I ♥ books. I love library books, I love bookstore books, I love audiobooks and I love borrowed books. I do not have an e-reader, as I am too cheap to ever consider buying one, plus taking an almost endlessly reusable paper item (a single book can be read by almost countless people) and replacing it with a piece of only-for-one-person and soon-to-be-outdated electronics just rubs me the wrong way.
I know, I know, you have a Kindle and love it. Blah, blah, blah . . .to each their own. (But seriously, I am right and you are wrong.)
Right now I am listening again to Tina Fey’s Bossypants. For the second time in a fortnight. Cause yeah, it’s that good. I am making myself an object of ridicule to my family, as I listen to the audiobook through my CD Walkman headphones while puttering about. So there is excessive and spontaneous snorty laughing that doubles me over with mirth. Which pretty much makes me look absolutely insane as no one but me can hear Ms. Fey’s words.
Seriously, if laughter is the best medicine, then this book is Penicillin + Morphine + Prozac.
And I should know. After all, I am an RN.
I also just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which lived up to the hype. For those who may have taken up residence under a rock and know nothing of current best sellers, The Help is a novel about a small Mississippi town in 1963, focusing on the friction between the upper middle class white citizens and their African American domestics. The chapters switch back and forth between characters, and I found it more gripping of a page turner than The Da Vinci Code and Nancy Drew combined. Although it is the author’s first novel, it does not read like one. I won’t share too much, as I don’t want to reveal any of the plot lines.
I actually bought this book brand spanking new, as I was on my way to an evening of sitting in a waiting room that I knew would be torture without planned reading material. (However, I did make the purchase at a small locally owned bookstore.) I plan on lending this book out repeatedly, as it would be a shame to shelve it.
If you like To Kill a Mockingbird, then you will love this book.
I have also been enjoying Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home: From Wreck to Ravishing by Robert and Cortney Novogratz. This hefty coffee table book shows how the Novogratz couple furnished and designed their multiple homes. Yes, they appear to be insanely wealthy, but they’re also insanely creative. I love how their aesthetic vision is more about designing for current occupants rather than keeping it tame in the name of future sale-ability.
As self-taught designers, the couple run a design firm in New York City and specialize in creating loud, bright and distinctly unique interiors. And they’re huge fans of vintage pieces, and are not shy about picking these up at lowly thrift shops. They also have an HGTV show, which is how I discovered them. And of course, my copy of this book is from the library.
Just writing this post is making me want to browse through the book again. I do love me some design porn!
Have any books to recommend to The Non-Consumer Advocate community? Please share your finds in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Design-wise, I love the _Not So Big House_ series of books. They seem to be a popular library item and have great ideas.
My favorite books are classics – they have stood the test of time for a reason! Middlemarch, for example, doesn’t seem to be that commonly read, but it’s truly one of the best novels ever written. Will make you laugh, cry, recognize yourself, and see that human nature hasn’t changed much in the last century and a half (though, fortunately, women’s choices have).
Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, Zola – there is so much about life and the human condition in these books, and you can typically pick them up at any library. Or if you like to take your time reading them, you can get copies for nearly free wherever college students jettison their stuff before moving on to bigger things.
And psst, if you dohave an e-reader – say, your beloved brother gave you one for Christmas – you can get electronic copies of many, many classics for free.
I just finished (and loved) The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, and am now reading Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard (so far this is really good).
My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock. In the same vein as Julie and Julia…easy, fun and heartfelt memoir.
I too am passionate about books and can’t remember a time when I wasn’t. And I have an ereader that my husband bought for me, gently used, on ebay. I was surprised and a little dismayed at first because I thought I wouldn’t like it, but I was wrong! It will never completely replace physical books in my life, but once I discovered Project Gutenberg, I was a believer. I have nothing on my ereader that I paid for, rather I have hundreds of classics–Dickens, Austen, etc. Since we plan to move to Ireland next year, the fact that I can have all of these books and not have to pay high shipping costs to mail actual books is wonderful. The other fabulous thing is that I have discovered all kinds of books that I never would have found in print–old mysteries and needlework books among them. I knit, crochet, and needle tat, and to find all of these cool old books is quite marvelous. These bring me lots of joy. So while I am still a regular at my local library (at the moment I am reading Reflecting on Miss Marple–an ILL book) and have stacks of books everywhere, I also have my trusty ereader and all the treasures it contains!
Shari, we are on the same page–Project Gutenberg is to die for! It is one of the best things the internet has brought us, seriously.
Katy, thanks for an exuberant post today about books. I loved The Help and recommended it to oodles of people. It was one of the only books I actually bought in 2010, because I really wanted to support a new author.
I haven’t read Bossypants yet – but will put it on the list. I too LOVED The Help.
I suggest reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Loved it too.
I read that a couple years ago. Also LOVED that book!
Katy
Loved it too.
n-thing the Guernsey book. It’s awesome!
