Some Shorts

And here I am, still sitting phoneless on the train :( With nothing else to do but review books, and I don't even have the list of books in front of me to review :( But I'm pretty sure, based on the last time I checked, that all I have left to review is miscellaneous non-review books :) So you're going to get some selected shorts - 

1) I reread Reb Aharon Feldman's book on marriage, The River, the Kettle and the Bird.  Nothing earth-shattering (there wasn't really anything the first time around either) but always very, very good to remind myself of the basics of communication and relationships, especially with one's spouse :)

2) I reread Sandition, which I have reviewed previously - still really like this book.  If I'm being picky, it's not Jane Austen, and it's pretty obvious when you're looking - I wouldn't say it's perfectly consistent plot-wise with the beginning of the book either.  But who cares, it's a *great* story, and quite well told.

3) I reread the Ordinary Princess, mostly because I wanted something fast (and maybe that I wouldn't have to review, not sure :)) As good as always (reviewed last year if you're wondering).  Not much depth, but then, it's a fairy tale :) and charming, charming, charming.

4) QED - also a reread, though one I don't remember.  I used to read physics books a lot, I should start again, I really kind of like them :) This is a very interesting one, since it goes into a lot of detail without going over my head (much :)) By the classic physics for the masses writer of course (well maybe not quite that, but a very, very good teacher from what  I understand :)) Richard Feyman.

Well that's all I remember for now, but if I remember more or somehow obtain my list (which was stored on my dead phone but maybe just maybe was connected with the account instead of the phone) I will add others.

Finally, a Non-Book Review Post :)

Wow. Thrill.  I'm sure you were wondering why I didn't visit the NY library yesterday (let's pretend you know I didn't :)) until you remembered - oh right, yesterday was Columbus Day.  So I couldn't get there till today, when I naturally hopped on the subway straight after work and restored your faith in my dedication to libraries (yes this was all facetious).  So of course I had to make the mistake of hopstopping to the central research library were I took the elevator to the 3rd floor and returned when I realized I could not, in fact, take out books from this building.  A helpful security guard pointed me two block down (short ones at least :)) to the Mid-Manhattan library, which I am fairly sure is the main circulating library branch.  It certainly looks like it :)

This library got me so excited that I didn't even wait to get home to write my post - I'm writing it in a notebook *by hand* on the F train - okay really I just needed s/t to do and I'm getting home late so this just seemed most expedient, but you should see how fast I'm writing - thoughts are just flowing... :)

So anway, the first thing  I noticed was the huge line waiting to check out - I mean it confirmed my suspicions that the NYpl is under provisioned for its citizenry but, wow, a lot of people read (or at least watch DVDs :)) in this city.  The long checkout line could be avoided by using the self-checkout, but apparently people don't use that here? Well I tried it and my card wasn't working, but I assume that's b/c it's brand new... but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

So the truth is, the fiction available isn't *that* impressive.  I looked first at the old books (not new) and most of them seemed quite... old.  Do they just get rid of their books when they're not new anymore?  The truth is, I think there were more books than at Towson (not EP central, they let you take out all the stuff back in stacks) and definitely a lot I've never heard of but cursory inspection is not enough to get a complete read.  I shall have to return for a more substantial inspection :) The more impressive display was the new books.  First of all, they had some of the new books I had to return to my library w/o reading, which made me happy.  Also, they had the new Gail Carriger that I mentioned earlier (the 3rd one) - and that one had a longer due date than the others - 3 weeks, not sure why.  Most interestingly, they actually have an express section! New books that can be taken out for a week only and I think no renewals.  That puts the pressure on the reader to be fast, but isn't that the coolest?  Means you get new books *fast*, even if you're not high on the reserve list.  Of course, I plan to be high on the reserve list as much as possible :) I have a bunch of things I'm planning on reserving tonight... as long as my card  works, please oh please! And I'm sure when I look through the catalog I'll find plenty of books I haven't been able to get a hold of in Baltimore (well, maybe a few :)) So I've got plenty to look forward to :) And one last thing - weeknight closing time? 11 PM.  Yes, you read that right.  Now *that's* how to run a library :)

Hey, Cool Note...

