Sunday, February 12, 2012

What I'm Reading This Week

I had lofty plans this week to knock some more books off my growing to-read pile but life got in the way. My aunt was hospitalized last week and had heart valve replacement surgery on Tuesday. Although I packed several books to the hospital where we sat for a solid 17 hours during her surgery and recovery I managed to read maybe 5 pages the entire time we were there. I forgot how distracting I find hospital waiting rooms to be. Probably because I'm an incessant people watcher.

This week I'm hoping to wrap up the two books I have going right now.

Starting book #8 before bed. I want to be Sarah Dessen's best friend.
Lock & Key by Sarah Dessen

and Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly.

I have to confess I have trouble getting into books sometimes because of distractions. Most of the time the distractions are of my own doing. Like the desire to check my phone or watch something on tv. But I'm also not the type to read during my lunch break or pick up a book in a crowded waiting room. I need a quiet space, a candle burning or cube of wax melting in my warmer, and all of my electronic devices turned off in order to really enjoy a good novel.

Do you struggle with distractions while reading?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Book #8

I decided to take a tiny little peek at this book this morning and now I'm pretty sure I'm going to be late for work.

John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars, would prefer I not spoil too much of this book. So instead I'll stick the script:

"Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel.
"

Did you ever read books by Lurlene McDaniel? I did. In fact, just the other day when I was digging around in my boxes of old books I found an entire stack of them. In case you aren't familiar, Lurlene McDaniel wrote Cancer Books. Capitalized for emphasis. Sappy sob stories of teenage love surrounding some horrific deathly disease. They were awful.

So initially when I heard the premise of The Fault in Our Stars I thought of Lurlene McDaniels and I just wasn't really sure I wanted to go there. But you guys, let me tell you right now. This book is not a Cancer Book. It's a book about cancer, yes. It's also an amazing novel full of witty dialog about a couple of kids who fall in love. It's funny, heart-warming, heart-breaking, thought provoking, and wonderful. And it's very much the kind of book that mocks the entire genre of Cancer Books.

It was also, easily, the best book I've read in a while. It doesn't hurt that Augustus Waters is one of the most swoonworthy male characters I've ever encountered. Or that John Green is such a wonderful writer whose fast paced dialog made me swoon all on its on.

“May I see you again?" he asked. There was an endearing nervousness in his voice.

I smiled. "Sure."

"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"Patience, grasshopper," I counseled. "You don't want to seem overeager.

"Right, that's why I said tomorrow," he said. "I want to see you again tonight. But I'm willing to wait all night and much of tomorrow." I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious," he said.

"You don't even know me," I said. I grabbed the book from the center console. "How about I call you when I finish this?"

"But you don't even have my phone number," he said.

"I strongly suspect you wrote it in this book."

He broke out into that goofy smile. "And you say we don't know each other.”

Friday, February 3, 2012

TGIF: Book Appeal


When you're browsing goodreads, the library, or another blogger's reviews, what grabs your attention to make you want to read it?

I know I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover but when browsing the library shelves the covers are what most often what grab my attention and make me want to read it. When I'm reading a physical book I love having a relatively new copy in my hands and I also like to read the books people are buzzing about so I tend to stick to the new arrival shelf.

Through goodreads I add a lot of books that friends have given high ratings to. I might not have read Divergent last year were it not for the excellent word of mouth on behalf of many of my internet friends who were raving about it. I also utilize listopia searches a lot by genre, especially when I'm looking for good romance reads since that genre can be rather hit or miss sometimes.