Because I am a Book Nerd: Out of Print Book Tees for a Good Cause

Because I am a Book Nerd: Out of Print Book Tees for a Good Cause

I know I have been slow-moving with the darn summer reading list.

Summer is almost over! 

But I haven't forgotten, and John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany

is sitting at my house just waiting to be ravished.

Anyway despite my procrastination

I am a self-proclaimed book nerd.

and when I saw these sweet shirts from Out of Print

which feature, you guessed it,

out of print book covers on tees

my little black heart skipped a few beats.

Add to that the fact that for every shirt you buy

a book gets donated to an African charity

and woo-wee I need to get me one of these babies.

P.s. for the fashion focused, these tees in  my opinion are always flattering

and feed into the whole "I'm really not trying which is exactly why I am so cool and look so good" style. lol

Did I mention they have a blog?

Yeah, like I said, they are bad-ass.

A Litte Summer Reading List: Book One Review

A Litte Summer Reading List: Book One Review

Little book readers out there, my apologies.  Never have I had such a difficult time finishing a book as I have with Charlie Huston's The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. If anything I am usually the crazy recluse who shuts herself in her room until the last page is devoured, ignoring responsibility and the bfs pitiful pleas that I see reason and go make a meal. I'm the annoying kid at the front of the class with my hand up at the end of the day answering questions the teacher hasn't even asked yet, much to the annoyance of my classmates who would like to leave the confines of those little desks.

Not this time ladies.

This time I couldn't even pick it up without cringing. I came up with excuses not to read it. But in the end I gave in, I do have blog readers counting on me and all lol.

Why folks did I dislike this book? (If you couldn't tell all that harrumphing was meant to convey my dissatisfaction with the read lol) I didn't love this book because of two main reasons.
1. I felt the author may have an uncontrollable urge to make love to himself & possibly marry himself. and
2. What plot?

So like I was saying, after reading five minutes into this book I got the distinct feeling that the author was having an affair--with himself.  Now this could just be a reflection of the personality of the main character Webster Goodhue who is a self proclaimed "dick". Mr. Goodhue really is such a "dick". Why? Well because he won't shut up about it! We get it, something really bad happened to you and your defense mechanism is sarcastic smart-ass humor, but seriously there is only so much I can take. I mean the amount of times the man calls himself a dick, someone else calls him a dick, the word asshole is used both by & against him. It's mind boggling.

So why am I taking this out on the poor author? Well for one he wrote the nonsense and secondly the amount of witty banter going on made me feel like I was in a witty banter contest with the author trying desperately to prove to me how he is the king of said witty banter.. Does anyone remember that show Gilmore Girls? How at first you are impressed at how quickly they chat with each other & how clever their comments are, but by the end you are saying wow please stop this is just getting tiresome.

Part two of my complaint about this story is the slow-moving plot. Now its not like I need something happening every second of the book. Maybe it was because of my preexisting frustration with the dialogue that I felt the plot was lacking. So within the first half of the book we know there is this guy Webster Fillmore Goodhue who used to be a teacher. Something traumatic happened and now he sleeps all day & mooches of his wealthy hippie mom & his tattoo artist best friend Chev who he lives with.

Everyone is fed up with his bs. So he takes a shitty job (literally) with the Clean Team, a group of roughnecks who clean up crime scenes & dead things (and by things I mean people). Classic tale of competent guy avoiding life after a tragedy.He gets involved with questionable girl (Soledad) after cleaning up her dads suicide.At this point SPOILER she has been kidnapped by another group of roughnecks who are after her brother for a  business deal gone bad. Did I mention this deal was over almonds? Apparently almonds pay a pretty penny. Oh yeah and Soledad may or may not be involved in this suspicious business.

Ok so it sounds like a lot is happening, but granted it took getting 3/4 of the way through to get to this. And it's ridiculous.And not the kind of ridiculous I like.

On a positive note if you are an Angeleno you may like this as it references a lot of areas around L.A.Kind of fun. Also the Clean Team plot line is interesting but I'm pretty morbid so I like those types of things. I was thinking it would be more about that business.
I still believe there's hope for it being a show. . .if they just focused a little more on the lives of the people whose remains he handles. . .much more interesting. Like Six Feet Under.

All this negativity aside much respect for the author. I could never get a book down on paper so I can't be too judgmental :)

Anyway I'm not even done yet. . .agh! but I'm so so close. . .just wanted to post this for those who are done to let them know the next book is  

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

so if you are ready go ahead & get reading that! I loove John Irving. I'll post the new book in the sidebar when I finish the first one! I promise by this weekend

A Little Summer Reading List, Book One

A Little Summer Reading List, Book One

So if you read my blog on an anywhere-near-regular basis you know that I have grand ideas that many times may or may not come to fruition 

I blame this on  my mom.

I don't know how yet, but I know it's.her fault. She probably didn't feed me enough leafy greens or something.

Damn that woman. lol I kid, I kid. Obviously she did something right because here I am living and breathing.

Ok back to the point ( sorry it's Friday or as I call it "Everyone has ADD Day"), I had a little project in mind that you probably thought I had forgotten, given-up on, danced-around or burned at the stake with all my other failed projects.

If you thought that, you were wrong!

In the time you spent eating your daily meals, getting your nails did, and thinking I was a flake, I have been scouring the earth for a good read or two.

I'm sorry that's a lie. Do you want to know how I found the first book in the Little Girls Summer Reading List?

I will tell you my secret if you promise not to think less of me.

I found the book that you (some of you) agreed to join me in reading, on one of my favorite celebrity gossip sites.