I've reached a milestone - if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will find a link to "older posts" - because they are not all on one page anymore! not baaaad :) (of course, this might be because it's a new month, but I prefer to think it's because I have enough posts (this will be the 36th, if I'm not mistaken :)) So thanks to all who made it possible (uh... that would be me, I suppose, at this juncture :))

Better, Worse, or Neither?

Haven't posted a non-book review post in a while and I thought of a somewhat book related topic last night... well it's actually more blog related, but close enough :) Anyway, I was reading through all my posts (yes I do love myself that much :)) and I noticed that recently, I've been giving everything a 3.5/5.  Well that makes sense, because I don't tend to read books I don't love, but unfortunately there are only so many 4s and 5s in the world.  But then I noticed that I gave The Harvey Girls a 3/5 - that's a 3/5 to The Harvey Girls and a 3.5/5 to Tears of Pearl and Robin Lee Hatcher's book! Not that either of those books wasn't good in its own way... but Harvey Girls was *at least* as good. 

I think I must have given it a slightly lower mark because it did not reach expectations, unlike Tears of Pearl, which exceeded them, and Wagered Heart, which met them handily.  So that raises the question, what do these ratings measure? I mean, ideally, I would want them to measure how much I enjoy a book... but that's not easy to answer.  First of all, that could completely depend on my mood - and it *definitely* depends on how much I'm anticipating it, what other people have told me about it, etc.  I think that's actually the number one thing I've learned from this blog (see, it's educational :)) - that expectations are a HUGE part of reading.   I seem to start almost every review with an intro of why I'm reading the book which is basically what I expect from it.  That's partly because it's a good intro, but it's also because that actually affects my review. 

So maybe it's the right thing to do, rating based on expectations... the thing is, I can't really help it.  I try to make my reviews and ratings as spontaneous as possible (I will admit to having thought about what I'm going to write before I write it (I've already started composing my Suite Francaise review, and I'm about 1/4 of the way through that :)) but I especially for the verdict section, I like to wait until the review's written before deciding.) So it all tends to be pretty spontaneous.

That brings up the question - is it worth something? well maybe something - in a way, it's a summary of the review - so I'd say you'll get a lot more out of the review.  Out of context, even the food verdicts aren't that accurate (I mean Nips vs. string beans... actually that's a really good way of comparing those two books - never mind, the food thing is totally brilliant :)) but the numbers are at least not to be relied on absolutely.  Basically, < is not transitive in book ratings :) (me showing off my computer science knowledge :))

But who cares? it's still fun!

Contest! (but don't enter it, I want to win - just kidding, just kidding :))

Well Lauren Willig is having a contest for a free copy of her next book, Mischief of the Mistletoe - to enter, just post your favorite fictional hero - how much easier can it get? :) (points for anyone who can guess my favorite... it's kind of the obvious one, kind of not :))
But anyway, apparently, there's another drawing for posting about the contest on your website... I'm posting! I don't know if it counts, since no one actually reads this (other than my darling sis and abg, and neither of them reads Lauren Willig (their loss!)) but... you  never know :)

                                              Oh, here's the link

Funny PS - I've been reading other entries and someone actually mentioned The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman! I cannot get over how everyone like the same books :) (I read this one like three times when I was younger).  But her other books were the kind of historical that's more drama and mystery than I can handle... or at least they looked that way to me, so I'm not putting them on my books to read list (not until I see them mentioned in a few more places at least :))

Getting Your Hands on the Good Stuff

Tonight you lucky viewers are getting a tutorial in obtaining the maximum possible number of books for the minimum possible sum.  I consider myself an expert in this field as I have been practicing since.... well at least since fifth grade.  I'm not sure how much earlier I became an active book procurer, shifting out of the passive reader mode.  Anyway, here's the lowdown.

