I Love Books!

Today I stopped by Barnes and Noble to look for a book I’ve been on the lookout for: The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket. I’ve wanted to read it since I finished “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and every bookstore I’ve gone to hasn’t carried it. I think I’m a little late on the uptake because I haven’t been able to find it but I went ahead and ordered it on Amazon today.

While walking through the bookstore, however, I (re)realized how much I love reading. I browsed through the Teen Fiction and the New Releases and wanted to read EVERYTHING. Some days I just want to lay out all the books I want to read and pick up on at random, read it till I’m tired of it and then pick up another one, and just keep doing that till my head is so filled with stories, my brain melts.

I’ve always loved reading but my reading inspiration came from Rory Gilmore. Yep, the fictional character from Gilmore Girls who loved books more than anything else except her mother. I always loved how Rory was a good role model for girls. She didn’t engage in the boozing and sex that most TV shows display but instead, she loved reading all she wanted was to get into a good college.

Yesterday, I took a day off from the computer. I did it without even really realizing I did it. I just didn’t want to spend the time starting into the screen all day and it was liberating. I got through two of the books in my Blue Bloods series (I’m a sucker for teen fiction, what did I tell you?). And I didn’t have a headache at the end of the day. Sometimes I just get headaches from staring at the screen for too long. I vow to take more computer-less days and more days to enjoy reading!

Ellen DeGeneres vs. Lemony Snicket

Continuing with my summer reading list, I have two books in this post. I was in the middle of reading Ellen DeGeneres’ book “Seriously…I’m Kidding.” I thought it would be a fun read after reading Mindy Kaling’s “Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?” and Tina Fey’s “Bossypants” – kind of keeping in the genre of reading memoirs of comedic celebrities. Unfortunately, the humor and jokes were pushed a little bit too much in every section and it made it a bit hard to read. For example:

“Laugh. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh until you cry. Cry until you laugh. Keep doing it even if people are passing you on the street saying, "I can't tell if that person is laughing or crying, but either way they seem crazy, let's walk faster." Emote. It's okay. It shows you are thinking and feeling.”

But imagine that for everything single line of every single chapter. It just got tiresome to read and even though she has some really interesting stories and great lessons, it’s just hard to pick through all the fluff to finish the book.

As a result, I put that book down and I picked up “Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography” instead. It’s a companion to “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” a series that I loved reading and just re-listened to on audiobooks. Snicket’s series is really interesting because it actually incorporates the author (who is writing under a pseudonym) into the story. Revisiting the series really brought a lot of story elements to the light and the website http://snicket.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page really helped me understand a lot of things I missed as well. “Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography” is a relatively quick read and helps to fill in gaps in the original series. It is comprised mostly of transcripts and photos and reads like a scrapbook or a secret file.

My next reading venture is “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich. He’s best known for his nonfiction works that explore gambling and poker. His most famous work is “Bringing Down the House” which was adapted into the movie “21.” “The Accidental Billionaires” was adapted into the movie about Facebook – does “The Social Network” ring a bell? After beginning the book, it really reads how the movie plays out. I’ll update you more on my reading ventures as the summer progresses!