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Does everyone out there know how much I love getting a Barnes and Noble Gift card from Mom and Dad for my birthday? I look forward to it all year long. This year I got two gift cards for my birthday because Jordy gave me one as well. I keep hanging on to my cards thinking I should save them for Christmas, but I have a stack of books I am anxious to read, so I may just head out this morning to go browse. Who am I kidding? I know if I walk in to the store I'll spend every last cent. Here's what I'm interested in reading.
The Mind's Eye by Dr. Oliver Sacks, Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Scent of Desire by Rachel Herz, and I need to find another copy of Onions in The Stew by Betty Mac Donald because I can't find mine. I would also like to buy a journal and I love to pick out notecards and stationery from children's literature. I have notecards of Where The Wild Things Are, The Runaway Bunny, and The Hungry Caterpillar and they are so cute that I can hardly bring myself to write on them and send them out into the mail.
We never made it over to Barnes&Noble in St. George while we were there and I was so sad we didn't. I love to go to bookstores with anyone, but especially our family since we all love to read and could easily spend a couple of hours browsing, reading and laughing. Erin and I have always gone to bookstores on her cooking contest trips, and we have spent hours together reading almost entire books and never leaving the store. We read one about a woman who decided to let herself and her hair go and quit trying to keep up with dyeing her hair and striving to look young. She almost convinced us to do it, too. (Erin if you're reading this can you tell me who it was we read about. Her name is escaping me but I can see the cover and her face. Turquoise book and she's wearing a purple sweater, I think.)
I love having book buddies, and one of my favorite memories of Erin is when we were staying at the St. George condo together. I was in bed reading and she came in and picked up a book and laid down right by me to read, too. I was so happy just to have a silent comrade with me who enjoys reading as much as I do. I told her how happy it made me, and she immediately laughed her head off and told me she was kidding. She was teasing me, which of course made me laugh and made me put down my book and join the party.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I cannot live without books," and neither can I. So I'm off to stock up on a few more and to have a wonderful time all by myself in one of my favorite places in the world; a bookstore. But, a good toy store comes pretty close.
18 comments:
I guess I'll start the bidding.
I know I tell this story a lot about Erin pretending to be so happy to lay down and read with me, but it's because it's one of My Favorite-favorite's, and if something is your Favorite-favorite then you get to remember and revisit it as much as you like.
I already went to Barnes and Noble and have come home. I only bought one thing on my list. The rest surprised me and interested me so I had to buy those instead.
I love Barnes and Noble, but I guess I already told everyone that. I could live there.
Well, if they had a big bed somewhere and a shower.
You spoke right to my heart again with this post. I get giddy just thinking about Barnes and Noble. The intoxicating smell of books...ahhh! I went to London with Kelly almost 10 years ago and the highlight was finding a Barnes and Noble at Picadilly Circus. We spent half the day. I was tempted to spend every pound I'd brought. I even wanted to buy books that I already had at home, because the covers were all different in London. Highlight of the trip! I think we should start a cousins book club blog. Wouldn't that be fun? Do you think anyone would play along, other than the two of us?
Oh and I agree that there is no limit to how often you are allowed to share favorite-favorite stories, and I believe that everyone should smile and laugh along like it is new each time, just because you are still excited to share it. I had never heard that Erin story, so I am glad you revisited it. She is a crack up!
I love to read but have been in a "reading rut" lately. I need to get back on track. If only I had a Cousins (and nieces) bookclub to join! :)
I would join the book club! I can't share any Barnes and Nobles memories though, I usually just rent or borrow my books...
Hello everybody! I love to lay down and read too, but never so much as Leslie who will pass up almost any pleasure in the world for a bed and a book. What I was really imitating was her enthusiasm. Surely she would rather converse than read, right? Not so and we've had a good laugh for over a decade. I love how Leslie's babies learned to lay in bed and read books as if it were an imperative precursor to sleep. I can remember infant Annie Laurie flipping pages on a board book in bed. Guess what? We are going to Barnes and Noble tonight. I couldn't talk Shane into seeing A Christmas Carol musical at Hurricane High School. He nearly grimaced when I mentioned it. He wants to go to the Jazz concert at DSC on Monday-but not both. What can make us all happy? B and N. I loved shopping for books on this cooking trips. I love to read a book for free at Barnes and Noble-not on purpose but because I can't put it down and then decide if it's worth of my money and if not then buy something else. I almost always read the whole darn thing speed reading style at the shop. I'm going to post this comment so it doesn't erase but I'll keep going.
Hello, I am back. Sailor just came in after six hours of Nutcracker practice. You would think she was the star of the show for all of the hours of practice, but alas I'm guessing she's on stage for a grand total of ten minutes. Everyone is so serious about everything around here. Tut, tut. She did have a short break and she went to the pie shop next door with three other dancers and they all ate pie together. That sounds much more fun than dancing. Anyway, sorry I didn't commment sooner.
And as for this cousin's book club-I'm in. I am reading an Anne Perry Christmas book now. I tried to read it out loud to West as we drove to Pine Valley to chop down a tree but he decided he would rather do anything in the world than listen to a fictional story in the 1890s. I really think we need to take that cousins trip to Chicago and find the closest hotel to the B and N. I know I'll be needing a pick me up after the holidays. This could be it.
Hi Julie and Valerie. Would you like to come over this Sunday to my house? Maybe you could go on a visit the cousins Sunday road trip and take a stop at all of our houses. Although, truthfully you probably stopped at the best house first. Leslie makes the world's best chocolate cake and she is our very best hostess with the mostest. On second thought, let's meet at Leslie's house instead.
