the essay Walking With an Essayist and wrote a review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

How was your week?

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I'm approaching week ten of the semester and I honestly have never felt this burnt out before. I really don't have that heavy of course load this semester, but I feel exhausted. It might partially be living off campus for the first time, or maybe I'm just feeling burnt out because I'm a junior and feel like being done. Or maybe I'm just looking forward to winter break more than I have before because I'm going on an awesome vacation. My boyfriend and I are going backpacking through Amsterdam, Berlin, and Munich and I am so excited. I've never been to the Netherlands or Germany before so I'm sure there will be a lot for us to see and do. Have any of you been to any of these places? What would you suggest for us?

As for reading I've been working diligently on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

for the readalong next week, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

for a new feature I'm going to start, and The Book Thief

simply because it is awesome. I have a lot of plans for the week I do The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay readathon, and I'm really excited to see what all of you think about the posts. The book has made me remember my own comic drawing I did when I was in high school and I was inspired to start up again. I was really into art in high school but kind of quit when I got to college. My comic drawing style isn't very complex and obviously relies on words a lot more because I'm a better storyteller than artist, but it's something I enjoy working on. I'm thinking about posting some of these comics on here once I get back into the hang of it.

This week I reviewed Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Splendor. I celebrated my one year blogiversary, talked about my recent struggles with writing, and talked about an Awesome Essay: How to Write About Africa.

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Yesterday was the long awaited Twin Cities Book Festival. I got to Minneapolis on Friday night and was excited to see a Borders right across the street from my hotel. I went there right away of course, but didn't end up buying anything. That, of course, doesn't mean I didn't buy anything on Saturday.

This is the nice stack I came away with. To be fair four of these books are literary magazines (which were only $2 each, it's amazing I didn't just buy the entire table) and one of the magazines is for a friend. I got two issues of Creative Nonfiction, a magazine I love for obvious reasons but rarely get. I talk about Number 31 yesterday in my Awesome Essays post because the subject is publishing and writing in 2025, which seemed to be a huge theme in the panel discussions I went to. Check out that post to share your ideas! I also got Number 23, which is about Mexican-American writers, something I've recently become interested in. I got a little poetry magazine called Bateau and the Alaska Quarterly Review for my friend Michael.

As far as actual books, I got the first comic book in the Fables series, A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler (the publicist, Courtney, did a great job selling the book to me), and If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home by John Jodzio from Replacement Press. I'm super excited to read all of these!

Yesterday was a very long and exciting day. Right away in the morning I met Reagan from Miss Remmers Review, Sheila from Book Journey, Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness, and Alea from Pop Culture Junkie. We all had a great chat about books and life before heading over to Sheila's panel discussion about the future of publishing. Her panel was awesome-- and Kim and I said that she answered all the blogger questions just how we would have answered them. After the panel we browsed some of the tables where publishers and authors were promoting their books.

It was a huge crowd! I was excited to see so many people interested in books all in one room. We all went to get lunch with Liz from Consumed By Books and Joanne from Jo Jo Loves to Read. We talked about books (more) and life (more) and then headed back to the festival because Kim, Alea, and I wanted to go to a panel about comic books and comics that Bill Willingham was speaking at. I never realized there was such a great comics scene in Minneapolis and I'll definitely be checking into the other speakers' work as well.

Later at night Sheila, Reagan, Kim, and I went to Borders for awhile and I found a bunch of books I wanted but didn't buy any, which I think deserves a round of applause. Then my boyfriend met up with us and we went to a Chinese place for dinner.

Take One: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

Take 423: Reagan, Sheila, me, and Kim.

So that was my fun exciting time at the Twin Cities Book Festival. Hopefully I'll get to go again next year and we can do another Midwest Book Blogger meet-up again soon!

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I ended up falling asleep during the readathon last night, which I was fully expecting. I was looking forward to getting a chance to just read as much as I wanted, but because of my stress level I knew staying up 24 hours was probably not a really good idea for me right now. I still got almost halfway into The Book Thief

and finished all of Splendor

, so I am pretty pleased with the results. I read 691 pages yesterday for a total of $20.73 raised for The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is an organization that provides resources for LGBTQ teens, one of which is a suicide/help hotline teens can call 24/7. Because of all the recent suicides I thought that would be a good organization to donate to. Suicide, in general, is a horrible thing and I come from a place where a lot of suicides have occurred. I've seen the effects of suicide several times, though never experienced them personally. I can't imagine what it would be like for a parent or friend to lose a loved one due to suicide.

Onto a happier note, I posted my 100th book review on Wednesday! The 100th book I reviewed was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The review came at a pretty nifty time as well, because my one year anniversary is here in about a week! The first book I ever reviewed on here was And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander. It's a very sad review, only two paragraphs long. I must say I think I've come quite a long way since that first review.

And I'll I've got left is a plea for you to check out my new podcast!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.