There are two basic sub areas involved in this endeavor - buying and borrowing.  I'll discuss buying first, since it's less exciting to me (and I'm not really an expert in buying books at all - far from it).  So as everyone knows, used books are much cheaper than new books.  Used books stores are tons of fun, and they used to be the place, but it's been a LONG time since online has become the place to shop.   When I first read I Want To Go Home, I was desperate for my own copy. I called Barnes and Noble, they said they had a copy, then they said they didn't, so then I went on Amazon, where it said it would need 6 weeks to get a copy for like $70 or something.  So I gave up, and ended up getting a copy missing about 30 pages from my extraordinarily generous cousins, the Sp.  That was in fifth grade, but by the time I ruined Peryl's copy of Pride and Prejudice by leaving it open and upside down, I was able to find her a new copy on half.com - even though it was a one time publication from the Book of Month Club - with no ISBN! and now I have a gorgeous copy of P&P with tons of illustrations and a broken spine :) And when I decided to read Charlotte Lennox's the Female Quixote, and the library had no copy (this must have been before I became such a multi-card holder), I went on ebay and bought a copy for $.99 - totally worth it, even if I haven't read it since that first time in 10th grade (it's a good book though, I should reread it).

Of course, online book sellers come with a MAJOR caveat - witness this post.  *Shipping* I mean that book cost 99 cents, but I'm sure the shipping was a good $3.00.  And I spent $15 on 11 books - and another *$25* to get them here... I mean I'm pretty sure the sellers are making money of the shipping, but whatever, it still ends up being pretty cheap :)

But cheap is not free, and that brings us to my preferred method to obtaining reading material: borrowing! Borrowing from friends is nice, if you can find someone to lend it - you get what is often a nice copy for a potentially unlimited lending period. But of course, then you have to be careful with it (well the truth is, you always should be careful with books) and it's not easy to find someone all the time.  And besides, if you want a brand new book, you always have to wait on line.  So of course, the gold standard in free book borrowing is the public library system, that wonderful institution, that bastion of civilization, that paradisaical locale.

Here, too, the internet has been a great enabler.  When I first starting borrowing books - and don't even ask me how old I was - I don't even think the catalog *was* online... and some point, I discovered you could renew books online, and either earlier, later, or simultaneously, I started searching the catalog to find the books I wanted.  Of course, if your branch doesn't have a book, you can either reserve it, or even easier, just call and request it and they'll send it over.   That's for amatuers... slightly more sophisticated users know that you can actually reserve books when they are on order - these days, popular books can be reserved months in advance and obtained on the *day of publication* itself - today I picked up Lee Child's 61 Hours, which was ready for me yesterday... publication date? May 18.  And that's not even fast.  I've gotten Lauren Willig books the day they come out, Jasper Fforde, The Spellman Files... the only problem there is that it's not always predictable which books the library gets immediately - I have had to wait for a month! before a newly published book is available - and to a professional like me, that ranks as *unacceptable*

So how to solve? If I'm really desperate for a book I make sure to reserve it in *more than one library*.  And that's not more than one branch, it's another system.  I am the proud owner of 7 - and yes that's SEVEN - library cards.  Baltimore County is my library, Pratt is the Batimore city system that everyone uses in parallel, Prince George's County is where I went to school (at Maryland), Howard County is where I work (Columbia), Lackawanna County is for CL, and the other two are just for fun - DC, where I obtained a copy of New Moon when there was not *one single copy* available in the *entire* Maryland, and Frederick County, where they had a copy of the Reluctant Heiress *before* it came out - from it's original publication as Magic Flutes.  And I am using these stars because *I feel this is very important*.  If you make sure to hedge your bets, one or another place will get you what you need - lately, I've noticed that Howard County has been much better at on time releases than bcpl - I'm thinking of shifting... but I'm a little lazy to - for my VIBs, I'll need to though

A few more little tricks - renewing, obviously - bcpl now lets 2 renewals, for a total time out of 9 weeks :) if you have to return something, you can try to get them to let you take it out again right away... but I was unsuccessful with that the last few times I tried... The other thing you can do, which I just did, is get a book out from another library - I have return Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days next Friday, and I don't know if I'll have a chance to read it before then (I've got *a lot* on my list) - so I just picked it up from Pikesville today (original copy is from pratt) - now I just need to make sure to return the right copy :)

