Musing Monday: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just muse about one of the following each week:

Describe one of your reading habits.
Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

On GoodReads

 So last week I had a job interview. It went well, but I also left with the unfortunate feeling that they were really looking for someone with more experience. Feeling a bit low, I hightailed it over to my local library so I could bask in the glow of book-y goodness.

I ended up checking out three books. I already finished The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - which I thoroughly enjoyed although I'm not sure I feel compelled to read the rest of the series. And now I'm reading The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker.

I picked this one off the shelf because of... you guessed it. The title. It's so intriguing! It sounds exactly like the kind of fantasy I'd enjoy.

The book starts out with an erstwhile English grad student, Nora. The man who just broke her heart is now engaged to someone else. Her dissertation is going nowhere and her adviser is increasingly annoyed with her. And she's been invited to a friend's wedding that she doesn't really want to go to... She goes - and ends up wandering into another world.

Soon she's entrenched in a world of fairy-like people who seek to use her for their own devices. She manages to break free and seeks out a magician who might be able to help her..?

That's as far as I've gotten. So far, I'm loving this book. The language is superb. The fantasy world is deliciously dream-like. And for the most part Nora is a sympathetic main character without being too whiny. It's easy to see myself in her, and I always enjoy that in a story where we shift from reality to fantasy and back again.

I'll give my full opinion when I've finished!

Musing Monday: A home without books is no home at all!

Musing Mondays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just muse about one of the following each week:

Describe one of your reading habits.
Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Last week I mused about how I am a "messy" reader - and got some interesting responses. It seems a lot of people fall into extremes with their reading style, either being messy like me or neat as a pin like my dear BFF.

This week, I think I'll continue to muse about my reading habits. After all, the best part about a blog is talking about yourself!

Reading Habit #2

Before I talk about my reading habit, I think we need some background information. Because not only do I think a well-worn book is a well-loved book... I also think a house that looks more like a library is the only kind of house for me. Fortunately for me, my boyfriend agrees! Our house currently has six standalone bookcases, and at least five shelves on other pieces of furniture that I have turned into bookcases. There are regularly piles of books on both coffee tables, both of our nightstands, the filing cabinet in my office, the end table in the living room, and sometimes the kitchen table.

Of course, we spend a lot of time in the Barnes and Noble cafe reading books we don't own as well.

 ...we own a lot of books. I counted all of them when we first moved in together (and actually took them all out of boxes) and we had four hundred and some odd books. That was three years ago. Since then, we've moved into an actual house and managed to rescue nearly all of the books that remained at our respective parents' houses. I wanted to count our new collection when we put up the bookshelves here... But it was far too daunting a task. I would assume we own over a thousand books now.

Yep. And they are in every room of the house EXCEPT the bathrooms. Which is silly because we both definitely read in the bathroom! (Maybe that can be the subject of another Musing Monday.)

I took this picture when I had finished counting all the books we had in our first apartment together.

So, my second reading habit is this: I delight in finding new places to read in much the same way that I am always looking for new places to write. Having bookcases all over the house really aids in this venture. I can say with certainty that I've lived here for less than a year and I have spent time reading in each and every room of the house - as well as on the porch and the deck out back!

Are you like me, always seeking the next reading nook? Or do you like to curl up in the same chair every time you open a book?

As for me... I'm so intrigued by listing all of my book-y assets that I'm thinking some pictures of my collection might be in order soon...

Musing Monday: I am a messy reader.

 I enjoy the memes found at Should Be Reading so you might start seeing more of these...

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits. 
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). 
 • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!   
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.  
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us! 
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

This week, I'll be musing about one of my reading habits. Mostly because this is my blog and I like talking about myself. Surprise! Because there might describe more of these in weeks (and months and years) to come, I will number them.

Reading Habit #1 

I am a messy reader. If you looked at any of my books, you'd be terrified to lend me yours. I highlight and underline favorite passages. I write my name in Sharpie inside the cover. I doodle character names on the edges of the closed pages. When I put down a paperback I'm reading, I often break the spine. I dogear pages I want to come back to. And I really like to read while I'm eating so... Coffee or salsa stains on the pages are not out of the question. 

I adore my books. But I don't worship them. In my mind, copies can always be replaced. I'd rather cuddle them (I often sleep with the book I'm reading under my pillow) and maybe bend the cover a bit then always be worrying about my paperback looking pristine. Besides, I frequent used bookstores the way some girls frequent the mall. So if my duct-taped copy of The Dragon Reborn is starting to lose pages, I know where to go to get a new one without breaking my piggy bank. 

...all that being said, I really try hard to be nice to books that people lend me. And whenever I read a hardcover, I leave the jacket on the shelf because I know otherwise I'll rip it somehow.

I'm afraid I never left my teenage bookworm habits behind... Anyone else out there a messy reader?