Sunday Sundries: Did you know that it's really really nearly my birthday?!

I have a few things to say regarding my birthdayness, so this is just a warning that this post is going to be LONG. You can leave now if you have better things to do, but it's Sunday, and you know nothing good ever happens today. It's like, the rule of Sundays. ANYWAY, before I start, a teeny anecdote- my mum was driving me home from work the other day, and en route there are all these ADORABLE lambs (who I appreciate way more now that I don't, you know, EAT THEM and stuff. So much less guilt) and on said day, there was this one lamb stretched out on all four legs and bending and it looked like it was doing push ups! I thought I was going to die with how cute it was!

Just like this. This is adorable.

Anyway- this isn't a story I would necessarily think of as newsworthy, but when I squealed at my mum because of the cuteness, she was like 'you can write about it on your blog!' and I was like 'I think you misunderstand what I do here', but here I am, writing about it on my blog. Aren't I an obedient child?

BIRTHDAY TALK! Now. As I have actually not moaned about too much, I've been doing a thing where I haven't bought any books before my birthday. As in, for the whole of this year, I haven't bought a single book. It's kind of unbelievable how it's happened, and yet, it has. To sum up the whole experience- it was really difficult, and then it was less difficult, and now I hardly even start sweating when I go into Waterstones, although I do a bit. There's this fairly large part of me that enjoys depriving myself of things sometimes (this sounds bad... It's less self-punishy than it sounds, honest!) if only because, when you get them back, you appreciate them even more. 

One thing I completely didn't expect from the experience was how it made me less inclined to read. It's weird- and I really don't want to think of myself as a person who can only get pleasure from having new things all the time, but it feels like I only want to read books that I don't own, even though the books I DO own, I really really wanted to read at some point. Enter, THIS VIDEO:

Ellie tweeted this video a while back, and it's the truest of all true things ever. I love it. If you can't be bothered to watch it (I'm stunningly realistic about how often people watch videos people post. It's probably because I basically never do.) her basic point is- it's MAD owning so many unread books, and the excuses people offer about buying new ones when this is the case just don't cut it- like, you're building a collection? That's great, but collections have to mean something, and if you haven't read the books you own, they don't actually mean anything to you. And buying books is great because you're really excited about reading them, but buying, like, 8 at once? It's ridiculous because you'll read one and be really excited about it, but then the other 7 just go on your shelves and get less and less exciting as time goes on, and start to feel like the albatross around your neck. (You know which one I'm talking about. And if not, you should really fucking read that poem.)

So. The point is, hey, read the books you have, people! And then buy more, and be really excited about them, but in smaller numbers and only if you REALLY want to read them. I am so down with this, and I have thought about what to do after my 100 days of non-bookitude. And I think what I'm going to do is this- I really really really want to have a nose around in charity shops again, because IT'S BEEN SO LONG, but I want to be in control of it rather than having THE NEED FOR NEW BOOKS control me. The video lady (I so can't remember her name...) says that she'll allow herself 1 new book for every 3 books she reads that she owns, and that seems sensible, so I should have a system like that, maybe? I'd like to have a one in, one out policy, but I have a harder time getting rid of books than not buying them, so I just don't know. 

Here's what I do know- I think this book fast has been very good for me, and I don't think I'll go back to my crazy overindulgent book buying ways again, except for mayyybe a very few bad weeks (and by bad, I obviously mean really really good...) I am really excited to step foot inside a charity shop again though, and I'm not even going to feel bad about buying the occasional book because, guess what? despite my best efforts at being good, my mum doesn't even appreciate the non-buying of books! So that just sucks.

Anyway. That was pretty rambly, wasn't it! Give yourself a treat for reading it, if you did. Now let's talk about something else vaguely related to my birthday! 

Remember last year when I made a 23 Before 24 list (because it's what the lifestyle bloggers do, dontchaknow?) and then never mentioned it again? Well, I've kind of been working steadily away on it all year, and have actually, miraculously, kind of done most of the things on it! Or at least the things with a viable end point. Some of them are kind of ongoing, vague things, but I've been working on those, too!

