We Are Men of Action, Lies Do Not Become Us.

So, I came back from North Carolina safe and sound... like a month and a few weeks ago. It was lovely and relaxing, and I learned about myself. And then I worked for all of July and then 2 weekends ago I went to Long Island. I visited a friend and we drove all around and talked and watched Sherlock (some things never change) and I learned about myself. I also took this picture.

 

That is 1 (one) house in the Hamptons. On the other side of that house is the ocean. It was a gorgeous house and one that I could easily fit all of my family and friends (and probably a few of their families as well) inside of. To stop myself from going completely crazy, I imagine that at least 15 people live there at any given time. If, by chance, the person who owns or lives in that house sees this blog and gets annoyed that I posted a picture of the top of their huge house on the internet, I'm letting you know now, I will gladly remove this picture from my blog post if you let me stay in your house for a few days. It's so big and I am so tiny, you wont even notice me.  I could even stay in the winter when you probably aren't there anyway. Just a thought. 

I have been so blog-neglectful, I don't even know what to say really. If this blog were my child, it would have been taken away by child services ages ago. In an attempt to prevent that from happening, let me write a list of potential future blog ideas (knowing full well, I'll only come back to them if I really have nothing to write about or stay un-busy):

• How I am frighteningly similar to Lumpy Space Princess and how so many people in my life are like cartoon characters.
• How 80% of the time I think writing a blog is totally silly in the first place in much the same way that I think writing a diary is silly (they are both things that I want to be able to do and keep trying to do and then I call them silly when I manage to do neither consistently.)
• Weddings!! (exclamation points here denote equal parts excitement and terror. Note: I am not getting married, nor will I be in the forseeable future. All potential wedding related blog posts will be about upcoming weddings to which I have been invited. The danger and likelihood of  such posts going back to nil once September has passed.)

That should be quite enough to be getting on with. Oh, but, since I am so behind the times, I feel like I also have to mention something about (the Olympics, Batman, New Singles from The Killers and Mumford and Sons, Republican Running Mates, The Hobbit being three movies instead of two, and that new J.K. Rowling book.) Man, crazy business, right?

XOX

Currently Reading: Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon & Alex and the Ironic Gentleman by Adrienne Kress

P.S. This post had nothing to do with Princess Bride. Sorry, that's my favorite quote from the film, and I have no other reason for posting it.

The ravings of a deranged bibliophile (bibliophibian?)

Things that take up too much time that I don't have:

• ironing
• eating
• blogging
• the internet
• work
• writing
• reading

I can only do so many of these things in a day. And I don't get paid to do the ones I really want to do, so instead I have to cut back on doing them so I can eat and iron and be ready for work. So that I can get paid. Life is dreadful and confusing.

I'm having to come to terms with "giving up" on a book for the first time in a long time because 1. it is a library book and 2. other things (see: EVERYTHING FROM THAT STUPID LIST UP THERE) are preventing me from finishing this book. Yes, even other books. Because working at a library is a temptation the likes of which I have never experienced before. I used to think toy stores and book stores and ice cream shoppes and boys were all bad, but that was before I became a librarian. I can get any book in the state of Maryland. Any book I want. I dare you to try and stop me. (Power like this should never be given to a deranged bibliophile. I literally love every book. And now have means to get to them. It's a dangerous time for books everywhere.)

This is my life. Real and true. (www.wondermark.com)

I've started referring to things like this as "librarian problems." But I'm sure I need to develop a more general term for it. For now, I'll have to settle with "crazy book people problems"

Time to go iron and eat and get ready for work.

XOX
Emilia

Review: Why We Broke Up

First of all, I need to preface this by saying that I really love Daniel Handler's writing style. It's one of the best most fluid things I've ever experienced. He leads you into a character's thoughts and actions with this wonderful almost stream-of-consciousness style of verbs and adjectives and nouns that is absolutely a pleasure. You get glimpses of it in A Series of Unfortunate Events, when the narrator will go on a bit of a tangent, but in Why We Broke Up it is the main method of exposition. And I love it. And if you don't love it and can't get over it, then you should go away because there's nothing I can do for you here.


I wish I had read this book when I was still a teenager. It is really the perfect coming of age story, and more than that, it is a perfect story of a person discovering herself, which is something people can and should be doing at any age. To talk about any specific parts would almost be giving it away; besides, it all flows so beautifully, why would you want to spoil it? I will say this: the way the main character Min handles herself, she is accessible to anyone at any age. Of course, the scenarios and experiences she has are relevant to anyone who ever went to high school or fell in love or was abandoned or abandoned someone else. If you haven't done any of those things ever you should probably reassess your life or get off the internet or something. Anyway, Min is a wonderful mix of insightful and foolish and her diatribes and discussions are really enjoyable. You know how the story ends when it begins, but the way you're drawn through it is an incredible testament to strong characterization, writing style and conceit. 


Each "chapter" starts with an illustration by Maira Kalman of an object in Min's box of things that she kept during her relationship with Ed. And Min chronicles each object and its part in the tale of why they broke up. Instead of being vignette-ish, these objects work chronologically to paint a complete picture of a relationship gone sour in ways that are both predictable and heart-wrenching. We all make mistakes, and often, we make the same mistake: the mistake of not being able to see what's right in front of us and eventually discovering it. Sometimes the thing we missed works to our detriment, and sometimes to our benefit, and that is part of what Why We Broke Up was about. 


I also really would like to leave quotes from this book all over this review because they're so good. But I don't want to spoil anything (like I said) and pulling things out seems wrong. You need the whole flow to get the power of the emotion behind it, so I'll give you this one instead: "Chestnuts in stuffing tastes like someone chewed up a tree branch and then French-kissed it into your mouth." This is true and not a spoiler. Everyone should be warned.


Read Why We Broke Up. Really really do. You should check it out at your local library. Or come to my local library and check it out from me. I'm returning my copy today, so you can have it then. And then we can talk more about it once you've read the end.

XOX

Reading next: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (I couldn't help it. I sat at the circ desk at the library for at least 45 minutes reminding myself that I had told my brother I would read World War Z so we could talk about it, but the cover of this book is so appealing, and guys I seriously judge books by their covers... It enticed me, and now I'm here reading a book about teenage Victor Frankenstein instead of one about our apparently inevitable zombie doom. Oh well.)