August 6, 2008

Books, Glorious Books!

My whole life I have been quite the book-lover, starting from before I could even read where I would memorize the books my mother read to me. I love reading, and can polish a book off faster than most people I know. This is due to a combination of two things: 1) I totally absorb into a book and find myself unable to put it down and 2) I am an extremely fast reader.

As a PhD student I lost some of my "love". There is so much reading involved, and its not always the entertaing kind. We spend our time reading journal articles from academic journals and books that go into detail on some specific theory or detailed aspect of marketing. I had plenty of reading on my plate at all times, and it wasnt really feasable to pick up a book just for enjoyment. Not only did I not have the time, but I also lost motivation to read for pleasure when I was reading so much on a daily basis (readings that were closer to pain than pleasure).

Now that I am not in class or teaching I find myself with tons of time. What better time to get back into the books? I have basically every pregnancy-related book, but those arent exactly fun to read. Lately I have been pouring through all other books I can find. I read everything that was left in my house, the books I bought during school that I foolishly thought I would have time for, and my husbands books (which arent really my speed but I am ripping through them anyway!). Now that I have polished off all those I am back out searching for more.

I bought the Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer Mcmahon the other day at Costco. They dont have the best selection, but they sure do have great prices. After I polished that sucker off in about 3 hours I needed more ... and knew I needed to have more than 1 book around to read. When I finish one I am disappointed. Its over so fast and then I have nothing to do again ;) So I decided it was time to gather up a couple of books so that I have one ready in case of emergency.

I mentioned before that I am a member of paperbackswap.com. On this site I post books I have read and want to get rid of. When someone wants one, I mail it to them (at my expense, ususally 2-3 bucks for a normal paperback) and then I get a credit. With those credits I can order any books that members have availaiable, and they mail them to me (at their expense). Right now I have two coming my way:

Double Take
by Catherine Coulter







Bones to Ashes
by Kathy Reichs








And yesterday at Target I picked up two more:

The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory







A Bend in the Road
by Nicholas Sparks







I don't always like to read books where there is a movie/book combination, but saw the movie for THe Other Boleyn Girl recently and decided to check it out. Since the book has about 700 pages, I figured at least it would take me a while to get through :) I started it last night and so far it is different than the movie ... so I am happy, and excited to see how the rest of it turns out. So now I have about 4 books to keep me occupied, if only I could make them last the next 9 weeks (until the baby is due)!.

3 comments:

labcabbie said...

Try getting a library card! I think the paperbackswap.com is great, but your local library (and extended network) will have ton of books from which to choose. AND, they're free and as fast as you go through them, you would never have to worry about a late fee!

lifestudent said...

I actually have a library card...it took me about 8 years of living in the city to get one. And I am too lazy to go to the library. As a kid I used to go to the "book mobile" that arrived on the corner of my block and fill a back-pack up with books...what can I do to convince the City of Chicago to park a book mobile in front of my house? Hmmm...maybe I will contact my alderman :)

JScribe said...

I have to plug the book i just recently read--its a great memoir that I've promoted on my blog before. Since you are back to reading again check out Cathy Alters newest book "Up For Renewal:What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over" Do it!!