Oh la library!

I've already professed my love of the Seattle Public Library System on this blog.  That has not changed. But today I'm talking about another kind of library.  Enter the Little Free Library!  So we had at least one of these when I was living in Charleston down by Broad Street.  I loved it dearly and thought it was the cutest thing ever when I first saw it.  I didn't know it was an actual "thing" though until moving here.  Let me tell you, Seattleites take the Free Lending Library to another level.  I would guess that every person living in downtown Seattle has at least one within a half mile.  I walk by these two every morning taking the dogs out on our 5 block loop just for a little perspective.

They are usually super cute little bird house things made by the homeowner and each one has it's own little charm.  Although most look something like the two above... I've seen one made out of a repurposed USPS mailbox and one made out of an old newspaper dispenser.  They usually carry a random assortment of trashy serial novels and classics, but I found one pretty close by that is always stocked with the latest People and US Weekly!  I didn't even know people in Seattle dared buy that kind of trash but I LOVE them for it.

In general though, these libraries are definitely more evidence of an obvious love of reading by people in Seattle.  Maybe it's the weather (which is perfect for a cozy day snuggled up with a book), but people here love to read, and I am one of them.  My reading definitely goes in phases and spikes when I start to feel lazy and stupid.  For example... when I was working at a coffee shop after undergrad trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life... I started reading like a fiend just to prove to myself I wasn't getting dumber by the day.  Well friends... that wave has finally come full circle and I am back to trying to prove to myself I'm not getting dumber every day.  

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I have watched more TV since we moved here than I think I have in my entire life.  I'm generally not a TV person at all, but in the past month I must have conquered at least 4-5 series from start to finish.  None of them were actually good either, except for maybe The Killing (which is filmed here!).  It was the night I sat down and watched the entire season of Bridalplasty on Netflix that I realized I had a problem.  I joined a book club first thing when I moved out here just to meet people and I had to finish a book for the November meeting so luckily that got the ball rolling.  Our book for December is the Time Traveler's Wife, which I have never wanted to read but I figured I'd do it for the sake of staying in the club and I actually really liked it and read it in a few nights.  So now I'm fully back into my "must read more" mindset where I spend all my spare time scouring Goodreads and blogs looking for books to add to my list (does anyone else do this? If only I spent nearly as much time actually reading...).  So here are some books I've read since August, followed by what's up next on my list. 

Where'd you go, Bernadette: Read this before moving to Seattle and loved it.  It kind of hits the Seattle stereotype on the head and is super quirky and entertaining for being a really different format than I'm used to.

Drinking and Tweeting and other Brandi Blunders: My love of the Real Housewives is no secret and this book was on my waiting list at the library for months before I finally got it.  It's immature, hilarious, and you will finish it in one sitting.  Don't expect to get anything but laughs out of it.

Most Talkative- Stories from the front lines of pop culture: I picked this book because it was next to Brandi's on the shelf at the library and I figured why not.  It's not as funny as Brandi's and who knew Andy Cohen is actually a legit producer with a career in serious journalism?  Of course I was hoping for more Real Housewives gossip and there wasn't a lot there, but he does kind of explain the set-up of the RH franchise which I found interesting. 

Coming Clean: This was a random free book I picked out late one night from the Amazon Prime Lending Library about a girl growing up with a hoarder dad.  It was pretty hard to read at times (because of gross and unbelievable descriptions) but who doesn't love a good hoarder story??

Nemesis- Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle that Brought Down the Kennedys: I did not like this book.  I heard rave reviews from friends and expected it to be a light, but informative read, and it was not.  The book is advertised as focusing on Onassis' relationship with Jackie and her relationship with Bobby Kennedy.  Instead, it's written by Onassis' biographer and is literally just an extension of his earlier biography with tiny bits of Jackie and Bobby thrown in.  Too much unnecessary information is presented too early and it reads pretty rough for the first 1/2 of the book.  I feel like I have become a super critical reader after going through the thesis writing process, but I think this book is very disorganized and poorly written.

Suite Francaise: This was the book club selection for November and I started out really into it at first because it has a really cool story.  It was written during the Nazi occupation of Paris during WW2 and the writer was sent to Auschwitz where she died before it was finished then her daughters kept it hidden for 60 years until it was published.  So the background is totally the type of thing I'm all over and the writing is really beautiful and kind of eery.  But it's also from the perspective of several characters and I'll be honest, those books just aren't my cup of tea.  I rarely enjoy books where each chapter is a different person, even if they all tie together really well.  I can't help it.  So with the exception of a personal thing, it's a really good book.

The Time Traveler's Wife: So this is my most recent book and like I said earlier, one I never wanted to read.  I'm not usually into the popular love story beach reads (which is the category I reserved for books like this), but I was pleasantly surprised.  Surprised by what a complex story it was, but also but the weird Lolita-esque love story.  Am I the only one that found that kind of strange?  I was also mildly annoyed by inconsistencies in the time traveling or certain things/situation introduced that next really made it full-circle.  But overall, I'm really glad I finally sat down and decided to read it. 

And here are the books I'm patiently waiting to load up onto my kindle.  I do have a few long flights/road trips in my near future over the Holidays so I'm hoping to finish at least a few off this list, but I'm also hoping to read at night this week instead of subconsciously turning on another episode of the Sopranos.  Happy Reading!