Ahhh. A day off. A lurvely day off, and I have nothing planned. I absolutely adore when my Google calendar daily email says in the subject line: You have no events scheduled today. There. I just went and looked at it again. I could just eat that line.
Hang on. I have to go get coffee. And maybe put on socks. It’s a little crisp in here, THANK GOD. The heat wave is over for now.
Okay. Back, with socks and coffee. I feel chatty today. Hi! Pull up a chair!
I’m still loving my Kindle, have I told you that? It has several unexpected features:
Feature one – It facilitates reading somehow, so that I’m reading more than I usually do, and I usually read a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that it’s normally with me, whereas I often forget to carry a book. With books, I usually have one in my car, two or three at work, and seven or thirteen on my bedside table. I read what’s with me where I am or what I’m in the mood for, but I don’t transport them. That doesn’t leave me one while I’m waiting for the sushi to be ready, or at the post office (like I’m ever there. Hate the post office). I’ve never been in the habit of having a book in my purse. Knitting, yes. Book, no. Now that I have the Kindle, it’s always around, and it pleases my non-monogamous reading nature. I can dip into anything that’s in there.
Feature two – The shopping pleasure! In a weird way, I think it’s saving me money. Go with me here. I hear about books I have GOT to read. I read about them online or in magazines. Then if I see them in the store, I have to buy them, or I might forget what I wanted to read. Or if I go to Amazon and find that it’s a starred PW review and the blurbs are amazing, I’ll just impulse-shop them right into my one-click cart. NOW, if it’s available on Kindle (and most of my wants are), instead of buying it, I send the first chapter to my Kindle. For free. FREE! Then, of course, I forget it’s there. I have maybe fifty first chapters sitting in my Kindle right now. But someday, when I’m not sure what to read next, I’ll sample some and buy one (instantly downloading it) only if I love it and I know I want to go on reading. Grabbing those chapters completely fulfills that Book Shopping Urge that I get sometimes, and it doesn’t cost me a thing until I commit to a book I’m already reading.
Reading now – Hillbilly Gothic, Adrienne Martini. Which brings me sideways to feature three: If you click that link to the right, you can see you have to buy it from a secondary book-source, probably used. Amazon doesn’t carry it anymore. While I have my own issues with Amazon versus Indie bookstore (give the indies the love and the money!), there always remains the fact that Amazon is just so damn easy to use. And while everyone loves a cheap book, if I buy her book used, Adrienne doesn’t get any of the money for her hard work. Writers should be paid, I think, and I like to give THEM the money, not a huge used-book warehouse in Indiana. Amazon carries her book in Kindle format, though. She gets the money, I get the instant gratification.
I’m loving Hillbilly Gothic. A memoir, she writes with what appears to be such transparent honesty that even when she admits the hard stuff, the ugly parts, you’re still with her, still very much on her side. And get this: she’s a Raveler! Martinimade over there, her blog is here. Her blog is as well-written as her book is. Enjoy.
I’m also loving the Murakami running book (link to right). I’m signed up for the Nike half-marathon in, oh, a MONTH or so, and I haven’t run more than two and a half miles in forever. And even then, I was trotting slowing and wheezing a bit. Lordy. What with my propensity to blisters, I really don’t think I’ll make it through the whole thing, but I’ve promised a friend to give it a try. I’m going to try for a six-mile run today. Just to see if it kills me. If it doesn’t, I’ll go on running. If it does, well, I won’t have to run again, will I? All this to say, I love READING about running. When I’m reading about it, I am SUCH a great runner. Lying in bed after two Manhattans and five brownies, reading his perfect prose about running, I fly with him, knowing the next morning I will probably run a voluntary half-marathon, just because I feel like it. Yep.
Not Reading now – Anything Twilight by Stephenie Evans. I’m sorry. I’m totally sorry. I gave it the old college try, I really did. I read the first one and while it was fun, I never bought into it. I wanted to love Bella, I wanted to want to be Bella, the best way to read a book, but I never did. Edward was mildly interesting, but not compelling. I finished the first and bought the second, wanting to buy into it. But I have given up. I am in the minority, I know.
Watching –
Fringe: I kinda liked it. That’s as enthusiastic as I can be, but I’ll watch it again.
Gossip Girl: OMG, that last episode was AWESOME. I love that show. It’s not even a guilty pleasure anymore. I’ll tell anyone. I LOVE it.
Long Way Down: Oh, Ewan. I love you, too.
ANTM: Go, Isis!
Listening –
To Digit complain.
And now. Off to run. Wish me luck! And then to watch more TV and knit, because I can on a day off like this.