i don't read, but when i do... i do it cheaply

i would think most grad students would tell you the same thing, " PAAAAHAHHAHAHAH, AS IF I HAVE TIME TO READ BOOKS... MY EYES ARE BLEEDING FROM READING JOURNALS!" 

that's not really a good excuse, and obviously it hasn't always been my excuse, but i am essentially a non-pleasure-reader.

but sometimes... sometimes i feel like reading something without graphs, but i am RIDDLED WITH AN INABILITY to make choices/decisions when it comes to book (yes, i had to yell that).  i have literally stood in a chapters for 2 hours reading jackets and backs of books trying to decide.  i make up criteria (i will buy a best-seller!, or i will buy a classic!, or i will hunt for a book i can relate to in the stacks!) but i always end up walking up to the same table 6 times to look at the same book and the result is always the same... "oh, i dont' know... what about that other one i saw?" (runs over to area just in and re-looks at book, repeat). 

so i have a strategy i employ.  i sort of picked it up from my grandma, who was/is the most well-read woman i knew/know.  it was just one of the ways she got books to read...

i go to the bookstore and head straight for the bargin bin.  i pick 3 books and WALK OUT (after paying).  they only cost $3.00 so if it's a stinker and i made... heavens... the wrong choice, i don't feel so bad.

i thought i'd share some of the choices i've made through this method.  NONE OF THESE are high-society books that will win pulitzers, but they're not chicken soup/diary of a's/shopoholics either, okay?  ew.  but remember the point here, they were all under $4.00... no pressure!

GOOD:  "Little Children" by Tom Perrotta  the movie, which i watched a couple years afterward, is AWFUL, but the book... i was unable to stop reading for some reason. it's essentially about what happens when you realize you're living a life-style that you used to be against and sucking at it (ie, being a shitty stay-at-home-mother of a toddler in the suburbs).  obviously, an affair ensues.

SO, SO BAD: "The Ledge" by Blanaid McKinny.  i hope the author never sees this, but seriously i felt angry at the end that i had read it.  it really had potential, but when it was all said and done, NOTHING HAPPENED.  isee that chapters is now charging $1.00 for this book.  says it all.  how do i even describe this????  i don't, it's a bad book, don't read it.  my description will only make it sound interesting.

GOOD-ish:  "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon.  I know a lot of people were mental over this book, and I enjoyed reading it, but you know... I wasn't crazy about it or anything. told from the perspective of a young austic boy who's mother has blown town.  at first it was really charming reading as though he were writing it, but then i started to feel really confused, because he wasn't giving the correct details of the situation and i couldn't figure out what was going on.  I GUESS THAT WAS THE POINT, but still.

GOOD:  Finalist in the Man Booker Prize:  "Astonishing Splashes of Colour" by Clare Morrall.  Based on the cover and title I totally thought this was a book about a little old black-lady who was struggling to find equality in society.  A little disappointed when I found out it wasn't, but all-in-all a good book about how bat-shit crazy you can go when your baby dies.  I hate to cry as much as the next person, and this book is sad, but not like that.  It's good.

FAVORITE CHEAPO BOOK EVER:  "The Roald Dahl Omnibus" by Roald himself.  Full of a ton of twisted little short stories by my favorite children's author, although these aren't of the children's story variety.  In fact, several of them were published in Playboy, no lie (although they don't scream Playboy... more interesting "what-ifs" rather than "i'm trying to look at naked ladies so i can have a happy ending").  Love this book, and I will treat it nicely from now on (I have previously dropped it in the tub on more than one occasion). 

Comments

[so pauvre]

i'm the worst at reading. i have maybe read like a dozen books in my lifetime. i made it through high school on coles notes and movie versions... wonder why my career in book publishing failed?

[punchanella]

yea, that's irony. look it up.