Tag Archives: Books

January 20 – Organize my bookshelves

By Lu Posted in Books, Life Tagged , , , , , 11 Replies

There’s something about a long weekend Sunday that just makes you want to to get things done. You don’t feel like you’re “wasting” a weekend day on cleaning because there are three of them! So, I finally got around to doing a much-needed organization of my bookshelves and general sprucing up of the apartment. I decided to organize the books by category, starting with my unread non-fiction:

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Yes, those are two copies of The Wordy Shipmates you see. And, yes, I did buy both of them. Then I added in my poetry:

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Obviously I need a little bit more poetry to fill up that empty space.

Then, I got tired of taking pictures of each stage. I’m sorry I don’t have photographs to document it, but I organized the rest into unread BEA/nonrequested galleys, unread requested galleys, and unread fiction. Unread fiction was organized into want to read in the next few months, want to read sometime in the next few years, and unsure if I ever want to read.

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Here’s the finished unread shelf. The books I’ve read are stored in the shelves that are underneath the desk. As you can see, I stack my shelves back pretty deep, so if I don’t know where everything is, it’s easy to forget about books. (Hence the double copies of The Wordy Shipmates.) I’d really like to have the review copy quadrant (upper right) cleared out by BEA this year, so I’m going to try and plug away at that slowly but surely. Other than that, though, I’m just going to enjoy a bookshelf that is actually organized in some way and read what I want, when I want.

I’ve been thinking about doing a rotating library book, review copy, purchased copy, ebook, just to get through everything I have. It won’t be firm or anything, and pretty lenient since I read multiple books at once, but I tend to ignore certain parts of my shelves in favor of others. So, that’s something to think about. Maybe I’ll give it a try and see how it goes!

How did you spend your Sunday?

A note on life, books and blogging

By Lu Posted in Books, Life Tagged , , , , , , 13 Replies

Ah, summer. Every summer I find myself writing a post about how, shockingly, summer is never what I expect it to be. I always expect to have a ton of time to blog, but like every summer, this one finds me blogging a little bit less. I blog when I have the chance and I’m okay with that. There have been a lot of people lately that have been changing their blog, making it a more personal blog, and I love that. I love to hear what people are doing in their lives and I love to hear how everyone is. Because if I don’t know who you are as a person, how can I know who you are as a blogger? On our blogs we are who we want to be. I think most of us try to be as close to our real-life selves as possible, but we are still our best selves. Or rather, the best self we are capable of  projecting. I want my book reviews to be about the books, but I also want them to be about me. I want you to know how and why I relate to a book so you can know if you will, too. But I, too, get tired of just expressing that person through book reviews.

Regular Rumination has never been anything but what I have made it. I know what I want Regular Rumination to be and I hope you don’t mind that it has never been as well-organized as some other blogs, as focused or even as open. I admire bloggers who are able to turn their blog into a brand, but the truth is that Regular Rumination has always just been about me and my thoughts. Though in my professional life I have decided to pursue publishing, thanks largely to this blog and the connections I have made because of it, I want to let you know that Regular Rumination will continue to be what it already is: me, telling you about books. I don’t review the most recent books, I don’t get tons of review copies, I often leave my “Currently Reading” book photo unchanged for months, and I read what I want, when I want. I read YA, I read literary fiction, I read comics, I read nonfiction; I have a niche, and it is called words.

Sometimes the pressure is there to make Regular Rumination bigger than it is. Sometimes jealousy is there, I admit that openly. But the overwhelming majority of the time, I’m just as in love with my little corner of the internet as I was when I wrote my first post. Blogging has changed a lot since Regular Rumination began, mostly because social media is always shifting and changing and reinventing itself. I started this blog when the internet was still a place where you kept your name a secret, but the reality is that Lu, while a nickname that I use mostly on the internet, is as much a part of me and my identity as Leslie is. I have been some variation of Lu on the web since 2001 and while I sometimes contemplate going by Leslie, especially since I want to jump into the publishing industry, it’s never suited this blog or my internet identity. I’ll always be Lu here and that separation is necessary. I want books to present in every part of my life, but I still want this, my hobby and my passion, to be different from my job.

All of this began as a simple note, a note to explain one thing that has changed at Regular Rumination the last few months. I’m sure you’ve noticed more review copies and NetGalley titles. I wanted to express that this is not because I am not buying books, I’m buying and reading just as many books as before, but I’m in the process of moving, twice. So I will not have access to a library for at least another month or two and most of my books are in storage. For that reason, I have been reading review copies and NetGalleys to make up for the library books that I no longer have access to.

Life sometimes gets in the way of blogging, but blogging sometimes changes your life. My career has changed, for the better, and I have met such amazing people through Regular Rumination. I hope I’ll get to meet some of you in real life some day. For now, I’m happy with what this blog is and what it has become. I’m happy that I can write nearly 1,000 words about blogging and books and reviewing and feel that it has a place on my blog. I’m happy that I can ramble and I don’t have to apologize, this is my space and you have helped me make it what it is. I’m happy that I see Regular Rumination being my home on the internet for a long time. Thank you for being such a huge part of my little corner of the internet. Thank you for talking about books with me.

