ze kindle, thus far

Thus far my experience with my Kindle has been absolutely great. I've stuck to my plan to check out things primarily from the library and wait it out and read other things instead of impulse buying everything under the sun.

I've read a ton, it's too easy not to spend the five minutes between putting my kettle on and making tea reading. I take it everywhere, it has become like a third arm, and I'm sure I weird out waitresses and bartenders with my incessant disconnecting.

Part of what's been great about it is I don't hesitate to checkout books I would never, ever buy in a store. Memoir about spoiler gossip columnist turned foodie, suuuure (Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky), book about distance running, okay (did not actually end up reading that one), but also I've gotten a chance to plow through memoirs and novels I've been dying to read for free.

So far I've read:
Elsewhere: A Memoir by Richard Russo (very good, very troubling)
I Feel Bad About my Neck by Nora Ephron (love her, love her)
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (a great escape into creep-fiction)
Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox (distance swimming, YES)
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by my idol Cheryl Strayed (amazing, I want to be her rebel niece or close confidant so so bad)

Now I've started:
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So‑Called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky
The Expats by Chris Pavone
and Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Soon to come: books about travel, books about Paris, books about midwifery, & books about film.

why I sold out and bought a Kindle

oh hai it's meeeee

If you've ever talked to me about your Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc. I have either silently or loudly judged you. I was born in 1990 and I've had a computer ever since I can remember. To me, having a device simply to read books seems weird. I have a laptop, I have an iPhone, I have what I need. Or so I thought!

I read a lot, or what I consider to be a lot, although I'm sure everyone else reads a lot more. In the last few years I've purchased dozens of books about all manner of subjects. Some I have read and loved (How to be a Woman, Spiritual Midwifery, Me Talk Pretty One Day, HARRY POTTER) and some not so much. I was given an Amazon gift card for Christmas and had been mulling over purchasing a Kindle for some time. I decided to take the plunge, ordered a Kindle Paperwhite and haven't looked back.

Thus far I've completed two books, which I'm about to review: I Feel Bad About my Neck and Gone Girl. I've started a ton of others and downloaded a ton of classical literature fo' free via Free for Kindle and Project Gutenberg. I've spent $7 on books (A People's History of the United States and A Cinema of Loneliness were on major sale) and bookmarked almost everything I want to read on the local library website, awaiting my turn to check them out for 21 days and read them with great fervor.

Will this replace my love of real, actual books? I don't think so.

♢♢♢

goals for a new year

1. write more - obviously this blog will help with that but I'd like to generally write a great deal more both longhand and on the computer
2. read more - I just compulsively ordered a Kindle Paperwhite when I discovered you can access thousands of literary classics fo FREE and read them in seconds. I mean, I will take months to read them, but I can download them quickly. I also will continue to read the BuzzReads list that everyone ever should sign up for right now.
3. swim more - I got Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer for Christmas in hopes that it encourages my swimming in the coming year
4. save more - I am one of those millennials who thinks savings accounts will populate themselves (not really) and need to get my act together in this new year! I want more adventures but first I need some savings
5. more adventures - traveling, food, experiences, etc. I want them all and I want them this next year.

That's it! I can probably do these things, and I hope I follow through.

things I was obsessed with in 2013

1. Making lists
2. Seeing great films (all star list here)
3. Bob's Burgers
4. Watching crappy tv on Netflix, more on that in a bit
5. Nail polish, all of the nail polish
6. Olive & mushroom pizzas
7. Trying to find out what I would rather be doing in life
8. Very recently, reading long form articles from lists Buzzfeed makes
9. Reading in general
10. Calligraphy and expanding my creative outlets

What were you obsessed with in 2013?

how to be a woman - caitlin moran

photo from here

I discovered Caitlin Moran at the local independent bookstore. I was intrigued by the cover of her book How to be a Woman and the idea that someone in 2011 had published such a guide. I didn’t know anything about Ms. Moran or her columns. I still haven’t read them except when quoted in one of her books.

Paris through books

On these cold winter days I love to curl up on my couch, covered in the flannel quilt I made in 8th grade and read and read and read (and sometimes watch The Darjeeling Limited like I am right now).

I purchased these two books, Kati Marton's Paris: A Love Story and Julia Child's My Life in France during a period of extreme wanderlust. I haven't traveled much since I started college and my dreams of galavanting through Europe really start to wear on me in the winter.

brain on fire: my month of madness - susannah cahalan

This summer I read several books, this book, however, will stick with me the rest of my life. Since finishing it in about two nail-bitting days I passed it around to four other people who had similar experiences with it — couldn't put it down, couldn't believe this actually happened, and will not soon forget Susannah Cahalan's story.

wild - cheryl strayed

My fascination with reading memoirs, autobiographies, and essays by strong women began in my second year of college when I attempted to read The Feminine Mystique (more on that later) after doing research on the first three waves of feminism. Since then I’ve become a frequent reader on the topic and enjoy discovering new amazing women to read about.