Oh, here's another one - ebooks! so you don't even have to leave the house - the library's selection is pretty limited, by I have access to 4 different OverDrive systems, which I have made occasional use of - definitely worth it when you want a quick and easy read :)

And for the real troopers... Jude Morgan wrote a new Regency, A Little Folly, which unfortunately has only been published as of yet in England.  I can buy a copy for $16, possibly - I only found that in some weird site, and on Amazon it's even more... but guess what? it's in the London library... and in the Brisbane, Queensland, AUS library as well.  So all I have to do is fly to Australia, somehow get a library card, and I've got everything I need! And of course, I'm going to Australia this summer... maybe :)

Hope you found this helpful - I doubt anyone made it this far into my treatise... but I'm always open for suggestions, questions, comments - and I LOVE helping other people get books

Happy book hunting!

Awesome P.S. to the Jude Morgan - I'm not really planning to buy the book even for $16 -  I don't think it's that good - but I wanted to find the website again to verify its legitimacy.... but I don't remember how I found it the first time - it wasn't by a standard search, I was looking for something specific.  When I went searching I found two things : 1) This blog shows up on PAGE 3 of the entries when the terms of A Little Folly Jude Morgan!!! so I am making my mark on the Internet :) 2) I couldn't find the website I saw originally, I remembered it had free shipping and there was nothing like that - there was one that offered one for $13 + $7 shipping (because it ships from the UK) - but not the original site.  so then  I tried to remember what I was searching for - for some reason, I thought it might have been the genre - though I've changed my mind, I don't think it was that after all -  I think I"m confusing it with a genre search I did for an AMS book. But anyway, the second or third result was for risky regency, which is the blog I've seen before, so I clicked on it - I'm easily distracted :) and ... it was a post about the books she wanted for the holiday season (i do feel more comfortable referring to it that way :)) and she mentioned that she got a lot of books from bookdepository.com and that sounded familiar so I clicked on it and.... THAT WAS THE SITE! how beyond weird and cool is that - and it's not like the post was even about A Little Folly, she mentioned she got some book on Napoleon there... so I think a worth mentioning coincidence, no? :)

How I Manage to Slack Off Even Though I Have Nothing to Do

Being that my life is incredibly busy (not really, I have one of the less frenetic lives I know of) I seem to be on pace to reading one book a week - which had BETTER pick up because I am way behind... want to hear the list?

So first of all, there are the books I just bought - two of them I've never read b/4 so they are up there on the to do list

1) Melissa Nathan's Learning Curves
2) Leanna Renee Hieber's The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

Then there are the two (hopefully two) books I am getting from S. Sp. *just* for the weekend - so that'll park that one right up

3) Wrong Way Romance - which I read I think by Michoel's bar mitzvah, but not since then
4) The Dog Who Came in From the Cold - new Cordoroy Mansions from AMC

Then I've got books from the library, in order of due date (or ultimate due date after I renew them)

From Pratt:
5) Bachelor Degree - chic lit, probably stupid
6) The Harvey Girls (I know, I know)
7) Book of a Thousand Days (suggested by abg on this very blog :))

These are due on Friday... and unfortunately I have a block on my card so I can't renew them - which leaves me in a rather unsatisfying situation.... the Central library closes at 5:00 tomorrow and I have to work until 6:00 because I am going to Chapman Lake for Shabbos and I'm planning to leave tomorrow night, if all works out...
so I am taking rather extreme measures - I have done some research (google maps) and ascertained the branch that will take me the shortest out of the way that is open till 8:00... Hampden Branch will take 38 minutes from work, to branch, to home with no traffic - so to Hampden I go! will pay my fine and renew my books, giving my another three weeks to finish... and will I do it? I, at least, am biting my nails in suspense :) I guess we'll find out one way or another within a month - so hold on tight!