I'm not going to bore you by going through every point on the list, but a few of the things I've done are:

• Write more letters to people- Totally. Especially internet people. It's pretty awesome.
• Keep a not wholly negative diary- Sometimes I write down things that I've done rather than moaning about my life. It's nice.
• Go to a faraway English place/a literary trip- Oh hiiiii, Haworth!
• Go to the London Natural History Museum- I literally just did this on Monday. It was pretty great. I'm glad it was on my list so I was forced to go.
• Actually participate in NaNoWriMo- And I'm so happy that I did.
• Go to the cinema alone/watch Tiny Furniture
• Be more musically exploratory- I don't know how much I achieved this, but I DID discover Joni Mitchell this year, so... I feel like I won.
• Try out at least one new recipe a week- At the time of writing, I haven't quiite done this yet, so I feel a little bit like I'm jinxing myself, but I have made 49 new things and I know exactly what I'm doing for the other 3, so... I'm declaring myself a winner, early. This has been the BIGGEST and annoyingest thing I've been doing this year though, but at this point I am DETERMINED to win.

That was actually more than I intended to go into, but I actually got a bit excited about how many of the things I wanted to do, I've done! I feel like, for me personally, setting goals is quite an important thing (I get competitive with myself... which is weird) for the sense of achievement I get when I complete them, but I think that it's important to keep them in perspective and not get carried away like I have a bit with the recipe thing. Like... if it's starting to piss you off and making you NOT do other things because 'shit! I have to cook!' then it's time to stop, probably. I can see myself making these lists for many years, but I CAN'T see myself ever fully completing one. And I think that's ok, and healthy, and normal. Not that I'd know anything about that.

All of that is really just a prelude to tell you that next week's Sunday Sundries is basically just going to be my 24 Before 25 list. You'll love it! It involves books, obviously.

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon, doesn't mean we all have.'"

Oh man. This section of OotP has so much going on that I have EIGHT PAGES of notes to somehow fit into this post. Because SO MUCH STUFF, and SNAPE and OMG NEVILLE, and ok, I'm going to stop shouting things and just write in sentences and things now, ok?

Much as I just want to jump in and talk about Snape's memory, I'm just going to go ahead and save that til last because I have TOO MANY EMOTIONS and I don't want to expend them all in one go and be too tired to write about other things. So, let's talk about Cho.

Because, up until this week, I've pretty much thought of her as basically harmless, and I definitely didn't hate her for, like, 'taking Ginny's man' or whatever, but... I know what the problem is now. It's that, she's such a massive GIRL. And I don't know if this is JK going 'well, girls, if you act like this then everyone's going to think you're really annoying so STOP IT' or if she genuinely wanted Cho to be a sympathetic character, but it feels like a lot of the stuff Cho does is because she feels like girls should act that way, as opposed to it being how she wants to act. LIKE her whole jealousy thing with Hermione, which I really think is RIDICULOUS (but then, I am in Harry's head, pretty much, so...) and she must know that, if they wanted to be boyfriend and girlfriend, then they would be by now, ffs.

And then also she's all like 'let's go to this twee tea room and you can tell me how pretty I am!' and I'm just like 'Just stop it. Please. BE MORE INTERESTING.' And she's not, and it's annoying, and I guess it's because JK wants to get Harry and Ginny together, and also because she wants to show how the fantasy of a person is rarely the reality of them, but still. It's kind of disappointing and makes me roll my eyes a lot.

ST MUNGOS! Firstly, I have to say that, even though I (evidently) don't like Sirius, I'm actually really happy that he didn't have to spend Christmas just with Kreacher, because that is the depressingest. But also, I didn't want ARTHUR (surely the best of the Weasleys) to be attacked by, apparently, snake Harry! Anyway- the first hospital visit is awesome because Mr W gossips about the other patients and OMG that is entirely what happens when people are in Hospital (I'm a pro, trust me.) So it's nice to know wizards aren't above that.

BUT THEN. The Christmas day visit just makes me want to cry in all the ways. I think it's the adorablest that Lupin goes and sits with the werewolf patient because that guy really needs a friend, and Lockhart! You are back and still ridiculous. But then, obviously, there's Neville. Did I get the biggest lump in my throat a person has ever had when I read this?

"Neville looked around at the others, his expression defiant as though daring them to laugh, but Harry did not think he'd ever found anything less funny in his life."

 There's a bit in GoF where Harry wonders if Neville hasn't had a worse time of it than him, having parents who are alive, but unreachable, and I feel like... Well, it's not a competition, but how terrible does that seem? Saving sweet wrappers because they're all his mum is capable of giving him... I JUST CAN'T.

Now, it's Snape time.