Oh, look at all the comments.
I've been out and about, away and busy. "Look at all the fun I'm missing. Halloween is over and I missed it."
All right, it's not over.
Julie,
I love that you marched all over Picadilly Circus searching for a Barnes and Noble. I would have searched with you had I been there. I bought books in England and loved the bookstore we went to.
By all means we should start a cousin's book club.
I was in a book club for 6 years and loved it.
But, I always wished I could choose what we read.
People who borrow my books have said "Leslie's already having her own book club all by herself," since I write all my thoughts and cross reference everything in my books. I almost can't lend them out because I feel too exposed! See: more shy and much more private as we get older. (I say we, but perhaps really it should be I.)
Also, I'm so glad you understand about the retelling of Favorite-favorite stories. And yes, Erin is hilarious. She is so funny and we all love it when she really gets going. She tells the best stories, acts them out, and makes the funniest and most expressive faces. She and Michelle are hilarious together and I could listen to them tell their stories all night. Everyone is funny, but if Erin isn't there to make us all laugh she is missed.
Katie,
You can join the sisters, nieces, cousins, grandkids, read along as you are book club.
I love that the nieces cross all familial boundaries and be counted as any kind of relative.
My kids call you and your sisters Aunts instead of cousins, and sometimes you all feel like my own sisters.
We really should form a real-true-blogging book club. Even if we did it quarterly.
I think we should all post our Top 10 Favorite Books to get a glimpse at what everyone likes to read.
You'll have to let me know what's on your reading list. I love to hear what anyone is reading.
Valerie,
I LOVE that you've joined us. We always love commenters, especially if they're cousins.
How are you? I loved meeting your family.
Your little boy and baby are so adorable. I love their big, blue eyes.
Renting, borrowing, or buying books, any way you can get your hands on them is the right way.
We should have all walked across the street to Barnes and Noble after our lunch at Mimi's. Maybe next time we really will. I love that you and your sisters love to read. And your mom, too.
Next time you come over, if we get nervous and shy, we can all sit on the couches and read quietly together! haha
We want you to start a blog, too.
We're counting on Julie to talk you into it.
Erin, Look at all the comments! You came back three times and I almost missed it.
Yes, it's true about a bed and a book. I LIVE for night time, and silence so I can lay in bed and immerse myself completely and quietly in my reading.
I like to not be able to hear a thing and think only of what I am reading. Two books that stand out in my mind of reading them in total silence and feeling like the very characters themselves were The Woman In White and Their Eyes Were Watching God. I felt like I was Laura and Marian, and Janie who fell in love with Teacake. There is something about complete silence to lose myself in when I am reading.
My bed is against the same wall that the TV hangs on in the family room. Even though I am so hard of fearing I can hear the buzz of the tv through the wall until it is turned off. I am always relieved and look forward to that moment of silence and that is when I really sink into my reading. Then I just read all night long. I just sort of catnap through the night and wake up to the stack of books next to me and start in again each time I wake up.
And yes, it doesn't matter who I am talking to, which is probably not very polite to admit, but there comes a time when I would much rather be reading than conversing. I think it's because of my poor hearing but it could just be an excuse, like someone said, and it's really just me.
No one in my house is allowed to go to bed without a book. You read before sleep no matter what, even if it's just a sentence, or a paragraph. Mike is the only one excused from this law because he falls asleep after reading one word. "It is Forbidden not to read before sleep." Even the babies knew this law and crawled in with their little stacks of books turned upside down-jibber-jabbering quietly away.
I live and intensely bookish life, and would gladly, if I could, stay cooped up all day reading, and reading and never come out. Remember the story about the man who packed up his books, and moved to a cabin ? He wanted to live a solitary-bookish life, but he went for a walk and got eaten by a bear. It's the only thing that keeps me from doing the same.
Well, that and the church. If the church would let me, it'd be a done deal.
And, yes, I loved all our trips to Barnes and Noble together. It was so fun to be standing around reading the same book, each with our own copy, and stopping to laugh and discuss what we read, only to jump back in and read some more.
I would have gone with you to see A Christmas Carol tonight! And how fun to be going to Pine Valley to get your own Christmas Tree.
I can hardly believe Sailor had 6 hours of Nutcracker practice. I'm so glad they let her have a piece of pie.
"Oh have a piece of pie!" Pie is funny. It really is.
Even literally. Pie in the face. And remember what my funny friend says about how she looks when she's pregnant? She says she doesn't look pregnant at all. She says she just looks like she's been in the pantry eating pie!
Maybe when we go on that cousins trip to Chicago we can visit Julie, go to Barnes and Noble, and even eat pie! This trip is getting better all the time.
That was nice of you to say I make the best chocolate cake, but I'm pretty sure it's the exact same chocolate cake you make. Remember, "I'm just like you, you're just like me," and everyone is the hostess with the mostest which is wonderful because going to your sister's is just like going home and to mom's and even better because your sister is doing everything for you and treating you kindly and just like the best, and smartest, kindest guest she has ever had. It really is wonderful! When can I come over again?
Is it Picadilly Circus or Circle?
And did I really write hard of fearing instead of hard of hearing?
I don't know what it is but it's so easy to make mistakes while I'm writing my comments!
George Jefferson said, " I cannot live without Weezie," so I guess people can learn to live with certain things. I love to read in bed too..now all I need is one.
Miiiiikkkkeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
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