Reading About Reading About Stealing

I've been struggling to come up with posts for the last few weeks. You may find that hard to believe, what with the pictures of undead grilled cheese men and verbatim snippets of conversation, but it's true. And it's not even my usual fall back excuse of being lazy, it's because I've been reading. Feeding my mind instead of polluting yours. Probably a good thing for everybody.

But it's also dangerous. Or at least a health hazard. The last week or so I've noticed my hands and wrists have been getting sore (stop it right there) but I couldn't figure out why. Then last night while I was tossing and turning in bed because I couldn't sleep I figured it out (seriously, stop it). I rolled over to look at the clock and couldn't see it because it was lost behind three of the books I'm currently reading. Two are usually on the floor and whatever I finish before turning off the light stays on the nightstand, but last night all three were up there. I decided to throw them on a scale and see what I got.

That's 8.9 pounds of books. 2720 pages of carpal tunnel. No wonder my hands hurt, and I have big hands. (That's what she said!)

Also, I seem to have accumulated a massive back log of reading material as well, a situation my Christmas job at the book store only exacerbated. You know the problem with working in a bookstore? It's full of books. It's also filled with people who generally like books, many of whom get very passionate about books they've read and think you should read them too. And the books? They just keep coming. Day after day the delivery truck drops off boxes filled with new books or sometimes even old books to resupply dwindling stock. Books that you've never heard of or books that you've always wanted to read. It's cruel, really.

I read two really good books over the holidays that I meant to post about at the time but never got around to, and both were about thieves. First up is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's about a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany and it's narrated by Death.

Now I don't really do book reviews, don't get in the subtle aspects of this or the yadda yadda of that, but if I really enjoyed a book I want to share it, and I loved this book. Zusak is one of those writers that not only tells a good story, but he does it beautifully.

"When Max heard the news, his body felt like it was being screwed up into a ball, like a page littered with mistakes. Like garbage.
Yet each day, he managed to unravel and straighten himself, disgusted and thankful. Wrecked, but somehow not torn into pieces."

If you haven't read it, put it on your list.

Next up is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

I spent a lot of time working in the kids section while I was at the book store and saw so many copies of this leave I decided to check it out for myself. Think Harry Potter, but instead of the main character being a wizard, he's a half-blood Greek god. Coincidentally, the first book in the series comes out in theaters next week.



Like Harry Potter, this is one of those kids books that you'll love reading as well. I'm going to read the rest of the series and I'm looking forward to reading it to my kids when they get older. Hopefully the movie is good as well.

This is the part where I should be wrapping everything up in a neat and tidy conclusion, but this post is long enough as it is. So, the end. Plus, I've got the start of a man-cold and I'm pretty sure it's a new hybrid strain of tuberculosis and ebola.

What? It could be.