The memory Harry sees in the pensieve is one of the things from all of the books that I remember the most, the one that pretty solidly forms my view of Snape, and that has made me think A LOT over the past week. I have feelings, you guys, and I'm about to word vomit them out in front of you. Be ready.

SO. Firstly and very importantly, I don't think that 'we were only fifteen', has ever been a valid excuse for anything, least of all bullying, you know, 'the weird kid.' Because, like Harry says, HE'S fifteen, and he's actually never bullied anyone because he has a sense of decency and he knows what it's like to be the victim, which also means that he can put himself in Snape's shoes and look at his father and think 'well... Maybe he wasn't all that,' which is kind of sad, but at the same time, who would want to live in that shadow?

And then there's Snape himself, who, as the victim of bullying you would think would kind of be nice to people and not pick on certain students (Harry) and not let other students (Malfoy) pick on certain other students (Harry. Anyone who isn't Malfoy.) because he HAS to know that shit is going on. Here's the trouble with Snape and his attitude towards Harry- because Harry is James's son, and because he looks so much like him, Snape automatically thinks of Harry as being LIKE James, which means he wants to hurt him like he was hurt by James (which is bad. But I get it.) But what Snape forgets (or maybe never knew) is that, Harry isn't like James because Harry wasn't raised by James, and was, in fact, raised by people who didn't like him, where HE was bullied on pretty much a daily basis.

If they understood how alike some of their situations are, maybe they'd be able to find some common ground and not be assholes at each other. But, you know, DRAMA AND TENSION are always good.

Here is A Thing: Sirius pretty much tries to justify why James hated Snape so much by saying that it was because Snape was into the Dark Arts, which James always really hated. Fair enough for James- but you know what? When I was 15, I was into reading a lot of Stephen King (yep. Always) and listening to Nirvana and, like, not talking to people (I'm basically still the same, actually...) but that didn't mean that I was about to shoot up loads of heroin and, I don't know, murder children because how does that mean that? But the thing is, wanting to know about the Dark Arts, and then having kind of a good reason to use them (constant abuse) is BOUND to have an effect on someone and make them, I don't know, do something really stupid and become a Death Eater or something.

You COULD say that James and Sirius's actions, then, CREATED a dark wizard, rather than doing anything to prevent the Dark Arts. You could totally make that argument and I wouldn't disagree with you, and yet again we're learning that the things that seem like they should be good can actually be doing evil just by not doing good. (Is this a sentence that makes sense? Not really. I didn't get much sleep last night.)

In conclusion, Sirius and James suck, Lupin is a good boy for making them ashamed of themselves sometimes, and I love you, Snape, but I just wish you were better.

I am foregoing the bullet points this week because of my aforementioned tiredness, but I just have to do a shoutout for Fred and George- firstly, I love them for basically only sticking around Hogwarts because, like, Dumbledore wanted them to, and secondly, their exit was pretty cool- I can't decide if I prefer theirs or Dumbles', but since theirs annoyed Umbridge more, I think that's what I'm going to have to go with. ALSO I have to thank them for the fireworks that led to my favourite kind of humour- when Umbridge tries to Stupefy them, and then says "'Don't Stun them, Filch!' shouted Umbridge angrily, for all the world as though it had been his incantation." If in doubt, blame someone else.

This gif is not relevant, except it's TOTALLY relevant. AND I just found it so there.

Devouring Books: Come As You Are- The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad

"Kurt Cobain's reaction to bad times was as direct as can be, and a hell of a lot more honest. He screamed."

There aren't even words to explain how much of a formative influence Nirvana had on me when I discovered them at the tender age of 14- all I can really say is that I was a completely different person before I found them, and after I did, everything felt different. Better. Or maybe I wasn't different, so much as that there was something inside me that needed an outlet that Nirvana (and, just generally awesome music) provided and from then on I felt better. More understood. Less alone.

That thing inside me? I think it's called adolescence.

Being less adolescent and vaguely better adjusted now, I inevitably listen to Nirvana a lot less now than I did from the ages of 14-17, but that doesn't mean that I forget exactly how much they meant to me, and it doesn't mean that I forget to appreciate the musical journey that they set me off on. I also find it impossible to forget that the 5th April is the day that the coroners say Kurt Cobain died, and that the 8th April (the day before my 5th birthday, if you want to get all exact) is the day his body was found. It is ever so slightly ridiculous to have something that happened when all you knew about music was nursery rhymes make you sad when your birthday is approaching, but I never said I wasn't ridiculous.