I’m currently reading “Lullabies for Little Criminals” by Heather O’Neill. It’s very gritty and hard to read at times, but I’m loving it.
I’m still on the fence about e-readers. My husband has one that he loves so I totally see the pros to it, and living in a small town our library doesn’t have most of the books I am interested in (they can be ordered in but that takes weeks), but I don’t know if looking at a screen can replace the look, feel, and smell of a book.
I was really disappointed with Bossypants, it wasn’t as funny as I imagined it would be. I can’t quite describe what else I didn’t like about it. Just not what I expected from Tina Fey maybe?
I love to read, have really gotten away from novels to read non-fiction. I’m reading That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World We Invented–and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum – I am enjoying it so far and really need to make sure that I finish it this weekend and pick up book reading more than all the online reading that has taken me over lately.
I had the pleasure of having Tina Fey read her book out loud to me. That’s when audiobooks trump print!
Katy
I was thinking exactly the same thing as Jessica. I read it, and thought there were a few funny moments, but none that were laugh out loud. Guessing that hearing Tina Fey read it is a lot more enjoyable.
Tomatoland, in case you need convincing that growing your own is better for you and the planet.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle convinced me to subscribe to a CSA and stop eating meat at restaurants.
Katy – If you love Buffy as much as I do, you might want to check out the comic series. Season 8. Just sayin’. Not much time investment and but just enough Buffy love.
Really enjoyed “When Did I Get Like This?” by Amy Wilson. She has a funny perspective on this crazy life we live as parents.
I loved “Bossypants”! I read it aloud to my family on a road trip in August and laughed so hard I cried and had to keep putting it down to pull myself together.
I am enjoying the new Jacqueline Kennedy book (an oral history recorded after JFK’s death). It is rich with history and I think it reveals her intelligence and personality in a uniquely interesting way.
I also loved “Saving CeeCee Honeycutt”, a work of fiction that was both delightful and thought provoking.
I just picked up the new Jackie Kennedy book from the library and can’t wait to dip in to it! Don’t know what I’d do without the library. It has to do be the best use of our tax dollars ever!
Yep, libraries and snow plows. I don’t mind seeing my tax dollars used for those. And hospitals, schools, and such like.
I loved Bossypants! It was very funny, but also very smart and thought-provoking, which was awesome.
I have way too many book recommendations, and it depends on what you’re looking for. I started up a monthly linkup called Three Books on Thursday to recommend similarly themed books (most recent was “three books every couple should read”).
I’m kind of a book recommendation addict–I have a “want to read” list that is ridiculously long 🙂
I’m on a dystopian fiction run right now. After tearing through all three of the Hunger Games books, I read The Divergent by Veronica Roth and Wither by Lauren DeSteano both of which were FANTASTIC. Though they are labeled as “young adult” the writing was good enough for an audience of any age. Be warned though: Wither is the first in a triology….that hasn’t been finished yet! I read the first book and have to wait until February to read the next one! NOOOOOO!
P.S. I DO love my Kindle. And seriously, I am right and you are wrong 🙂
I also read several dystopian fiction books recently, but finally decided that I had to step away from the genre as I was starting to find them just too depressing.
Even so, I have to second your recommendation for The Hunger Games. This book is so compelling that it is inspiring books of commentaries and lots of conversation. My 15-year-old reluctant reader plowed through it in no time because he just wanted to see what would happen next.
Yes, The Help was well worth the wait at my local library.
I recently read Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. I heard her interviewed on NPR, and that got me interested. The book is about her friendship with another writer, Caroline Knapp. The story of their intense bond and of Caroline’s death from cancer at age 42, was very moving. From there I went in search of Caroline Knapp’s books. She wrote of her battles with anorexia and alcoholism, and her love of dogs, and was fearless about confronting her demons. The most honest writer I’ve ever run across. Her books include Appetites: Why Women Want, Drinking: A Love Story, and Pack of Two. I highly recommend both of these women if you want to dig deep. Many rich rewards.
Dear Katy-
I am also all about free-it confounds me why people must rush out to buy hardcover books or e-readers when the library is so handy. And coincidence! I am also listening to Tina Fey’s Bossypants and loving it! I told my friends that if you see me laughing hysterically while driving alone it’s because I’m listening to a great book and they’re just going to have to wait their turn at the library! My book club also read The Help last summer and we all thoroughly loved the book but I think I enjoyed it the most because I downloaded it to my iPod (from the library, natch). The reason I enjoyed it so much was due to the three narrators who brought the book to life most movingly. I encourage you to listen to The Help even if you’re already read it-it’s worth it! BTW-one of the rules I established for our book club is that every book selected must be available in paperback because I flat out refuse to buy hardcover books. As for the recommendations-I am very partial to the genre of books from a child’s perspective and highly recommend A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel.
I’m new to your blog and am really liking it-thanks for posting!
