My Library Book Sale Experience

  For the last few years I have volunteered at my local library's book sale.  The sale has a permanent location, in the lower level of the branch library, and because it is shelved almost like a "real" library I find that it is one of the more organized sales I've attended.

  My duties vary as needed, from calculating the customers' purchases to tidying up the shelves and helping people find what they are looking for.  In both cases I love observing how people act at the sales.  You get dealer types with their little handheld devices that they use to scan the books (for what I'm not sure), teachers looking to build up their classroom libraries, and avid readers picking up a favorite author's backlist titles. 
 
  My inner bibliophile kicks in too, and I'm always interested in seeing what types of books people read.  I admit to being a bit of a book snob, and when I see people loading up on James Patterson books or those of similar type robo-authors, I do judge them a little bit (in my mind only!), but when someone comes to the checkout with some books that interest me, I immediately want to talk to them and discover why they've picked these books (I've also been known to hand-sell books at the sale). 

  I'm not involved with the year-round planning that goes into the thrice-yearly sales, but I'm sure it is no small undertaking.  The few hours that I put in can be tiring, especially when I'm reshelving books, but I really do enjoy it.

  I just put in my shift at the sale yesterday, and one of the perks of volunteering (well, THE perk) is that you are given $5 credit for books.  Yeah, it's not a lot, but that amount can be stretched when you're talking used books; and besides, given that it is a charitable cause they don't even have to do that.  My shift involved tidying the shelves and re-shelving books, so I had a lot of opportunity to browse.  Here is what I picked up:

  The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
   The Clumsiest People in Europe or: Mrs. Mortimer's Bad-Tempered Guide to the Victorian World edited by Todd Pruzan
  Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose (Zohar at Man of la Book just mentioned this one in his Veterans' Day post)
  Collected Stories by Saul Bellow
  The Twins by Tessa De Loo
  Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
  Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (this is in immaculate condition!)

Total cost to me:  Free!  (actually, it was $1.75 but one of the other volunteers hadn't used up all of her credit so she gave it to me).  Not bad for a few hours of work :-)

Lest We Forget

  For some reason the holiday that makes me most proud of being Canadian (even when I've been an American citizen for 3 1/2 years) is Remembrance Day.  Canada's participation in world conflicts have been relatively small, but the sacrifices made were no less significant, especially in the two World Wars.  Only until maybe 15 years ago the day was almost sacred in my hometown of Winnipeg -- virtually everything was closed and the only items you could legally buy on that day (if you could find a store that was open) was milk and bread; and even today there are place names in the city relating to the First World War.

  Even as a kid I think I grasped the solemnity of the day.  It was always a day off of school, but on November 10th there was always a school assembly with a veteran or two talking about war.  Then the Last Post was played prior to a moment of silence, which to this day still makes me weep. 

  Remembrance Day was initially established to honor the Armistice that ended World War I and pay respect to all of the victims of that conflict, and it has continued as a tribute to all who have fallen for their country. 

  One of the other constants in the Remembrance Day commemorations of my youth was the recitation of the poem In Flanders Fields.  I can still recite this poem by heart, and even though I perhaps didn't fully understand it then, I read it every year and thank all of the veterans then and now who have given so much for all of us:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

You are Not so Smart

You are Not so Smart:  Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself by David McRaney

Published:  2011 by Gotham Books

Source:  Received from the Publisher for Review

  Here's a newsflash:  it turns out that I am not so smart.

  Upon reading David McRaney's book, I discovered a few things about myself, some of which I might not have wanted to know.  He describes 48 different psychological principles that we all experience and which give us the illusion that we are always conscious of what we are doing.  For example:

1. Apohenia -- My niece and I share the same birthday.  Coincidence?  Sure. Meaningful?  Just to me (and hopefully her, but she's only 5 and right now birthdays are all about her as it should be)
2. Dunbar's Number -- I have over 500 followers and followees on Twitter (@bibliosue if you don't already follow me!) but I regularly interact with less than 10% of that group. 
3. Procrastination -- When I add foreign films and documentaries to my Netflix queue I feel so smart and cultured, but when push comes to shove I either keep moving them down the list to get something more popular or I let the DVD sit in its sleeve for a week before giving up and sending it back unwatched.

   Of course once I read about the principles they make perfect sense, but because I now know that I am not so smart it will not prevent me from experiencing them; but I will be aware of them.

   At times I found the narrative to be a bit heavy with details of the various experiments used to prove these principles, but they are necessarily included to show their effects.  Apart from that I found You are Not so Smart to be an interesting and entertaining read and a book that I think could make for interesting discussions with the right book group.

  The publisher has provided a copy of You are Not so Smart to giveaway to a lucky commenter (US and Canada only -- sorry!)  Please leave your e-mail address in your comment and on Sunday November 13, I will randomly select a winner and contact them by e-mail.

