Hello everyone! It has been quite a while since you have heard from me and I apologize about that. My next blog post will be a writing update and I will explain where I have been for the past couple of months.
I have been spending a lot of time in bookstores lately and that has only given me anxiety about all the books I NEED to read. Well…maybe need isn’t the right word but I have seen a ton that I want to read. So I am just going to tell you 5 books that I have bought and can’t wait to start reading.
1. Robin by David Itzkoff
I am a HUGE Robin William’s fan. I mean who isn’t? Well, when I heard of his death in 2014 I decided to go through and watch as many of his movies as I could. There are very few that I disliked but I was always really curious about how he got his success. I was lazy and never looked it up. Then when I saw that his biography came out I couldn’t wait to get it.
I don’t love biographies because I find the first couple of chapters are slow and then I put it on my bookshelf and I never pick it back up. I have a suspicion that that will not be the case with this one. I have read the first two chapters and I am HOOKED! Hopefully, it isn’t a tearjerking story.
2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
I walked into the bookstore with the intent of buying My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises also by Backman. I was in dismay when I saw that they were sold out. I started to look through his other books and this one hooked me from the first page. I find a lot of enjoyment out of stories where a person undergoes a huge lifestyle change because they make an unexpected friend. Even though I know what is going to happen, it just gives me comfort and makes me smile.
3. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
About five years ago I was introduced to a youtube channel called Crash Course. A man named Hank Green helped me learn chemistry. A few years later I was introduced to his other youtube channel called Vlogbrothers where he and his brother, John Green, make videos to each other. Ever since then I have loved anything the Green brothers put out. I have read all of John’s books and I am SO excited to read Hank’s first book.
I will admit that I have already read 40 pages of this book. I was struck by the dreaded head cold a week ago and in order to make myself feel better, I went to the bookstore. Books are a great cure for so many things but not so much for a head cold. My solution? I found a chair, grabbed An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and read until I had to leave. I had the hardest time putting it down but now that I own it, I will have a full book review soon!
4. The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald
One of my goals in life is to read everything by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have a long list in my book journal of all of his books and I am slowly working through it. (School work puts a real damper on my reading list). This is the next one on my list and it is different than anything else I have read by him. I have been focusing on his novels and this is a collection of essays. In high school, I read two biographies about him and his autobiography. So I have some background already of the path his life took. Those books focus on the success of his writing. This book focuses on his drunkenness, disaster of a marriage and his mental deterioration. I am so excited to learn more about my favorite author.
5. An American Dream by Norman Mailer
I started reading this book a couple of months ago and it started off a little slow. I was interested but I had no idea what to expect from Mailer. I read it off and on for a few days and then all of a sudden it began to get so good and I was hooked! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the book with me to university.
With most books I read, I choose them by either I have already read a book by that author or someone recommends it to me. Neither of those is the case for this book. One of my favorite TV shows is called Gilmore Girls and in that series, there is a whole episode that revolves around Normal Mailer going to a restaurant and ordering nothing but ice tea. Once I discovered that Normal Mailer is actually a famous writer I went out and bought this book because it was the only one the bookstore had by him.
Well, that a very small part of my to-be-read list. Leave a comment or like my page on Facebook @smalltownauthor and leave a comment there!
Quote of the day: “The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting”
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