That's pratt - from the county library I've got another... a lot

8) Tears of Pearl - the 4th Lady Emily by Tasha Alexander
9) The Vintage Caper - Peter Mayle's second novel - both of these are due 5/17 with one more 3 week renewal
10) Howl's Moving Castle
11) The House of Many Ways
12) Castle in the Air - these three are due 6/2 with one renewal (and no, I have not started them despite what posts from weeks ago may imply :))
13) Runaway - the third in the Airhead series by none other than... Meg Cabot (yes L&G, I do read such trash :))
14) Suite Francaise - I got this out before, but had to return it so I got it out again (really like the 4th time overall... but I'm going to read it someday, I will)
15) Writing Jane Austen - Elizabeth Aston's first contemporary novel
16) Wagered Heart - Christian romance by Robin Hatcher - due 5/28 with 2 renewals left

17) and besides that, I had to return Winter's Tale, but I'm planning on getting it out again next time I go to the library

so yeah... have bitten off more than I can chew,  as usual - but at least I've got plenty to read- and I'm actually looking forward to most of these :)

so lucky me

Tonight's Activity

Instead of hurrying up and finishing another book so I have something to review, I have been entertaining myself with another activity - luckily, it's book related, so I still have something to post :) Well I posted yesterday that Melissa Nathan wrote another book that I must get a hold of... unfortunately, not ONE library in the entire Maryland has a copy - I think it was only published in England, so that would explain it. Anyway, Amazon has a used copy available for $0.01 + $3.99 shipping, so I was contemplating buying it (not that I expect it to be that good, but 1 cent is pretty darn (sorry for the language) cheap. But then I started thinking, well if I get more than one book then the shipping will be less, so that's more worth it. So I started looking for Jude Morgan's new book, A Little Folly, which I know has so far only been published in hardback in England, and so is ridiculously expensive. And then I started looking for other books that I might not mind owning... other melissa nathan, that kind of thing. but then I decided to check the shipping policy, and lo and behold, on Amazon Marketplace, you *cannot* combine shipping - so every item is at least $3.99+...

so what to do? well I check bn's policy - the same - and then I went looking for other sites - and alibris lets you combine shipping! yay! so then I looked for The Learning Curve on alibris and they had it, but only for $1.49 cheapest and the store I wanted it from $1.99... but with combined shipping, would it work? I started looking for other books - georgette heyer, ella enchanted... s.b. helped me with some suggestions... The Ordinary Princess, which I've been thinking of buying... and then I started checked for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, which is a gothic Victorian mystery romance I've been meaning to read because it was suggested in a few places but which none of the libraries have either... and there was site with that one too...

so everything was going swimmingly, when I checked the shipping savings - $3.99 for the first book and $2.19 after that- but since these books mostly cost $2.00, it's basically the same thing as paying 1 cent + 3.99 so I'm back where I started... can't decide what to do - it feels cheaper to me to buy the additional shipping... but that's completely psychological, as it's actually more expensive... I think I'll go with that anyway...

really, I'm just going to go with the one with better books - and by better, I mean rarer - because what's the point if I can just get it from the library? no one has jude morgan's new one for a decent price, so for that I'll either have to wait till I can go to the library in australia (where according to the website, they do NOT give temporary cards, so that sounds like a no go) or I can wait till an edition comes out in the US or a paperback edition comes out that I can buy for cheap... so patience there :) but I definitely want the melissa nathan book and i think the leanna renee hieber book and also the ordinary princess and also sylvester... so I can now spend the rest of the night looking for a single seller on alibris that has all those... or for a bunch of 1 cent copies on amazon :)

or I could just buy $50.00 worth of stuff for alibris - then I get FREE shipping!

if anyone actually read and posted, I would naturally ask for advice and/or suggestions... but seeing how if all my viewers are lurkers (and don't worry, I'm grateful to you for just bringing up my view count :)) I guess I'll have to decide ALL BY MYSELF - more fun for me :)

