The BookFetish Blog

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “Thinking” post.  But it’s time for one now.

I believe in paying attention to intuition, to signs, to the subtle things that tell you your “normal” might be a bit off.  I’ve been having one of those moments lately.  I’ve never been a pink girl. Remember that scene in Steel Magnolias where Shelby said her wedding colors were blush and bashful and Melynn said they were pink and pink?  I would never have that conversation. I shied away from the color most of my youth, instead preferring reds and greens, blacks and silvers. As I have gotten older, pink, in very small doses, has worked its way into my life.  But I’m still not a pink girl.

Then about  a week ago, I had a sudden urge to wear pink. Not fuchsia (I can barely even spell it. Seriously. I had to look it up), not rose, but pink. Pale pink.  THIS IS NOT ME.  This was even a Facebook-worthy posting because people who know me well reacted to the statement that I felt an urge to wear pink the same way they did when I announced that I was on my way to a Britney Spears concert – shock, disbelief, and wondering if I’d lost a bet.

Still, I have wise friends and more than one of them advised me to go with this urge.  Of course, it is November and there isn’t much pale pink to be found.  Instead, I have added some lavender and rose colored items to the wardrobe.  I don’t know yet what is driving this urge- if it is a desire to be softer, maybe more feminine; if I’m just tired of the black in my closet, or if it is the dreary fall weather that is making me want some different shades. At any rate, I’m going with it.

And late this week, I had another realization. I always write in black ink.  Always. Work or personal. Black ink.  Work I get.  And I’m fine keeping work writing in black ink. But what would happen if in personal writing- cards, my journal, the grocery list- I used a color other than black?   So, when I was at Target yesterday, I came away with pens that write in green, and turquoise, purple, orange, red and blue. In short, any color but black.  And I am looking for opportunities to use them.  I am fascinated by the idea that the urge to use more color in both my clothing and my environment might be related to some locked creativity or self-discovery.

Now I’m on a mission to fully suss this out.  I’m deliberately choosing colors other than black and red to wear every day. I’m taking an extra moment to write in some other color.  I’m trying to be open to any other little messages that might be out there, waiting for me.  I’m trying to be more open, more vulnerable in general.  I want to see where being open to this creativity – to more color- may take me.

I’ve been watching “The Office” for years.  And Mindy Kaling is pretty entertaining to follow on Twitter.  Her “Things I bought that I love” blog feature was the inspiration for my own occasional postings of “Things I Love That Start With…” So when I heard she had a book coming out, it was promptly on my pre-order list.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) is a humorous, sometimes poignant and always entertaining series of essays covering everything from Mindy’s childhood to the success of the “Matt and Ben” play she co-authored and co-starred in during college, all the way to her days as a writer for The Office.

Not all the essays are about showbusiness, or even comedy, but they are all entertaining. In fact, I read the whole thing between Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. So, why did I love this one? I have a list.

1) Mindy is real.  Of course she’s real but I mean real in a not-Hollywood way. She doesn’t have a perfect figure. She admits she likes to eat. She says  “the reason is because” sometimes in the book and her editor didn’t even make her change it.

2) She celebrates her quirkiness. She even shows off her childhood pictures- big glasses, slightly chubby, somewhat androgynous looking- and proud of it

3) She doesn’t try to be all Hollywood cool- she admits to being a dork, and being geeked out by some of her celebrity encounters.

4) She’s authentic. The whole time I was reading, I felt like I could be sitting down with a girl friend, catching up on gossip.

5) She makes up revenge fantasies in her head to make working out easier.  Seriously. I make up stuff in my head all the time, but I haven’t tried this and now I am so going to.

6) When I read her pleas to married people on behalf of us singletons, I couldn’t help thinking that she knows my friends Amanda and Jim and Amanda hasn’t told me they are totally hanging out with Mindy Kaling.  Of course, she doesn’t really know them (I don’t think) but she might because the type of relationship she wants her married friends to have is what I think Amanda and Jim have, and it’s nice.

I could go on and on, but I won’t. This is just one of those books that was a true pleasure to read, and I really enjoyed it.

“Imagine… You have a virus on your computer. It’s tracking everything you do and sending that information to the Collective. It can’t be detected by any virus scan or blocked by any firewall. If you have a microphone, they are listening. If you have a webcam, they are watching you. But they aren’t just watching. Flashes of light from your monitor are communicating with your subconscious. You are being brainwashed.

Dr. John Peterson discovers the virus and embarks on a mind altering search for the origins of the infection driving his patients mad. He discovers the Collective, and they discover him. A battle rages between the Nemesis virus and the ArchAngel network with the fate of mankind in the balance. Will man succumb to Nemesis and become drones of the Collective or rise as billions of individual archangels to light the world with freedom? One man, one woman, and a network of hackers hold the key.”

Such is the story of Maxwell Cynn’s The Collective and anyone who loves a thriller- especially with a cyber edge- will enjoy  The Collective. I especially enjoyed the underground counter culture of Arch Angel as they battle the Nemisis virus.

As I was reading, I kept getting flashes of the film “A Beautiful Mind” and if you’ve seen the movie and read this book, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

The only criticism I have of the book is that I wanted MORE. Just when I was completely sucked into the story and couldn’t wait to see what happened next, it started coming to a close.  But that’s the sign of something good- you just want there to be more and more pages to turn.  I want to check out Cynn’s other work, Cybrgrrl, too.

This month’s ChickLitPlus challenge is The Thing About Jane Spring.

Thirty-one year old Jane Spring is a rising star in the Manhattan DA’s office. She’s smart, driven, has great legs- all in all, she should be a great catch. But no matter the first date, there’s never a second. Jane can’t understand why.  It certainly can’t be her self confidence and acerbic assertiveness, or can it?

After spending a night snowed in with a bottle of wine and a Doris Day movie marathon, Jane realizes that Doris Day always got her man. Jane decides to become more like a Doris Day character and see what happens- can being ultra-feminine really make life that much better for Jane and find her true love in the process?

I liked this story, but at the same time, I struggle with some of its message.  I hate to think that being anything other than ourselves is truly the way to find happiness. Yet at the same time, I get the point of the story.  I’m the only woman working in my office. We talk football and technology. And cars. Well, the guys talk cars. Me, not so much.  We don’t really talk about shoes unless we’re talking about Metro Jeff’s latest finds.  Unless I’m seeing clients, I usually wear jeans to the office.  Throughout my day, when I leave my office, I’m relatively unnoticed, just going about my business.

But on the days that I wear a skirt to the office, I notice that I get noticed more when we go to lunch or if I go downstairs to get my coffee. So whether or not I want to admit it, I think there is something to Sharon Krum’s point.  Now, I’m not sure any of us would go to the full extent of being Doris Day that Jane Spring does; she really goes all out. But it is an easy to read story that does make you think about how putting your best self forward may impact your life in completely unexpected ways.

I thought it would be fun to share, every couple of weeks, what I’m currently reading. Please share any suggestions that I need to add to the “to-read” pile.

God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens

Brandwashed

Y, The Last Man (my first graphic novel series)

Anarchy Evolution

Physics of the Impossible

Mockingjay

A lot of these I read a bit at a time, so don’t expect posts on them all soon