As a sort of tribute type thing, I seem to read a book about Nirvana around this time every year (last year it was this book about Dave Grohl, which... Was not a good book. Don't even bother.) and this year, Come As You Are, which I have had for the LONGEST time, was the lucky pick. It's the weirdest thing for me to read though, because it was originally published in 1993- as in, it was written when Kurt Cobain was still alive, which means that every sentence isn't filled with the anticipated sadness of the end. It's incredibly odd to read something like this:

"Kurt walks across the top of his amp stack. It's not that high off the ground, but he's riveting anyway, like a potential suicide walking along the ledge of a building."

and feeling like it's FILLED with foreshadowing, when actually it's a fairly innocuous statement when someone hasn't actually killed themselves yet. But still...

 The fact that it was written in 1993 also means that there are some things in it that have been sliiightly left out/glossed over/are only half truths, but I only know this because I've read too many books about Nirvana, and besides, it's still interesting reading the story as told by the main person involved, because the things they leave out can be just as revealing as the things they say, and so reading this knowing all that I know... It's definitely interesting.

Interesting up to a point, because the thing about this book is that, whilst it's actually pretty awesome (I read it in about 3 days, and it's not really short...) it's also pretty much the base material for EVERY other book about Nirvana ever written. Which makes sense, of course, but it also means that I didn't exactly learn anything new, at least not in terms of facts. I guess, though, that the details are what are really important, and there were enough of those, at least for me, to make this book worth reading (and if you haven't read anything about Nirvana before, then it's definitely worth reading.)

Some of those details:

• There's a lot of stuff in here about the context of the times, and kind of an exploration of why Nirvana got so big. There's a little bit of that in some other books, but it's always pushed aside in favour of the suicide, which becomes the big story. 
• There's also a BIG exploration of song lyrics which I definitely haven't seen before, at least not without the inevitable 'were there signs of suicide?' subtext, and I really appreciated that. I was ever so slightly bemused to find out that the songs on Bleach actually HAD lyrics, but there you go.
• Dave Grohl is amazing: "'Thank God those two [Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love] didn't do cocaine,' says Dave, 'because they'd be the biggest fucking assholes in the world.'" THIS IS SO TRUE. 
• It's always fun when things are out of date- Azerrad does a lot of pining for certain songs that Nirvana recorded but hadn't been released, and hey! They were released in 2004! (Also I'm just coming to understand how lucky I was that I didn't have to wait TEN. YEARS. for such things. Lucky me.)
• And also, this: "When he screams 'a denial, a denial' over and over again at the end of 'Teen Spirit', it's something that's understood on a deep level. And either you get it or you don't. It clearly draws the lines, even as it deals in universals. And it's one of the most transcendent moments in rock music." I GET IT!

So, this was a bit of a word vomit, but apparently I can't read things about Nirvana without getting ever so slightly carried away. Call it a teenage obsession, call it whatever you like, but 20 years after this book was written, I still care about the people it's about. And that's what we call love, children.

"Kurt doubts the band will have any lasting influence, say, twenty years from now. 'Fuck no,' he says."

50 Shades of Grey is actually not bad...

As some savvy readers have noted in the comments, this is in fact an April Fool's Day joke and not, you know, evidence that I should be sectioned. Having said that, I still haven't read these books, so there's always time for me to ACTUALLY secretly like them...

I've been harbouring a dirty little secret for a while now and I feel like today's the day to let it out to the world- I read 50 Shades of Grey (and the rest...) and I actually kind of... Liked it?

I know. I KNOW. This was the last thing I was expecting too, and yet... The books, certain gross sex scenes aside, actually make up a love story for the ages- the sexually advanced, yet emotionally disturbed billionaire and the young innocent (poor) woman who finally, eventually, saves him, because in the end he wants to be saved. It's lovely, really, and I'm really glad I overcame my prejudices and finally read it.

As for the sex... I can't pretend that some of it isn't gross (we've all heard about the tampon bit, right? I'm never going to find that hot, I'm sorry) but it's not as extreme as it's reported to be either, which, for a certain kind of temperament, makes it kind of hot. You know, in places. Sometimes. Ahem. BUT anyway, the point is hey, it's not so bad, and if bored housewives want to use it to spice up their sex lives then they definitely should. Yep.