Update: so after all that, I decided to buy The Learning Curve for .01 on Amazon, because none of the websites that offered it were particularly cheap... but then I got caught up in a cheap book frenzy and I ordered a bunch of .99 cent books from a company on alibris that was selling The Strange Case... for 1.99... and I got 11 books for $15.00 and then... I went to checkout . . . (accompanied by that let down music) shipping was $25.00... so then I decided, well why don't I try to get free shipping? so I went through and found tons of cheap books that I was mildly interested in and finally got my total up to $49.00... but it wasn't eligible... so then I took it back down to the original 11... but I kept all 11 - and with a $1 coupon code, 11 books for $14.00... plus $25 S&H - still that 11 books for $40 = 3.63 a book... so not bad -and cheaper than the .01 Amazon way :)

so what books did I just waste $40 on?
1) Leanna Renee Hieber - The Strange Life of Miss Percy Parker - because I can't find it in the library
2) No More Dead Dogs - present for my Mommy :)
3) Son of Interflux - s.b suggested A Semester of Life in A Garbage Bag and this one goes together with that one for me
4) A Semester of Life in a Garbage Bag (see above)
5) Ella Enchanted - been wanting that one for a while - definitely qualifies as a know by heart book
6) The Ordinary Princess - maybe not know by heart, but I've read it *a lot* and I like it more every time I read it
7) Sylvester- because you can never have too many Georgette Heyers (and I don't know why I didn't buy this one along with all my others anyway)
8) The Talisman Ring - see 7 (not the parens this time - I know why - it doesn't rank up there :))
9) The Nonesuch - see 8
10) April lady - see 8
11) Anne of the Island - I would already own this, but since it's one of a series, I was always kind of reluctant to buy it... but it is by far the most romantic so... :)

man, do i waste money... it's okay, it's only $40 :)

Well it's not a book but...

I think I worried about this enough to grant it that status :)

Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh

CLICK HERE

Interim Post - hang in there :)

So.. I know all you 53 viewers (or is it even more :)) are just desperate for new content... I am unfortunately rather preoccupied with my paper at the moment, but I will hopefully have time to read on Shabbos (though we are having very exciting guests, so  I guess we'll see...) but if all goes as planned, you should see a new post on motzei shabbos on at least one of:
A Winter's Tale - by Mark Helprin, one of these great American books but I think it'll be pretty good - I read the first two chapter last shabbos
Howl's Moving Castle - recommended by the crowd on badforshidduchim who inspired this blog in the first place (couldna done it without them :)) (not really) - so I got all three out, though I probably won't get through more than one
and... most exciting and most likely... The Double Comfort Safari Club (I think that's what it's called) the BRAND-NEW AMS that I got today and it was actually at the library yesterday, the day it came out! yay! anyway, I could probably write the review in advance... (see La's Orchestra for what my opinion of AMS) but I'll wait :)

Exactly who is viewing this blog? ...

so, i've noticed that the view count on this blog has reached an astonishing 53 views! Now, the question is ....

Who are you?!?!?!?

I know that Rochel put this link on the gg's, but I'm wondering who is still checkin this thing out so...
if you are reading this post, please make yourself known by leaving a comment.
thanks, the management

Brand New Books! (really, really new)

So... as some of you may know (that would be all of you,since I assume no one is actually reading this :)) I am planning on writing a book when I finish my paper (if anyone who knows me is reading this, I'm not 100% serious, so don't get either too excited or too freaked out). It's going to be fiction - obviously - but the plot etc. is  kind of (totally) up in the air.
I've been tossing around a character centered fairly serious kind of novel, based on the principle "write what you know" - not that I know much about character-drivenness, but i thought i could kind of basic on myself - after a lot of soul searching, naturally.  well that's still on the table, but tonight I came up w/ two more elements of a potentially GREAT book (probably not all the same book).

One is more of a setting thing - probably came to mind because I was thinking about Jasper Fforde's book about the color driven world - can't remember the title, but it's good - read it! :) and the two sequels, probably next one coming out next year i think... anyway, so my idea was to write a kind of world where all the things little children think are true actually are true - I had an example, trying to think of it right now... actually I probably had the example first and then I thought of the idea - whatever, this would definitely sound better if I could think of the example.... anyway, I imagine it as kind of Jasper Fforde or Terry Pratchett-esque - definitely on the light side

My second idea is slightly cheating, but I think it's be tons of fun to read- a human version of the lion king! - modern version - a boy from a political family whose father dies when he's young, a corrupt uncle, he runs away, learns life the hard way... and then comes back as a reformer who brings good back to politics :) - ugh it sounds like saccharine junk (actually not saccharine junk, I like saccharine junk - it sounds totally smarmy) but I think it could work - my problem is I don't think I'm capable of writing a good boy - it's hard enough for me to handle the generic girl/woman - so I thought maybe I'd focus on Nala - she's got a story too... of course if I plagiarize closely I don't know if it'd be publishable... hmm.... I think I'll worry about that when the time comes :)

so tell me... are you waiting with bated breath?


