The BookFetish Blog

I confess. 2012 got off to a S-L-O-W reading start with me. I just wasn’t in the mood to read. And I started panicking because here it was, mid- January and I hadn’t finished a single book yet and I have two challenges I’m participating in, and I had no idea what I wanted to read.

One of the Challenges I am doing is Bookish Resolutions, and my resolution is to read one book from my backlog each month.  I’m also participating in the ChickLit Plus reading challenge again this year.

In lending me some books last year, my friend Lisa came to the rescue. I stumbled across Undead and Unwed in the bookshelves in the study.  A chick lit book from my backlog! Two birds with one stone. And I’m back, people.  So, now that I’m back in the reading groove, let’s move on to my thoughts on the book.

Undead and Unwed is the first in the Queen Betsy vampire series.  When she was laid off from her job, Betsy Taylor thought her day couldn’t get any worse. Then, she was hit by a car and killed. Except she didn’t stay dead.  She woke up a most unusual vampire.

Undead and Unwed was published in 2004, before the Paranormal Romance phase really took off, and I wish I had read the book then. I like Mary Janice Davidson’s take on the Vampire rules and Betsy’s quirks. But I think we’re in a vampire overload right now, and it wasn’t fair of me to read the book with that take on it.

That being said, it’s a cute book. Betsy is a lot of fun, and she tries to maintain as much of her pre-death personality as possible. That makes for some fun reading when her ways don’t exactly mesh with what’s normal for vampires, much less the long fore-told Queen that Betsy finds herself to be.

I did catch myself smiling throughout parts of the book. Sometimes the banter was a bit much, but all the talk about fabulous shoes makes up for that.  There are some dated technology references (VCRs, for example) that for some reason distracted me, but once I got past that, I did enjoy the book.  I liked the powers that Betsy has, and how they are so different from other vampires.  I like Betsy’s living friends, and her relationship with them now that she’s undead.

Lisa also lent me the second book in the series, Undead and Unemployed, I plan to read that to see what happens next with Betsy and determine if I want to continue on with the series.   It was cute, and funny. I think fans of Paranormal romance with funny, likable heroines and brooding vampires will enjoy this quick, fun read.

Here I’ve started this project, and I don’t have  a good answer for this. I think I will know it when I see it.  But the definition of charming?  Pleasing and delightful. Its synonyms include bewitching, enchanting, and engaging.  What lovely thoughts for a life. The song that inspired this quest for me, Joan Armitrading’s This Charming Life, contains the refrain, “I live and love with you this charming life.”  And that’s what I want to be able to say about my own life.

There’s a lot of work to do on me, within this project, to be certain. And believe me, I’m working on that, in more ways than you can possibly imagine, and which I’ll talk more about later.

But part of it is also making a charming life around me.  You see, I will never be one surrounded by Lilly Pulitzer. It’s pretty, but it’s not me.  I have a gothic side. I like steampunk and iron and angles.  I like black. But sometimes this side of me gets too dominant, and I want to be surrounded by other pretty things.  I think it’s related to that whole I-want-to-wear-pink-and-purple thing.  So one of the first things I did was focus on my environment.

I added more dragonflies to the walls around my living room. I’ve always loved dragonflies, and I know this isn’t the taste of a lot of other people, but it makes me happy. I also traded in the sofa’s black slipcover and red throw pillows. Now, the sofa is covered in a soft, sage green with throw pillows in shades of purple. To me, it brings a sense of warmth and comfort to the room. It makes me feel as though it really is a place for me to live. I bought a comforter in shades of purple and white for the bed this winter, instead of the usual deep red that I use. I’ve resumed my habit of buying fresh flowers for the house each week. Small changes, yes, but ones that make my own home feel even more home-y to me.

It will never win a spot on a tour of homes, but that’s ok. I want my home to be a place where I can find enchantment and charm. And as I’m creating my charming life, it’s an easy way to make small changes. I’m hoping that some external changes will influence some internal changes… so stay tuned to see where this journey takes me.

So this is it! 1 January 2012.  Time to start my quest for a Charming Life.  And, today?  It isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. I mean, I’m still in pajamas.   Not hungover from last night’s awesome festivities, thankfully, but tired because it was a late evening. At least my “This Charming Life” playlist is on.  And, the kitchen is tidied. The new juicer and bread machine have their places. But it has given me time to think about what this Charming Life might be- or at least how I’m planning to go about discovering it.

First, I know there are a lot of people out there who are smarter than I am, who have been on similar quests for themselves, and who have knowledge and experience to share.  So I’m using those resources.   One of the first I am going to is Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. I first read The Happiness Project as part of my 2010 52 Books in 52 Weeks project.  It has stayed with me since then, so I downloaded the audiobook and have been listening to it for inspiration and insight. As Gretchen points out, everyone’s experience will be different. I’m also using Michelle Woodward’s Unstuck Process eBook. I’m reading some Martha Beck. And I’m taking a class called “A Year To Live” by Debra Joy.

That’s a lot of reading, and soul searching, and may or may not be all that much fun. So I’m doing some other things, too.  I’m taking time to be grateful for the wonderful people and events and things in my life. I’m reading for fun.  I’m following that urge to wear Pink that led to this whole project in the first place.  I confess, this part I started a little early. I bought new throw pillows for the sofa.  They’re purple.  It was time to retire the red for a while. I also got new linens (again, shades of purples) for the master bed and bath.

I’m also refocusing on being healthy. I think that is a key to everything else. I know I feel better when I eat right and get at least a little exercise. So the treadmill, even thought it is ginormous and I feel like it takes up half the living room, is ready to be used regularly now that all the holiday travel is over. And the fridge is full of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.