I think we're all aware of my feministic feminismness, and I think 50 Shades has gotten a lot of press (I mean, I say press, I really mean internet criticism- the mainstream media is just like 'ZOMG PEOPLE ARE READING!') about how very sexist it is. And... I don't know, you guys! I mean, Christian has power because he has money, but Ana has power over his EMOTIONS, which means she has the power over him (and his money and everything) and she really seems to be in control a lot of the time. So, you know, that's pretty cool, and definitely not what I was expecting. I guess because we're in her head, we know that she knows what she's doing, even if it might not seem that way on the outside. What a smart cookie.

So, my inner goddess is alarmed and thrilled about 50 Shades of Grey. They're worth a read because, even if you think you're not going to like them, I think it's easy to find something in them that rings true for everyone. Um... Is is too soon to read them again?

"He saw that the presence of hundreds of books had finally convinced Hermione that what they were doing was right."

So my sister's been ill all week, which isn't something you need to know, but the illness she's had is a cough, and the cough is REALLY LOUD and happens AT ALL TIMES, so basically I haven't slept properly since Sunday (our house is really small. Plus, I have to share a bedroom with her. ALL THE BAD) and I don't even know what, if anything, I have to say about Part deux of Order of the Phoenix. Basically what I'm saying is, bear with me, people!

Right. I don't even know if there's anything I want to say in paragraphs! OK, do we want to talk about how terrible Umbridge is? I mean, she's really dreadful, right? The problem for me is, I don't think she's dreadful in a way that is AT ALL amusing (except when McGonagall basically ignores her in her class. That's pretty freaking sweet), she's more terrible in a way that makes me want to rip her limbs off her body and beat her with them until she's dead.

Sorry. I'm REALLY tired. But anyway, the point is that even though I think that this makes her a kind of masterfully drawn character, it's just another element that makes OotP EXHAUSTING for me as opposed to mostly fun but with some, you know, perilous bits. A couple more things about her though- surely she's really really not allowed to use that terrible SKIN CUTTING quill on the children? I know it's Hogwarts, but even they must have rules about this kind of thing, no? And also, IT IS NOT OK TO ATTACK HEDWIG! I mean, HONESTLY!

Sirius bashing time? I think so. Whilst I've become a lot warmer towards Harry in this section (with one notable exception that I'll point out in the bullet points that are obviously coming) I'm actually really really really annoyed at Sirius. Because, um, you don't say to a teenager who is TRYING TO PROTECT YOU and who keeps nearly getting himself killed that he should get into more trouble! That's just stupid! "your father wouldn't have done that". Well then maybe, just maybe, he's as big an idiot as YOU are, Sirius. GODDAMMIT!

Having said that, I am kiiiind of on Sirius's side when it comes to Dumbledore's Army, because even though I can see why Molly wants her kids to, you know, stay in school, possibly just because they'll be safe there because Dumbledore can protect them (because he's always been SO GOOD at that), I still think it totally makes sense for them to learn how to defend themselves. Also the lessons sound fun and this book needs some of that FOR REALS. I did love that Hermione was suddenly like 'Guys... I think this might be a bad idea...' when Sirius thought it was a good one though. Hermione's smart.

Random thoughts and shit:

• You know when Harry gets Hedwig to deliver the letter and is like 'I know this says Snuffles, but it's actually for Sirius"? Like... Hedwig knows this already, amiright? Since she's been doing it FOR A YEAR. Honestly, Harry...
• Percy's letter makes ME want to vom, personally, but I'm sad that it makes Harry sad. It's a bit of a 'well, he kind of KNOWS me and he thinks I'm crazy, what must everyone else think?' moment, but... Percy's a douchebag. As I'm sure we're all aware by now.
• I feel like Harry has had his most constructive outburst, or at least the one that helps me best understand his mental state, and so I can empathise with him better. This is a really good thing. "You two sit here acting like I'm a clever little boy to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up." Poor Harry, you have so much to deal with!

• Guys... Is Hogwarts in Yorkshire?!?!?! For some reason, I always thought it was in Scotland, but in the Hogs Head, there are all those people with thick Yorkshire accents. Are they just supposed to be kind of dodgy (all dodgy characters have Yorkshire accents) or ARE WE ACTUALLY IN YORKSHIRE? I hope we are, because I bloody love it there.
• "He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened."- Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
• I still totally don't care about Quidditch. It's official. But this I loved: "'Yes, yes, we know about the Quidditch,' said Hermione in a tense voice."
• And THIS was really annoying: Ron: "This is the worst I've ever felt in my life." Harry: "Join the club." REALLY GUYS?! I mean, really? Not being allowed to play Quidditch is the worst you've ever felt in your lives? Seeing someone MURDERED wasn't that bad then Harry? Fucking hell.
• This might just be me, but I didn't really care about the giants. Whatevs.