ABCs of Thankfulness

By Lu Posted in Life Tagged , , , 9 Replies

Happy Thanksgiving, USA.  Like last year, I’m going to come up with the ABCs of things I am thankful for.

Anne of Green Gables. Such a comfort read. Thank you for being there, Anne.

Books. Does this need explanation?

Cooking. There are few things in this world that I find as satisfying as cooking a delicious meal.

Dreams. I have some crazy ones and they certainly make sleeping entertaining.

Eating. I love to eat as much as I love to cook. Thankfully Thanksgiving is a holiday that let’s me do just that.

Friends. I have some fabulous friends. We are not always all together, but when we do finally get together, it’s like not a day has passed.

Ginger. Such a delicious ingredient!  We should use it more often.

Happiness. Sometimes we forget to sit back and think about how happy we are. We often think about our sadnesses, but how often do we say, “I am just so happy right now?”  I’m always thankful when I am so happy, it has to be mentioned.

Internet. Where would we be without the internet? Even though I lived (briefly) in a world without the modern conveniences of cell phones and internet and computers, I can’t really imagine going back.

Japanese food. Sushi! You are delicious.

Kaitlin, Kelsey and Claire. The sisters.

Literature. Like books, does this need any explanation?

Maps. I really love maps, both as art and as a functional object.

Nuance. Subtleties make life interesting.

Owls. I love owls!

Poetry. I love to write poetry and I love to read poetry.  So thank you, poetry, for existing.

Quips. Who doesn’t love quips?

Relatives.  Of all kinds, I am thankful for you.

Study abroad. My travels to Spain this year were certainly something to be thankful for.

Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present!

Underwear. I would certainly miss underwear if it weren’t in my life.

Vegetables. Exploring incorporating more vegetarian meals into my diet (not all the way vegetarian), and it is making me appreciate vegetables even more.

Writing. From blogging, to novel-writing, to poetry, I’m so thankful for writing.

Xmas. Just around the corner! I love Christmas.

Yesterday. Love the memories we made, so why not be thankful for everything wonderful that was yesterday?

Z, love of my life. Of course I’m thankful for you!

Enjoy the time with your family, enjoy the food.  Remember what you’re thankful for in your life today :)

Turkey cupcake photo from WishUponACupcake

Home Repair by Liz Rosenberg is both tragedy and comedy

By Lu Posted in Books, review Tagged , , , , , , , , 8 Replies

If I had seen Home Repair in a bookstore or at the library, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.  I know that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I usually do.  What can I say, I can’t help it, we make our first judgments about a book based solely on the way the publisher has decided to market it and I know exactly the type of reader they were trying to market here.  And that reader is not me!  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this novel and I’m very glad the author sent it to me so I wouldn’t miss it!

On the day of their garage sale, Eve’s husband Chuck walks out on the life they’ve created together, including his young daughter and older step-son.  His betrayal opens up new wounds and old ones, including the death of her first husband, Ivan.  Home Repair is both tragedy and comedy, with Eve attempting to survive the hand that life has dealt her, along with an ageing, obnoxiously adorable mother and several love interests along the way.

A lot happens in Home Repair and a lot of it is sad and a lot of it is funny, and just some of it is cheesy.  I really could have done without the recipes for the “heartbreak diet”, but ultimately, though, this book is touching.  It ends beautifully and openly, with no questions being answered very easily and nice hope for the future.  Along the way, Eve really grows as a person, living independently and successfully raising her children.   Though my own life  is far removed from Eve’s, Rosenberg really made me feel what it would be like to have to send your oldest child off to college for the first time and it definitely made me want to go give my mom a great big hug.  Charlotte, Eve’s mother, reminded me so much of my grandmother, it is uncanny.  All of the characters in this novel are superbly written, though there were a few secondary characters that I would have liked to see more fleshed out and complete.

I loved many of Eve’s observations: they were usually very lovely.  Here is one of my favorites:

“Change was the only constant.  The rest was mysterious.  Maybe that was why people loved mystery novels and detective shows, loved trying to solve crossword puzzles.  it was time to walk the dogs, lift their leashes from the hook behind the door, put on her winter coat.

The world waited, cold, grim, alive, beautiful.  There was no saying no to it.”  (185)

One thing that I think Home Repair deserves praise for is its multicultural cast, especially after reading this reflective  passage:

Apart from Mia, she wasn’t really close to anyone who wasn’t white.  Did that mean she was a bigot?  She was not blind to the color of people’s skin; she noticed and thought about it.  She felt a separation between herself and people who were black, or Hispanic or Asian, as if they were communicating not only across cultures, but across some secret wordless wide divide.  (211)

That’s really honest and that’s all we can ask for.  Though Eve never really makes final conclusions about race, her life is more fulfilling after developing relationships, friendly and almost-romantic, with people of different races.  Rosenberg is not afraid to include characters of different races in this novel, and Eve seriously considers and tries to understand race here and it is refreshing to see.  It shouldn’t be refreshing to see, it should be perfectly normal, but unfortunately it is not.    It is something that stands out and books like this should be praised for trying to change that.

So go read this!: now | tomorrow | next week | next month | next year | when you’ve exhausted your TBR

Also reviewed by: Bermudiaonion, Book Chase.

Thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this book to review.

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