No. 2: Hooked on Phonics

You know I like to read. Or maybe you don't. If you've been reading the blog for awhile, then you know I set reading goals for myself. They are pathetic, but I don't have much spare reading time, what with classes, conferences, students, and house stuff. And the sickies. Let's not forget that much of 2011 thus far has been spent with useless hands. Which I find necessary with reading. You know, to turn pages and whatnot. I could make Jeremiah stand/lie next to me, hold the book, and turn pages for me but that might be crossing a line. Not sure.

Anyway, I met last year's goal, but I haven't done a book update for 2011 in months. And it occurs to me...

Holy crap. It's August. Almost September. Eek.

And believe it or not, I've been reading. Not tons, but bits here and there. My stack of books to be read is getting huge. I can't help it. I go to Goodwill, the used bookstore, wherever, and I see books that call my name. Borders is going out of business and I've been there twice. I can't help it. It's my sickness.

So here's what I've read recently, trying to make a dent in my huge collection:

• Janet Evanovich's Smokin' Seventeen  - I feel sad about this, but I don't think Evanovich is still creating great books. The story quality isn't the same as it used to be. Her yearly releases of this series are about as good as the in-between-the-numbers books, which are short little nothings. I keep reading, hoping that she redeems herself. Not a bad read, but nothing special.
• Lisa Scottoline's Look Again -  I was REALLY looking forward to this book. I was slightly let down. I spent a day reading it and I liked it, but I have discovered that I like Scottoline's series about the ladies at the law office better than the random stories.
• David Sedaris's When You Are Engulfed In Flames -  I love David Sedaris. I don't think he's written a book that didn't make me laugh out loud. At one point in this story I laughed until I started crying. Then I started coughing (asthma is a bitch). Then I peed my pants just a tiny bit. Freaking sarcastic genius. Great book. His recount of the time when he tried to use a catheter? Priceless.
• Laurie Notaro's Spooky Little Girl - Started sloooooooooow. Didn't love the characters at all. Maybe that is credit to/proof of Notaro's writing skills? To create characters that seemed really unlikeable? Who knows. About half-way through I got into the story and by the end I was crying a bit.  It was supposed to be funny but I thought it was more witty writing than hilarious humor.

 What's coming up: I don't really know. I've got LOTS of new books. I just have to clean them first. Because most of them came from someone else and that makes me nervous. Time to get out the Clorox Wipes!


For your enjoyment, a recent book convo between CLH and I:
 
Jeremiah: So are you sure you don't want built-in bookcases somewhere?
Me: But where? I don't have wall space in my craft room for bookcases (Which is true. It's the smallest bedroom in the house. I'm generous that way, leaving the bigger rooms for all of our Jeremiah's company.)
Jeremiah: We can put them wherever you'd like. But now they are kind of...all over the place (He says with as much tact as possible. I'm proud. He didn't even start to shake or anything.) .
Emily: But that IS how I'm organizing my books.
Jeremiah: Huh?
Emily: Well, the school/class books are in the hall closet or my craft room in the closet. The books I've already read for fun are on the shelves in the bedroom. The books that I WANT to read but haven't had time for are on the shelves in the front room, along with the reference books that I like to keep on hand and the coffee table books that I don't keep on the tables.
Jeremiah: (At this point he might be shaking slightly. Just a little.) So am I building shelves?
Emily: No. I've got it all figured out in here (Points to head.).
Jeremiah: Openly weeps in frustration at his organized/disorganized girlfriend.

p.s. I am NOT one of those people that can organize all their books by COLOR. Who does that? Sure it looks great, but how do you find your freaking books? I have some thoughts about the majority of these people and the thoughts swirl around the idea that the people that have this system might not actually read the books. I'm sure some do, but...

And I told Jeremiah about color-coding and he died a tiny bit. Jeremiah organizes his collections of music by genre and then by musician's name in alphabetical order. I might have told him this just to be mean. Because sometimes I am mean.

Does anyone have any book suggestions? I'd love to hear what everyone else is reading.