I did a lot of shouting this week, huh?! Partly sleep deprivation, and partly everyone acting like a massive idiot, I guess! It's all ok though- I've read ahead and there seems to be PLENTY of Snape for next week. So at least I'll be happy.

It's Paul Auster Time, Apparently

Before I started this here blog, I read and bought books really differently. Whereas now I'm all about reading the books that other bloggy people have read because, you know, they're awesome and almost always right about such things, before I was pretty much on my own. Which tended to mean sticking to authors I knew I was going to like*, and buying up any books of theirs I could find, the evidence of which still stands in my unread books list.

And that's where Paul Auster comes in. He's maybe the author that I have the most books by that I haven't actually read. It's weird, because whenever I read a book by him, I LOVE it, but somehow there always seems to be something I want to read more than a Paul Auster book. Maybe it's because I'm too lazy to deal with his mindfuckery (there is a fair bit of mindfuckery. Which in the end, I always LOVE, but when I THINK about it, it's like meh. Effort.) or maybe it's because, you know, I own too many books, but somehow, poor Auster gets sidelined all the time.

But! In the past two weeks, I've read 2 books by him. Which is something else that I haven't really done since I started blogging, because I tend to prefer spreading out books by different authors because, you know, what if people get boooored? (I care about this a lot less now. Evidently.) But, I wanted to read Man in the Dark since it was mentioned in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair (and I already owned it) and then The Book Jar told me to read Timbuktu, which is the Auster book I've had the longest. Which is a weight off my shoulders in just having read it!

Since both of these books are pretty short, and this post is already kind of long (I'm so sorry! I'm just rambling!) I'mma mini-review these suckers for you, but I feel like I should make a point first. And I guess the point is... It's really great branching out, and reading lots of different authors and styles and things all the time, but also it's sometimes nice to return to an author you know you love, and who does what he does, and does it well, without having to worry about, like, reviewing two sort-of-similar-only-not-really books really close together. Because, you know, that's the point of reading anyway, isn't it? Just doing whatever you want? Yes, it is.

Mini-reviews!

Man in the Dark

"She held my hand when Oona left me, applauded when Sonia and I got back together, saw her son whenever he and his wife flew in from Chicago, attended family events, watched television from morning to night, could still tell a decent joke when the spirit moved her, and turned into the saddest person I have ever known."

If Man in the Dark and Timbuktu have anything in common, it's that they're both fairly basic for Auster books. There's very little meta-fiction, few connections with other works, and he keeps things fairly straightforward (for him). All this does is make them more powerful- considering how short Man in the Dark is, and how long ago I read it (a couple of weeks is a long time, people!) a lot of it has stayed with me, which isn't something I can always say about books.

Man in the Dark all takes place in one man's head over the course of one night, and it's kind of about the stories we tell ourselves to stop thinking about the things that have happened to us. I'm pretty sure everyone does it, and if not then I guess we all use books to achieve the same effect, and I don't know if Auster is saying this is a good or bad thing, but maybe it's just a way to get through another night. There's definitely an opportunity for Austerian weirdness in the book, and whilst I definitely thought things were heading that way, in the end I was kind of glad they didn't- that the story really was just a story, and that real life ended up being more important.

Timbuktu

"He pitied him for not knowing how to enjoy life. The world was filled with such wonders, and it was a sad state of affairs when a man spent his time worrying about the wrong things."

There's a reason Timbuktu was my longest unread Auster, and that's because it's narrated by a dog. Narrated is actually the wrong word, but it's all about a dog's eye view of the world, and so whilst I bought this because Auster's name was on the cover, I wasn't sure when I'd actually read it because that's kind of a premise that doesn't appeal to me much. Thank goodness for The Book Jar, is all I can say, because without that, Timbuktu might have been sitting on the shelf FOREVER.