I’m also looking for how fun incorporates itself into a Charming Life.  I want to discover, through this process, what I really think is fun, and then indulge in it. I’m trusting my gut.  I’m working really hard at being open and dare I say it? Vulnerable. That one is a real challenge for me.

So this is it! 2012, bring it on!

Here are a few of my favorite reads from 2011.

One of the great reading discoveries for me from 2011 is Debora Geary’s A Modern Witch series.  I’ve loved all of Geary’s Witch books, but you can see here how my enchantment began.  Another perk to the series is that Debora loves hearing from her readers, so I’ve had a chance to email with her some, and it’s rare that you get that kind of interaction with an author.

A great rediscovery for me this year was The Perks of Being a Wallflower,  my 2011 Banned Books Week selection. As I mentioned in my review, I didn’t appreciate Perks when I first read it years ago.  I’m so glad that the person I am now can appreciate this beautiful book.

Laurel Osterkamp’s Campaign Promises took a very interesting premise of political events and campaigns and related them to life experiences. I didn’t know quite what to expect with this one, but I’m a fan of Laurel’s and that was enough to get me reading. I got a kick out of this one.

A couple of YA books really grabbed me this year.

I called Lauren Myracle’s Shine  one of the next important books to read. I loved the characters, the plot, the writing. This was a page turner for me. It had me thinking about aspects of To Kill A Mockingbird as I read it.

Veronica Roth’s debut, Divergent, was the other YA selection that I just couldn’t stop reading once I started it. Our heroine, Tris, is no Bella Swan (thankfully) or Katniss Everdeen. She’s her own person, a rebel, a bit of a bad ass, and a bit scared as she navigates her chosen faction. Still, she’s spunky, brave, the kind of heroine I think our girls need more of these days.  I cannot wait to see where Roth takes us next.

I didn’t read as much non-fiction this year as I did last year.  But, my hands-down favorite for this year is the one I just finished over Christmas: Following Atticus. Absolutely fell in love with Atticus M. Finch, an extraordinary Schnauzer.   His adventures with Tom Ryan make for great reading, and a wonderful exploration of a friendship.

The runner up in my non-fiction faves is Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Funny, charming, and with surprising insights, reading this book felt like catching up with an old friend. Or someone I would want to be my friend if I knew her in real life.

So there you have it, a few of my favorites from 2011. Yes, I know there are a few days left in the year. It’s highly possible I could read something that causes me to amend this list. I didn’t set a goal of reading a specific number of books this year. I didn’t even track how many I finished in 2011.  I didn’t blog them all.  There are a few I regret not talking about (The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth; In The Land of Believers) and I may tackle them later on.  I read because I love it and I blog because I love it. But sometimes things happen and I can’t get here for a few days, and then I can’t do justice to a book that I’ve read so I decide to not write about it.

I’m not setting a goal of a specific number of books in 2012, either. Although, I am participating in two challenges. I’ll still be reading a lot in 2012, but some of it will likely be focused on some other projects I am undertaking. Still, you know I’m always looking for a good book, so send on suggestions. And Happy New Year to you all!

It is unusual for me to read two books about animals so closely together. I just talked about Oscar the cat and his ability to comfort dementia patients and their families. Now I’m ready to talk about a spunky Schnauzer and his human, Tom Ryan. I don’t know where I first heard about Atticus and Tom, but when my friend Dena mentioned the book, it jogged something in my subconscious and I knew I wanted to read it. Well, after confirming that we’re still talking about Atticus in the present tense, I wanted to read it.

At first glance, Following Atticus is about a man and his dog and their adventures in winter hiking the 48 peaks in New Hampshire that rise more than 4000 feet. But this is just the mechanism for telling a deeper story of a friendship between a man and a dog, and what this friendship and their adventures together has taught the man.  Too, Following Atticus is a tribute to Maxwell Garrison Gillis, Tom’s first Schnauzer. In fact, Atticus’ full name is Atticus Maxwell Finch,  a tribute to both one of the greatest literary heroes of the twentieth century, and to Maxwell Garrison Gillis.  Although Maxwell isn’t a presence throughout the book, his presence is felt throughout the book.

I confess I teared up a few times reading this one. Some stories about animals just do that to me, but in this instance I didn’t mind it.  I feel like I know Atticus and Tom, and because as readers we are treated to such an intimate look at their friendship, the book made me hopeful. I had a little epiphany as I read it. See, I’ve been wanting a dog for ages. But I know I’m not living the right life right now to be a good dog owner and that it wouldn’t be fair to a dog to live with me.  Reading Following Atticus I had a completely new thought. If I got a dog, would that be enough to help create a life that includes a dog?   I think Tom experienced something similar, in a way. He integrated Atticus into his life immediately. But it was their experiences in the mountains that showed Tom that his life in Newburyport, MA, while good, wasn’t his true path. Hiking with Atticus helped Tom see himself in a new light and discover that there was a whole new life out waiting for him.

At one point in the book, Tom says, “Magic is where you find it; the only thing that matters is that you take the time to look for it.” When I read that, I had to put aside the book and write down that sentiment in the little notebook I keep with me all the time. I also quoted it as a Facebook status, and judging by the number of likes it received, this is a sentiment that we need to remember more often. I wasn’t expecting to be hit by a statement like that in this book. Anyone who dismisses Following Atticus as a book “just” about a man and a dog would be missing out on extraordinary story about friendship, self discovery, and  the importance of living the life you’re meant to lead. Unexpectedly, Following Atticus is one of my favorite reads for 2011.

Tom keeps a blog about his adventures with Atticus. You can check it out here.