I know, how embarrassing!

Anyways I was reading somewhere that HBO was coming up with a new series based of yet another book. Now since I am a fan of almost all things HBO I thought, great I can finally get a chance to read the inspiration before they produce the show!

And if any of you watch True Blood you know that HBO series can be full of cheese & great subject matter for a lite summer read. 

So my first book that I will be reading and you will be pretending to read following along with, is 

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death

"With a style that is razor sharp, an eye that never shies from the gritty details, and a taste for stories that simultaneously shock, disturb, and entertain, Charlie Huston is one of a kind. And The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death is the type of story–swift, twisted, hilarious, somehow hopeful–that only he could dream up.

The fact is, whether it’s a dog hit by a train or an old lady who had a heart attack on the can, someone has to clean up the nasty mess. And that someone is Webster Fillmore Goodhue, who just may be the least likely person in Los Angeles County to hold down such a gig. With his teaching career derailed by tragedy, Web hasn’t done much for the last year except some heavy slacking. But when his only friend in the world lets him know that his freeloading days are over, and he tires of taking cash from his spaced-out mom and refuses to take any more from his embittered father, Web joins Clean Team–and soon finds himself sponging a Malibu suicide’s brains from a bathroom mirror, and flirting with the man’s bereaved and beautiful daughter"

Read the entire synopsis here

So ladies, it's your challenge if you are willing to accept it. lol. It sounds a bit outrageous and macabre, but that's my fancy. Did any of you like Six Feet Under? I read somewhere that Charlie Huston uses black humor & I said to myself, sign me up! I love postmodernist absurdity. I'm hoping this will read something like a John Irving novel but it may be wishful thinking. Oops don't want to give too much away because book number two might be a John Irving classic. ..

P.S. I am only sharing one book at a time because I'm coming up with them as I go along lol.

So is life.

I will have the participants posted on my sidebar ASAP since the reading list is officially starting!

Adieu (for the moment)

Adieu (for the moment)

I really love this image by Gallery 32, Trina Baker photography


I'm almost off on my longest road trip ever.

If you are a pray-er, you might want to say a little prayer

for the bf.  Because Rachel in a car for six hours is bound to be exciting.

There will be laughter & tears, plenty of snacks, god-awful radio karaoke, & the ever present possibility of a complete mental & emotional meltdown.

I do not like car rides. lol

But I wanted to leave you with a little reminder

that summer is just beginning

and there are plenty of adventures to be had & great reading to be done.

So keep an eye out for my summer reading list!

Here are some participants so far.

Check them out, they rock.

Add your name, or add a book!  

You never know what type of things you might end up reading

if you leave the decision making to me!

and if you don't like reading that's ok too.

Because I really hate math. Like alot.

So no hard feelings :)

Bits & Baubles

Little Blue Deer
Gorgeous Glam
Miss Makes Alot
Daydream Believer
Coeur de La
The Sassy Steel Magnolia

These blogs are all great, & each in their own way which makes this very exciting.
Once the list is up & running anyone participating will have a special place in my heart
on my sidebar so that people can
1. See how cool you are for reading books lol
2. Have a chance to read your blog because random blog finding is so fun!

Friday Freebies (and T.G.I.F)

Friday Freebies (and T.G.I.F)

Martha Stewart Bookplate Download

Design Sponge Bookplate Download

Wedding Style Bookplates & Gift Labels

Ok so to get you all excited about this upcoming Summer Reading List (it will be so fun, & I promise not too many books!) I am doing a Friday Freebie post dedicated to books.

No, I am sorry I am not giving away free books.

But I am linking up to some awesome free bookplate downloads.

Compiled from a few different sites, these can be placed on the inside cover of your books

so that when you lend them out (or share amongst a book club--ahem)

you can make sure you get your favorite stories back!

Not to mention these are oh so pretty.

I love to go through thrift shops & see the little notes on the inside cover of books

written way back when

by  thoughtful gift givers 

to us ravenous word devourers 

These could bookplates could make great X-mas gifts

if paired with a book or two.

Hope you enjoy!

A Little Summer Reading. . .

A Little Summer Reading. . .

Once upon a time there was a little girl. She faced life with long awkward limbs and big pink-framed glasses. Her hair fell at her waist and was often compared to a bird's nest due to its wonderful affinity for snarls.

For this reason (and many far more embarrassing)

she loved to spend time at the library, and especially enjoyed the summer reading lists.

She would read all the books long before summer was over

and the library would often reward her with $5 gift certificates for ice cream

or a small bagful of candy and bookmarks.

But the real prize for her was the adventure found in the stories

and the escape it provided from the 100 degree weather in the Valley.

I used to just adore summer reading lists. For me it was part of the great whirlwind that only summer vacation can produce. Even thinking about it now I still get that excited feeling, as though I have two completely free months sprawling out before me just waiting to be filled with fun-only activities.

But alas, adulthood has claimed me as it's own and I've been forced to bid farewell to those carefree days.

Kind of.

So here's the deal: I was thinking I would still love to do a summer reading list and would like to create a little bloggy book club!

I've been harassing other book-savvy bloggers out there to take on this project but I figured if I really want this I should tackle it myself. So keep your eyes peeled for an invite you will be receiving and comment to let me know if you are interested or email me! Also let me know if you would like to contribute to the possible list.

I think it could be so fun! I would love to post a linky list on my sidebar of all the blogs participating and we could encourage each other along the way. You know you want to. :)

At the very least it will get me back in the saddle reading again!

my email: littlegirlshinyworld@yahoo.com

Please email me so I get something besides African lottery announcements and Viagra ads.