April Recap 2015

It has been one of those months where I didn’t read a lot but I did SO much from visiting Rockport, MA (photo to the right), releasing my fifth episode of Come Read With Me and staying super busy at work.

I could talk about all the amazing art and the numerous galleries we visited in Rockport, but what was the most exciting thing for me was we went into two little bookstores (Toad Hall and Bullseye Book, I only found a blog talking about a move three years ago here.). At Bullseye, I finally asked someone where they got the bags they use to store paperback books (bagsunlimited.com) and I ordered some for my Wuthering Heights collection and autographed books! (Pictures to follow in another post I’m sure.) What’s also cool about Bags Unlimited, is they have a lot of preservation items so I’m excited about that for my postcard and posters too!

Books and the Bookish
Something else happened this month that hasn’t happened before and it was a little unnerving. After reaching out to Perigee Books, an imprint of Penguin, about The Anxiety Toolkit, I’ve started to receive unsolicited books in the mail. This is really cool, but it was also a little daunting. My first thought was, “WTF is this, I didn’t order anything.” immediately followed by, “Oh no, I don’t have time for this.” but the publicist has been really great about it, so I’m not too worried. The next book/workbook How to Be Happy (Or at Least Less Sad), released next week was brilliant and I’ll talk about it on Monday! The photo is one of the illustrations in the book and sometimes that’s the sort of reminder you need in life!

This month I only read three books, which is shocking. I’m spending most of my time trying not to think about Goodreads telling me I’m five books behind! I read the above, plus Geraldine Brook’s Year of Wonders and the tome that is Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour, both of which were amazing.

Recent Acquisitions
This month I somehow bought five books, after thinking I only bought two. (I have a big grin on my face for mentally tricking myself! One, I knew I was purchasing because I pre-ordered it (Emma by Alexander McCall Smith); one I picked up because I picked up the pre-order and it was on remainder (Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. JameS) and I’ve wanted to read it forever; and the other two (The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald and The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates) were such good deals on Amazon Kindle I just couldn’t resist. The other book, below, is yet another copy of Wuthering Heights. I doubt I’ll hold on to this one long but it was kind of neat in that it was a boxed book and I do like the color of the box and book together and the silver gilted edges (yes I had to look that up). It was just neat and it was supporting a local bookstore so I figured why not get it, I might regret not getting it later.

What’s Next?
I have a bunch of books already lined up. Some are to try to make up the five books I’m behind on Goodreads, but some are because I’m gearing up to record another podcast and Jane Austen book club or for travel. I’m excited to finally read a work by Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and to discuss it with a friend and we’ll be conquering Persuasion this month for Jane Austen Book Club!