  Thank you to TLC Blog Tours for allowing me to participate, and be sure to check out the other stops on this tour:

Monday, October 17th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, October 18th: Simply Stacie

Wednesday, October 19th: Luxury Reading

Thursday, October 20th: Girls Gone Reading

Friday, October 21st: Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, October 24th: Overstuffed

Tuesday, October 25th: Today’s Path

Wednesday, October 26th: Unabridged Chick

Thursday, October 27th: 1330V

Tuesday, November 1st: Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Wednesday, November 2nd: He Geek/She Geek

Thursday, November 3rd: Acting Balanced

Monday, November 7th: Bibliosue

Wednesday, November 9th: EvolutionYou.net

Thursday, November 10th: A Bookish Affair

My Bookworm Santa Wishlist

Well, Halloween is over, and here in the US Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but the stores are already full of Christmas merchandise.  I admit, I have been listening to a little bit of Christmas music (I have a little bit of an obsession with Michael Buble and his Christmas CD is just awesome!) but I usually don't get into the true spirit until the first snowfall.

But .... in browsing my google reader this morning I saw Judith @ leeswammes post about some Secret Santa exchanges going on in the blogosphere so even though it's not yet beginning to look a lot like Christmas, I'm getting started on the season.

Despite my disappointing experience with a Secret Santa exchange last year,  I am going to participate in the My Bookworm Santa exchange hosted at The Magic Attic.  And here is my wish list for Secret Santa:

1. Winter:  Five Windows on the Season by Adam Gopnik
2. The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
3. Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy
4. You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik
5. The Jewish Husband by Lia Levi

It's going to be exciting to wait for the mailman and see what treasures await!

2012 Back to the Classics Challenge

  I was not successful in completing the 2011 Back to the Classics Challenge, but I am ready to take on the 2012 Challenge, once again hosted by Sarah Reads Too Much.  I was new to the whole challenge thing this year, and I think I was too ambitious, but this year I am going to be SMARTER (ha). 

  Here is the list of categories and the books I tentatively plan to read:

 Any 19th Century Classic:   Moby Dick


Any 20th Century Classic:  1984

Reread a classic of your choice:  Pride and Prejudice

A Classic Play:  Macbeth

Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction:  Frankenstein

Classic Romance:  Persuasion

Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your language:  Doctor Zhivago

Classic Award Winner - To clarify, the book should be a classic which has won any established literary award:  The Diviners (it won Canada's Governor General's Award in 1974 -- does that make it a classic?)

Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime:  Heart of Darkness
 
 
Several of these books are on the schedule for my library's classics reading group in 2012, so that will make completing the challenge a little bit easier!

Top Ten Tuesday -- Books Evoking Strong Emotions

The meme Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. 

  I haven't participated in this meme in a while but this week's topic -- Ten Books that caused a strong emotional reaction -- got me thinking, so here is my list, in no particular order:

1. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  There were several times in the book where I felt like I was punched in the gut. 
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.  I closed the book, thought for a minute, and just sobbed.
3. The Department of Lost & Found by Allison Winn Scotch.  I read this not long after my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and of course the story wasn't exactly the same but many parts of it hit home for me (ps Dad's been in remission for 3 years!  Woot!)
4. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.  I find it hard to say I hated a book, but this one comes really close.  There came a point where I wanted to throw it against the wall because to me it got too unbelievable.
5. I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry.  His essay about getting a colonoscopy is hysterical, especially if you have gone through one yourself.  I laughed so hard I cried, both reading it the first time and reading it to my husband.  (The vasectomy piece is also very funny).
6. Room by Emma Donoghue.  Who wouldn't have an emotional reaction to what Jack and his "ma" had to endure, both in and out of the room?
7. How to Be A Canadian by Will & Ian Ferguson.  A very funny book about all of those quirky things that make Canadians (even expats like me) the way they are.
8. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Both of these books made me mad at the injustices Black Americans suffered in the not-so-recent past. 
9. The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.  These books, in different ways, changed the way I think about food and put me on the road to becoming a vegetarian.

 

November's Reading List

  Well after a fairly slow start to October I did manage to finish the month with a better sense of accomplishment.  I still don't think I read as many books as I normally do in a month, but I felt I got my reading "mojo" back.  Let's hope it continues through November, where the cooler weather makes curling up with a book the ideal form of relaxation.

  What will I be reading in November?

  For Reading Groups:

• A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
• The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

 For Review:

• Hamlet's BlackBerry:  Building a Good Life in the Digital Age by William Powers (I did finally start this one and will have it done & reviewed in November - I promise!)
• Falling for Me:  How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Travelled to Seville and Fell in Love by Anna David
• Stasiland:  Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder

Readers' Poll:

• Fiction:  When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
• Non-Fiction:  Would you believe there was a 3-way tie?  I think I'll start with In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, and if I have time I'll pick up Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and The Checklist Manifesto

I'm starting to look out for challenges for 2012 -- if you see any that sound interesting please let me know!

What will you be reading in November?