As you may have heard, we're in the midst of a nice big snowstorm here in New Hampshire. And I am so set.
I have flashlights and candles. I have plenty of supplies for tea and cocoa. I have everything I need to bake whole wheat bread and make vegetable soup tomorrow. (And, yes, I have plenty of housework if I'm so inclined.) I have a new computer game. I have several books--well, no, I have several hundred books--but I have several books I'm particularly excited to read. I have plenty of movies to watch and a good dozen knitting projects I really want to finish soon.
And if all that weren't enough... I have five brand new knitting books. Count 'em, five. I joined Crafter's Choice and got my first shipment today. Here's the haul:
I think I'll be able to keep busy for a few days, don't you?
This has been a thread on one of my book discussion lists, and I thought I'd make a little list of books I'd drop everything to read. In fact, my current drop-everything read is The Serpent on the Crown by Elizabeth Peters. It's the newest Amelia Peabody mystery--it hasn't even been released yet, but I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy. I have indeed dropped all my other reading, but my reading time seems very limited recently... I may well end up reading all day Sunday.
Books I plan to drop everything to read in the future:
The Headmaster's Wife by Jane Haddam
It's forthcoming in my favorite mystery series. I've preordered it.
At Knit's End by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
This one is preordered too. It's by Yarn Harlot. What more needs to be said?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Now that I think about it, I've preordered this too. I'll probably go to the midnight party thing at the bookstore. July 16 is a Saturday, so I'm sure I'll read the whole thing that weekend, if only to finish it before I hear spoilers all over the place.
Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King
Another favorite series. I'm not sure whether I'll buy it right away or wait until it comes to the library, but as soon as I get my hands on it, I'll drop everything else.
Wait Until Midnight by Amanda Quick
My guilty pleasure. And this one is being released soon! But it looks like it's going straight to paperback--odd. Her recent novels have all been in hardcover first. Again, I'll probably wait for the library on this one, but once I have it I'll drop everything. :-)
The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L'Engle
I've probably read a fair amount of them before, but I'll drop everything and read them again, I promise.
I need someone to appreciate how great this is with me: I found nice hardcover copies of the first two Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde for $5 each on a clearance table! So exciting! I've read the first, The Eyre Affair, and liked it immensely. It's like a combination of Douglas Adamas and the Brontes, and it actually works. I also got the second in the series, Lost in a Good Book, and it might have to jump to the top of my To Be Read pile. (Pile? Bookshelf. Okay, bookcase. Whatever.) These books have it all--mystery, romance, obscure literary trivia, and plenty of humor. Go read them!
So someone on an e-mail list asked a question about the book Knitting Counterpanes, and I went to Amazon to make sure I was thinking of the right book. And there it was--for $37.20. I couldn't believe it. I've been looking for this book for a few years now, and I've only ever seen it for $100 or so. But now there was a copy for $37.20. I bought it, of course. I am so very excited. There are counterpanes in my future.
While I was there, I looked at At Knit's End. It's 320 pages long! 320 pages of Harlotty goodness! Oh, I just cannot get over it. The excitement, the excitement. Must take some deep breaths here.
My apartment is full of books. There are . . . oh, I don't even know. Thousands, I'm sure. I have three big six-foot bookcases that are all stuffed, and various other stacks of books around. Most of them I have not yet read. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, that I own and want to read. There are dozens that I am currently excited about reading.
Last night I went to the library and checked out three books.
It's an addiction, I tell you. (As addictions go, of course, it could be much worse.) There is just something about library books. They have some mystical quality that books I own just don't have. I was pretty proud of myself for getting out of there with just three, actually. They were all hardcovers and fairly heavy, and I didn't have a bag with me, so that was about all I could carry comfortably. There's even a chance that I'll be able to read them all before they're due, I suppose, but I doubt it. Online renewal is my friend.
I guess it's a good thing that I'm going to be a librarian. I'll be able to work and feed my addiction at the same time. There will have to be rules, though. When I've worked in libraries before, I've ended up with dozens of books checked out, and just no time to read them. I'm trying to convince myself that it will be even more fun if I actually read the books. We'll see. I must admit I have my doubts. And now I have some reading to do.
You didn't think I'd stop at just knitting, did you?
1. Keep track of what I read. Yes, keeping track is a theme this year. Actually, though, I used to do this quite faithfully, but stopped for some reason, and I really want to start again.
2. Read fewer books at a time. I have been known to have two towering stacks of "in progress" books on my bedside table, and, well, the stacks have been known to topple over, causing all sorts of mayhem. I'm not going to say I'll read one book at a time, because that's just setting myself up for failure. But I'll try to keep it down to one reasonably-sized stack.
3. Read more classics. I was a lit major. I like classics. I really do. I just don't read them very often, because somehow they are "more work" in my head. I must get into the habit.
More specifically . . .
4. Finally read War and Peace, Gone with the Wind, Moby Dick, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Scarlet Letter. Those are some classics I've particularly been wanting to read, for various reasons. There are six in that list, which averages to one every two months; that shouldn't be at all hard to fit in and still have plenty of time for other stuff.
5. Read more poetry and drama. Again, I like them. It just doesn't often occur to me to read them.
6. Read at least one book in a language other than English. My language skills are getting rusty and I really don't want that.
7. Put at least one book review a week up here on the blog. You all want to know what I think about what I'm reading, right? Sure you do. It'll be fun. You'll see.