EDIT: this all sounds a little more serious and therefore a little more delusional than I intended - please don't think that I actually think I'm going to do this :) - then you can be totally surprised when I do...

Book Musings

Time for a change of pace... having dazzled you with my razor sharp critiquing abilities, it's time to treat you to a more philosophical bent - aren't you the luckiest? :)

Although book blogging is not the *most* unoriginal web journal genre (that would have to be people talking about themselves), it's definitely one of the more common ones.  Why? well there's a lot to say - there are a *whole* lot of books out there - and books are a source of common ground, as long as we read the same ones.  But I think the main reason is just that people love books - i mean I certainly love than more than most people do, or at least I love talking about the more than most people do, but the many amongst us (and we know who we are (the smart ones, of course :))) who enjoy reading generally like it a whole lot... so why is this?

Well I know why I like reading - and yes, it's a totally cliche reason - reading is an escape and an adventure.  It lets you live vicariously, do awesome things, be absolutely awesome and feel even more awesome than that.  For instance, when I read P&P, I get to be a gentleman's daughter in the 1800's, smart and with a sense of humor, with an upper-10,000 landed gentleman absolutely stuffed with goodness (and not too hard to look at either ;)) who loves me and whom I eventually marry. I mean seriously, what more could I ask for? (except for indoor plumbing, or course).  So that all makes sense, as far as it goes...

but does it go far enough? I personally know more than one person who does not absolutely adore P&P. (see post below).  I know people who don't even like fiction.  I know people who don't like books with happy endings.  What can I say? The world is a deep and unfathomable place.... okay, not really.  The truth is, there are some people who just love being educated, some people who love provocative discussion, some people who are entertained rhetoric (I mean come on, you love this blog, don't you? don't answer that :))... and guess what? there's something out there for everyone! so lucky you, as long as you're literate. if you're not... i'm deeply sorry...

and if you are one of those deep and unfathomable people who does not like P&P, I love and respect you, and wish you all the best - good luck finding another blog :)

So... what exactly have you stumbled onto?

Hello out there! I've been thinking about starting a blog for while - AS SOON AS I FINISH MY PAPER and it was going to be about my life, which may not be fascinating, but who cares, because no one is going to read this anyway, but I just got completely excited by a post on badforshidduchim.com (this one) so I am now going to be writing a book blog about whatever I'm reading or whatever other books i feel like talking about because I LOVE BOOKS - I just do. Anyway, I am NOT finished my paper, so I'm not really starting yet... or possibly ever... but since I'll do anything rather than my work... here I am posting :)

So what does the title mean? well if you don't know, I'M not going to tell you... okay, I'll tell you - it's a combination of two words - vellum and umpire. umpire is pretty straightforward I think - using it in the sense of mediator, used kind of in the sense of commentator... and vellum... well vellum is actually klaf, which I did not know till I just looked it up on Wikipedia but besides that vellum is important b/c.... do I really have to tell you? maybe you shouldn't be reading this... well okay, I'll tell you - "bound in white vellum" - now where's THAT ONE from? :) do I really have to tell you? okay, I'll tell you - describing the book of poetry by... Augustus Fawnhope. And if you don't know who that is, you REALLY shouldn't be reading this... but just to jog your memory, Augustus is a divinely handsome young man from the wonderful book The Grand Sophy - and I am REALLY not telling you who wrote that :)

oh and I just thought of another meaning... since the word kind of looks like vampire anyway (totally unintentionally) it can also mean that I'm like a vampire except that instead of blood I crave calfskin (and other varieties of writing material of course) - it's slightly vulgar, but it works, I think

EDIT: and even another one! could say vellempire - i may even like that better... like empire of books... my this name has lot of promise