Sunday, November 30, 2014

Oh, The Burden of Borrowing Books!

Hi guys. Annie here, popping in for a bit. It's been a rocky few months for me with this blog but I'm going to LEGITIMATELY try to get it up and running again. At this point, you're probably all like YEAH RIGHT. I know, I know - I'm starting to sound like a parrot, just parroting everything I've already said. But I'm serious! So, let's see how this works.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk to you guys about borrowing books and the BURDEN of borrowing them. And to clarify, I mean borrowing books from PEOPLE like your friends and not an institution like the library. Honestly, there shouldn't be any difference between the two but there is. Obviously when borrowing any book, you have a natural pressure to not lose it and not ruin it. But there's also varying levels of that pressure and with library books, it's a LOT less.

For starters, library books have usually been read by multiple other people before you (unless you're lucky and manage to get your hands on a BRAND NEW book) so they're probably already not in the best condition by the time you pick it up. Which is not to say that you can just go free willy with them (and I certainly don't want to give you the impression that I do) but in general, you won't have to face that horrifying moment of dropping a brand new book on the floor for the first time or cracking the spine for the first time or accidentally creasing a page for the first time. Because it's already been done by OTHERS!

Also, the hardcovers have protective plastic covers. Which I find EXTREMELY helpful because hardcovers are always so much harder to take care of than paperbacks. It gives me anxiety (more on that later). With the plastic covers though, there's that extra barrier where it's like, "Okay, I can breathe a little bit".

And finally, even if you do end up returning a book in horrible condition, NO ONE will know it was you! Or maybe the computers have a way of tracking you down. But at least you don't have to face anyone while you do your walk of shame. Just mope all the way up to the drop off box and make a run for it!

So you see what I mean with there being less pressure when borrowing library books? Really all you need to focus on is not losing it and not completely shredding it and destroying it.

And borrowing books from friends? Well that's a completely separate story...

See, while I'm pretty good with my books, I'm also not SUPER careful with them. I know some of you are really particular with your books but me? I don't really CONSCIOUSLY think to be really, really careful. Like I won't go out of my way to ruin it but I also won't go out of my way to preserve its newness... if that makes sense. So usually my books will end up with some bent edges and some smudges and that doesn't really bother me. I actually prefer it when my books look read. The worst part of a new book is having to "break in" the new book because it's so stiff when you're reading and just doesn't feel like COZY FAVOURITE BOOK.

And that is a problem when a friend lends you their book and it's in PERFECT CONDITION. Generally speaking, the pressure of borrowing a friend's book is already higher than that of borrowing a library book (as we have discussed) but when it's in perfect condition? YOU DON'T WANT TO BE THE ONE THAT RUINS IT.

And when it's signed and personalized? LITERALLY HAVING A HEART ATTACK.

Maybe you can surmise that that's the predicament I'm in right now...

I currently have Blue Lily, Lily Blue from my friend and guess what? IT IS SIGNED AND PERSONALIZED BY MAGGIE STIEFVATER. One of her favourite authors. So naturally I am freaking out because as we've already discussed, I AM NOT A PARTICULAR CAREFUL READER.

And it's also in perfect condition so there's that. Basically I really really really CANNOT ruin or lose this book at all. Because it's signed. I can't just get another copy because now it has SENTIMENTAL meaning.

I feel like I'm going INSANE over this book because I'm not used to being so careful with anything at all. I'm a naturally careless person. Ask my mom. Or dad. I lose everything, drop everything. I'm just not good at being so careful! And though I haven't done anything horrible horrible to it, I did accidentally drop a teeny bit of water on it and then freaked it and ended up rubbing some of the paper fibres off. Also there are some gray smudges on the freaking nice white cover that wasn't there before. And the ends are a little stubby now.

OH DEAR LORD. SOMEONE HELP ME.


What about you? Do you feel a burden when you borrow books? And do you get freaked out when you're borrowing a SIGNED book? Like this is too much responsibility for me, TAKE IT BACK. This is why I would not be able to be Prime Minister. Also the fact that I don't get politics at all and would just be horrible in every single other aspect but MOSTLY because I wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility. Anyway, leave me your thoughts in the comments!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

October 2014 Wrap Up



I feel like all I ever do lately are monthly wrap ups. Sigh. I'm still not sure what to do about this whole blogging thing. My heart just hasn't been in it. I have ideas that I think are really interesting but I don't have any motivation to put them into words. I'm still checking my Feedly daily but I have no interest in reading through all the posts and commenting. But I'm also not ready yet to totally call it quits. And I also don't want to because there is so much I haven't done yet and haven't achieved that I want to do. So I think I'm going to take it easy and maybe blog a bit now and then just to test the waters and maybe I'll fall back into it? Anyway, here's my wrap up for October! Not many books this month either.


Completed October 6, 2014
I've already written a full review for this book which you can view here! If you want the short version however, it basically starts with someone else urging me to read it, me being extremely hesitant despite all the positive things I had heard about it and ends me with finding The Raven Boys really enjoyable! It was a little confusing to follow along with and I wanted more MYTHOLOGY but overall, it was a really solid first novel in a series! I'm actually starting the sequel now which is apparently a BILLION times better so I'm excited!



The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes
4 out of 5 stars
Completed October 7, 2014
I had a total love/hate relationship with this book. There were things that really bugged me and that I didn't like but on the other hand, I was FLYING through this book and feeling the feelings so WHO KNOWS WHAT THE TRUTH IS? Like I found Lainey so incredibly annoying and immature and while it was much easier to tolerate towards the end, I still kinda hated her. And I kinda hated Micah too. On one hand he was sweet and on the other, just horrible and disgusting and not appealing at all. But like I said, I did read it in a day and enjoyed it even though I didn't love the characters so... Oh and I also wrote a review for this book even though I momentarily forgot about it...


Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
Completed October 19, 2014
3 out of 5 stars
I read and LOVED the first two books of this series and going into the third book, had a really clear view of what I wanted to happen. Maybe that was the downfall of our relationship. While I didn't hate it (it still had that addiction factor I found in the previous two books), it definitely was my least favourite out of all three. It probably isn't fair to have my rating be based so much on the fact that things didn't go how I wanted them to go but honestly I can't really subtract my disappointment from everything else about this book. It's been tainted.  I just... GOD, I'm so unsatisfied with the ending. And I didn't like how things with Mary and Lillia and Kat were handled. And how we didn't find out anything about any of the other characters. And the ending didn't make sense. Sigh. Definitely disappointing.

---

One more book read than in September! That's got to count for something, right? How was your month? What were the BEST books you read this month? And have you read any of these books? What were your thoughts?