Reading

Zach gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I love it now. I did not at first. At first, I was confused.  Upon opening the box, my reaction was something like, OH! oh. Ohh? Hm. So many mixed emotions. Did this mean the death of books? Was I crossing over to the dark side? Zach explained that it would be awesome for traveling because it is small, lightweight, and I'd always have something to read. That makes sense, but I was still wary of this little machine, this little destroyer of the publishing world.

Turns out, I love it and not in the fake, I love this sweater set you got me for Christmas because you're watching my reaction sort of way. I have come to love it. I wouldn't say that I am an ebook convert because I have not abandoned books, but now have another reading option. I love the dictionary function and not having to take out my phone while reading to look up a word (can you imagine lugging an actual dictionary around?). You just tap the word and it tells you. Genius. I love that you can have a new book within seconds.

I hate that you can so easily spend money (la di da, just pushing some buttons on my kindle, forgetting that this is hooked to my bank account, do de do). I have to figure out the whole lending part of it.

I love the kindle when I have an awesome book on it. I don't love it when I have an okay book on it or a boring newspaper article on it. Makes sense right? I suppose that is exactly how one feels about whatever reading material is in one's hands.

Recent books I've enjoyed:
*Molokai by Alan Brennert (heart wrenching)
*A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (hilarious)
*All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (gripping)

Recent books I have not enjoyed:
*Walden by Thoreau (too preachy, sorry T)
*The Fallback Plan by Leigh Stein (couldn't stomach the narrator)

Reading To Do list:
*The World According to Garp
*A Visit From the Goon Squad

I'm also looking for a good biography and adventure/travel writing (in the vein of Bryson or Krakauer, but not actually either one of them). Any suggestions?

I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign!

This either means the joke is over, or this is
the coolest kitchen supply store ever.

Grammar is a bitch. 

Energy juice targeted at kids for consumption IN SCHOOL!
This is the work of the devil.

Not sure why...

I wonder what this table was like under old management.
Probably pretty similar.

Who is to say what's reasonable? A pint glass of Makers?
A manhattan? Rail vodka?

One of these adjectives is not like the others:
Elegant, provocative, latex

You go ahead with your bad self, Hawaii.
I'm all for day drinking, too. 

I first thought this was an anti-smog ad. 

Fair enough.

Denver love/hates exercise groups

And now for the cherry on top:

Book Pile

After the shelves are full and before another bookshelf is purchased/constructed/jerry-rigged, a thing called the book pile emerges. One of my favorite book piles was (is?) the one that lives on my friend Jamie's floor. She sent me the list of titles from her pile, which I saved in my inbox and still refer to when I'm looking for a new book to read. My book pile is currently all to read and none have read. It is quite exciting and a source of motivation. 

I have yet to make much of a dent in my book pile because I am in the process of reading Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. Both Zach and Jamie (the most enthusiastic of my reading friends) say it is the best book they have ever read. The thing is a beast. Big words. Long sentences. Mega descriptive. I downloaded a dictionary app on my phone because I come across words routinely that I don't know. After taking a month off, I am about a third of the way through it and the multiple plots have become increasingly interesting and often really good, but have yet to show any signs of coming together. It is a bizarre experience reading, enjoying, sometimes not following, spending days in the footnotes, not yet being blown away, but knowing that it will be satisfying to see through. I say bizarre experience because I don't usually continue reading a book that I find even a little bit boring or frustrating. I am in new territory.

I've also been keeping a list of words that I don't know and have had to look up while reading this past week. I'm going to share them. Don't judge. I should know redolent. 


assiduous- Constant in application or attention
sedulously- Persevering and constant in effort or application; assiduous
verdant- green
redolent- Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of (something
prescient- Having or showing knowledge of events before they take place
tumid- Swollen (body part), pompous (ego)
aegis- protection
preternatural- Surpassing the normal or usual; extraordinary
strabismic- A visual defect in which one eye cannot focus with the other on an object because of imbalance of the eye muscles. Also called squint.
dirigible- able to be steered or directed
paucity- scarcity; dearth
junket- A trip or tour, especially one taken by an official at public expense


On that note, I'm going to go read.