Which it wouldn't have deserved. Because, and this is such a rare thing, I didn't even roll my eyes ONCE at this book. It didn't hurt that the dog in question (Mr. Bones) was kind of hyper-intelligent, so following him wasn't stupid or dumbing down, it was just... This is how this creature sees the world, and these are his experiences. It also didn't hurt that this book is kind of a chronicle of different kind of dog ownership, and also just ways of living- the devoted homeless guy, the kid-who-isn't-allowed-pets, the 'perfect' Suburban family- all experienced from the dog's point of view rather than the humans'. Mr. Bones is smarter than a lot of the humans in the book, and knows what he wants better than all of them, and yet, everyone who is kind to him, he loves in his own way.

Timbuktu is also probably THE most straightforward Auster book I've read, and I think that's because it doesn't need to be anything more- Auster is showing you the world from a wholly different perspective, and doesn't need any narrative tricks cleverer than that. It's not a hyper-realistic account of a dog's life, of course, but it feels about right anyway, and most importantly, it sucked me right in. And that's kind of enough.

So. This Paul Auster fellow is pretty good. You might want to give him a try sometime.

*I'm still alllll about reading everything by certain authors. And with music, I'm definitely more likely to get ALL of certain artists' music than constantly wanting to find new artists to listen to all the time.

Sunday Sundries: Aren't libraries cool?

Happy Sunday greetings, friends! I seem to have had a good week since that was a pretty cheerful opener, but mostly it was fairly standard- work, shopping with mum that included getting a few birthday presents for me (eeeeee!) and I got in a few walks to work, which hasn't happened for a WHILE, so that was awesome. And, yesterday I went to lunch with a coupla old friends and that was really fun and awesome even though it was SO COLD and also SNOWING in March. About which I am not impressed. At all.

To backtrack a little bit though, I walked to work some this week! And, on Friday I tried a new route and discovered that it's probably about 15 or 20 minutes quicker than the route I've been taking. About which I'm like 'Durrrrrrrr, me' and also now, 'Yay! I can have an extra 15 minutes pissing about at home now!' which, you know, is awesome. Because said walk got me into town about half an hour before work (I also left early), I swung by the library, mostly because the instagram photo-a-day thing I'm doing had 'library' as its key word yesterday, but also because, you know, time to kill in a place full of charity shops? Definitely too much temptation for poor little Laura who can't buy books.

SO, I went in the library and went 'Ahhhhh, books' in a relieved kind of way, and almost the very first book I saw was Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Wild as in, the book I've wanted to read since it came out because Strayed's Dear Sugar columns are basically my favourite thing I've read on the internet, and because Everyone Who Is Awesome has been reading it (especially this week, funnily enough) and, you know, gimme! I didn't at all expect it to be there, and, considering how good I'm already sure it is, it should probably be reserved for years but it was there and now it's mine and I'm like 'Library, I love you.'

I'm Bert. The library is Mary.

But seriously. On the whole because of this book buying ban I'm doing*, I've kind of been trying to avoid the library too because, you know, they're still books that I don't own, and I've got plenty that I do and I really should read them. But the thing is, it's awesome to know that a book that you're probably not going to find in a charity shop, at least for a very long time, and that's too expensive to buy because it's still pretty new, you're allowed to take FOR FREE and read it to your heart's content, and then take it back for someone else to enjoy. And then, if you want, you can take it out AGAIN and read it and take it back and... You get the picture.

I realise I just used a lot of words to explain how a library works, but I think it's really easy to forget how completely awesome it is that you can read books for free forever, and what else offers a service where you can get something you really really love for no money? I kind of can't think of anything. And anyone who wants to shut down libraries- ANY libraries- is clearly an idiot and I can't be putting up with that kind of bullshit (Tories beware...) 

And that's just... A thing I've been thinking about. In other news that involves books, with this library book I'm now in the middle of FIVE books which is a personal low/high for me of recent times (I've been trying to read not-too-many books at once because then I don't finish them and get all sad) and probably BECAUSE I'm reading so many, I've barely been reading at all and have been spending my evenings watching The Wire. Still, I've only got 10 episodes to go (!) and then obviously Netflix won't exist anymore so I'll HAVE to read.

Anyway. Have good weeks everyone! Tell me your library thoughts in the comments if you want. Or don't, whatever.

*Speaking of which, I told my mum how proud she should be of me since I haven't bought a book since LAST YEAR, and she pretty much laughed at me! Like it wasn't even a sacrifice at all! All I can say to that is, just WAIT until I'm set loose again after my birthday, THEN she'll see how awesome it was that I wasn't buying books. Mwahahahaha.