bookshelves of doom

My reading rules.

Over at BookRiot today, there's a post about personal reading rules:

When I started thinking about this piece, I thought about it as just a list of my (many!) seemingly arbitrary rules for reading. Once I got started, though, I discovered that those rules actually tell you so much about me that they double as personality traits. In fact, they say so much about me that I’m actually a little uncomfortable sharing them now, but I’m going to anyway because I’m done with the piece; this paragraph is actually, chronologically, the last one I’ve written, and who wants to waste all that effort?

Which (obviously) made me think about my own set of personal reading rules.

1. I'm a note taker. If I don't have pencil and paper at hand—or am too lazy to get up and go find pencil and paper—I will dog ear pages. Yes, that's right, I AM AN UNREPENTANT DOGEAR-ER.

1a. Since I realize that this confession will probably result in you all shunning me forevermore—you're totally going to cross the street to avoid me at BookExpo next week, aren't you?—I'm going to go ahead and ADMIT ALL: Yes, I even dogear library books. (I always un-dogear before I return them, though.

1b. If it makes you feel any better, I dogear the BOTTOM of the page, not the top.

1c. I don't write in books. Ever. I do use the Note feature on my Kindle a hella lot, though.

2. When Josh gets ready to read a new paperback, he preemptively breaks its spine, and I flinch every single time.

3. Halfway through any given hardback, the book jacket starts driving me bananas and I take it off and throw it behind the couch. I retrieve and replace when I'm done reading.

4. The only genre I seem to be capable of reading without going into Literary Analysis mode? Vaguely smutty historical romances.

5. I've said this before, but it should be included: I'm a really, REALLY visual reader. When I'm wrapped up in a book, it's like I stop seeing the words and have an actual movie playing in my head: therefore, I had to stop listening to audiobooks in the car because I kept running stop signs.

6. I'm a vocal supporter of Putting The Book Down If It Isn't Working For You, but I find that I rarely actively do that myself. More often, I realize months later that I set something down and never returned to it. 

7. I'm a one-book-at-a-time girl. And I always have at least two back-ups in my bag, JUST IN CASE.

So. YOUR TURN.

Don't mind me!

Just tinkering.

New to my Etsy shop!

The 2007 Harry Potter set!:

Click on through to see 'em all.

Some items have returned to my Etsy shop!

Including The Very Hungry Caterpillar:

The Wild Things:

And Alice in Wonderland:

Click on through to see the others!

This is my life.

Um, so this is the second snake Lemon has dragged into the house this morning.

(I know this because the first one was way skinnier, and last I checked, it was really, really dead.)

It's now hanging out under the radiator.

I THINK.

Commute listening.

Currently on repeat in my car: The Milk Carton Kids' The Ash & Clay.

 

It's one of those records that just keeps getting better and better every time I listen to it. Also, every time I think I'm ready to listen to another album, I only get two songs in before popping this one in again. CLEARLY I NEED TO GO BACK AND GET THEIR PREVIOUS STUFF.

New items in my Etsy shop!

New Moomins:

 

And Roald Dahl is finally back:

Click on through to see the rest!

New items in my Etsy shop... AND A SALE!

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted much for a few days now.

I've been feeling a bit of blog angst.

And a bit overwhelmed with how much stuff I've got going on.

And also lazy, in that now that spring is finally here, I just feel like reading/napping/reading/having cheeseburger picnics on the back porch with Josh.

BUT I FIGURED OUT WHAT WOULD CURE ME.

A trip to NYC for BEA next month, and then a trip to Chicago for ALA in June.

Financially, I don't know if I'll be able to swing both, but I'm going to try my best.

So, with that in mind, go right ahead and use the coupon ALAORBUST at my Etsy shop for 10% off all purchases through Sunday.

New items in my Etsy shop!

I haven't posted for the last few days because I've been busy, busy, busy making new pendants.

New to the shop are the rest of the 2013 Jane Austen stamps:

Some Doctor Who villains:

Some Greek gods:

And Margaret Mahy:

I've also relisted some items, like the Matt Smith and Mr. Darcy and the 1999 Dalek and a Moomin and some other stuff. PHEW.

For the last four years...

...Josh and I have mourned the demise of the Late Night Jalapeno Popper Doritos. They were super-chemical-y, true, but they were also strangely addictive, and we've never found another Special Edition Dorito that compares.

AND BELIEVE ME, WE'VE TRIED.

Today, though, we discovered Late July's Mild Green Mojo chips. 

THEY. ARE. AWESOME.

They aren't at all chemical-y, and the flavor is more subtle than the Doritos (I mean, DUH, that's kind of a low bar), and the texture is SO NICE because in addition to being all multigrain-y, there's also some chia seeds and other good stuff crammed in there... anyway, we polished off the entire bag on the way home from the grocery store, and every couple of minutes, one of us would turn to the other and say, "THESE ARE REALLY GOOD."

Seriously, for the entire twenty minute drive home, we pretty much only uttered variations of that sentence.

But just in case you're thinking we've suddenly gotten all classy or something, we also brought home a bag of the Lays Chicken & Waffles chips, too. 

PS. NO, I DID NOT GET PAID TO WRITE THIS. I just really liked the chips A LOT.

"Their shiny, reflective yellow vests were like pieces of good and brave in a smoky land of pain."

Carrie Jones witnessed the aftermath of yesterday's bombing at the Boston Marathon:

Runners were wandering around still, confused, cold. They had a combination of runner’s fatigue and shock. Shivering and stunned, they were desperately trying to contact family members. Some walked in circles because they didn’t know how not to keep moving, but they also didn’t know where to go. They had spent 25 miles moving forward, towards this one destination called the finish line and now they were stuck, aimless. Their ultimate goal was suddenly gone, devastated by two bombs. Those of us who were there to watch, gave them our cell phones so they could call family members who were waiting for them. They were waiting for them right by the bombs. We gave the runners money so they could get on the T when it worked again. We gave them our coats.

I hope that you and yours are okay and safe.

THE DOCTOR IS IN...

...AT MY ETSY SHOP:

(Apologies for the caps, I'm a little excited about finally getting these put together and posted.)

Today in a nutshell.

So, Lemon was a freak today.

I stayed home sick after doing something to my back that made me realize that I AM NOW OLD.

Over the course of the day, she A) wandered around the house caterwauling for no apparent reason. Then... B) she decided to hang out on the fridge even though there is approximately a half an inch of free space up there. And finally, C) she knocked a plastic laundry basket right ONTO THE TOP OF THE WOODSTOVE. 

BEAST.

SPRING CAN'T GET HERE FAST ENOUGH.

During my commute this morning...

...I was listening to an interview with one of the authors of Big Data, and it made me realize that I'm turning into my father.

Author: If Big Data correlations identify me as a 44-year-old male who's a journalist and who has grand eyes for things I can't afford, it may think that I'm going to be susceptible to embezzlement, and maybe I will get a knock on the door by the police, who say, 'We have reason to believe that you're about to commit a crime.' This is sort of like pre-crime in Minority Report.

Interviewer: Oh, that Tom Cruise movie from a few years back.

Me, bellowing: IT WAS A BOOK FIRST, YOU DINK!

And now I'm all het up.

When I tell him, Dad will be so proud.

Well, either that or he'll tell me that I shouldn't get so worked up about these things.

To which I'll respond: I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU, DAD. I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU.

Sunday and Monday, I shall be here:

 

So if you are ALSO there, you should say hello.

See this year's list of films here!