Katy, do you know you can download free e-reader software on your computer (kindle, nook, etc)? E.g. to get kindle software just go to Amazon and look for kindle for PC. This may not interest you, but can be useful for reading free e-books.
AH! I freaking loved Bossypants. It was the second book I read this year after I had a baby (I read the Sweet Valley Confidential book – brilliant if you ever read the Sweet Valley books, but otherwise pretty simple), and it was much needed. I had to stop reading at night because it was too funny and I could fall asleep!
I’m reading Memoirs of a Geisha now. Very slowly. But it’s great!
Here is the list of reasons I’ve compiled not to buy an e-reader.
It can get lost.
It can get stolen, or you might worry that it will be.
It becomes obsolete, and is one more piece of e-waste.
Eventually you’ll feel a need to upgrade, and it’s a never-ending cycle.
People have been reading books in their current form for centuries–it’s hard to improve upon such a wonderful design.
You’ll won’t be able to brag that you don’t have one.
There’s just something about reading on paper that is so much more pleasant than reading on a screen.
Hedonic adaptation.
More money exiting the American economy and going over to China or Thailand, or wherever they’re made.
You lose out on the anticipation that builds up when you have a book on hold at the library.
You won’t save money, because with it, downloads will seem so cheap, you’ll start buying them. When your current download budget is zero, it can only go one place, and that is up.
Tongue-in-cheek rebuttal:
You will anticipate e-books from the library. Most of the good stuff is already out and you have to put a hold on it, just like in print. But e-books return themselves so you save in late fines.
Books can get lost. You may worry about them getting stolen, especially library books, which you will then have to pay for.
I still buy kids’ books. Most of them are printed in China. Though I do support my local independent bookstore.
You will feel the need to buy another book. It’s a never-ending cycle.
Paperback books eventually fall apart, creating paper waste.
I have yet to pay for a download.
But seriously: paper is neither energy-efficient nor forest-friendly to produce. Most books these days are not beautifully designed or manufactured, they’re mass-market paperbacks, and I suspect many of them wind up in landfills, or accumulating as “stuff”. I’ll never give up books altogether, but much of what I read I have no desire to keep, or if I do, I want the information but not the object. The Kobo fits in my purse, weighs the same no matter how many books I have on it (and I can read thousands with one item)d, and is surprisingly comfortable to hold and to look at, which is more than I can say for many books. Love it.
I think I’m coming from the viewpoint of a person who never buys a book (or very, very infrequently buys used and resells, so the end cost is minimal), and stays on top of the due dates so basically never has a fine. So, I don’t really create waste. No one ever steals library books, but an e-reader left in a car might be a target. I’m not going to say no one should buy one, but I do think sometimes there is a knee-jerk desire to buy something just because they’re popular, when the status quo is working okay already.
If you are into picking up old furniture, be it from the side of the road, a thrift store, a relative or friend, what have you, at some point you may want to restore it or strip it down to its original finish.
If you are that type, you need to add a copy of “The Furniture Doctor” by Georg Grotz: http://www.amazon.com/FURNITURE-DOCTOR-George-Grotz/dp/B000NQ06DM Note the cover here is yellow but it’s likely faded to a tan background.
He has recipes for both application and removal of various periods of finishes and explains the evolution of furniture finishes. Also has a humorous chapter on paint removal and Lye dip vats.
It’s a very helpful guide.
I just returned from the library!
On my way in, I dropped off the following:
High Heels to Tractor Wheels [The Pioneer Woman] – looooooooved it
The Fates Will Find Their Way – did not like…did not finish
Here If You Need Me – quite uncharacteristic of my book choices, but I really enjoyed this memoir.
I picked up…about a half-dozen more!
Orange is the New Black – My Year in a Women’s Prison
Normal Gets You Nowhere
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Memory Collector
Still Missing
Object Lessons
How to Breathe Under Water
Good thing I’m taking a sabbatical from employment…hah!
One of the first comments mentioned a shelter book (The not-so-big series) and a classic. I want to mention a shelter book and recommend a classic: A new shelter book I’m interested in and not as expensive as some I’ve seen: Staying Put — Remodel your house to get the home you want by Duo Dickinson. Plus, I like the anti-must-move-up-to-bigger-and-better mentality. Though, I think the economy has sort of done a lot to stop that silliness. I can rarely get these kinds of books through ILL, especially when they are new, so I might buy it. I’d like to preview it first, so I don’t know. In the classic literature category: I finally read The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was simply splendid. I can’t quit gushing about it! What a master word-smith Hugo was! I hate most modern fiction, but my daughter has highly recommended The Help, so I might read it. I tried a light novel by a popular prolific author that my co-workers like but it was so trite I couldn’t stand it. I don’t even remember what it was but it certainly thought itself cute. Several months ago, I read Unbroken. That, too, was a superb book! Some of my favorite audio books have been Bill Bryson’s travelogs. He’s hilarious in print, too, but him reading his own works is a wonderful treat. I didn’t like his A Short History of Nearly Everything.