WEEKEND LIBRARY READING is a feature of Reading In Winter! If YOU make use of your local library, feel free to participate. I work in a library that has a HUGE selection of awesome books, and even when I’m not working I seem to come home with a TON of them, so it only makes sense to showcase some of the beauties I plan to read from my local library over a weekend.
Not a bad week for library reading …. it’s nice to see the piles dwindling on my kitchen table. I’m TERRIBLE for taking out heaps and heaps of books and just staring at the piles of them while I have my breakfast. Isn’t the library great for that?
Here’s what I got last week:
My thoughts:
One More Thing by B. J. Novak
This book was kind of a surprise pick up for me. I hadn’t intended on reading it, but I kind of loved Mindy Kaling’s book that I figured this one would be along the same lines. I was so wrong! I had no idea that this one was a collection of short stories and not a memoir/autobiography. Right off the bat, I was laughing out loud. It’s great that I loved B. J.’s sense of humour before I started because this book probably isn’t for everyone. I would liken it to how I really disliked Tina Fey’s book, mainly because I don’t watch her show and I just don’t know her sense of humour. But this one was perfect. I loved that the stories were short enough (with a few exceptions) that I could put it down when I had to and pick it back up when I had time and I didn’t feel like I was lost or anything. It was also fun because a few stories kind of overlap ideas, like a story with a guy in a red shirt, for instance. It really is a fun book to read and I love the simplicity of the cover design and everything. I’m glad to have seen this one on the new book list at the library or I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. I’ll be keeping an eye out for other books by Novak in the future, that’s for sure.
Flight, Volume 1, edited by Kazu Kibuishi
On a positive note, this was a really, really quick read. I think that’s one of the reason I’m starting to feel a little burnt out on graphic novels. On the one hand, they’re great if I want to feel accomplished and close a book after the last page having read it ALL. But on the other hand, I feel like I’m being too easy on myself. I need something meatier. Anyway, this was a decent book. Like I had mentioned, I took it out mainly because I love graphic novels AND because it had a short by Vera Brosgol, who wrote Anya’s Ghost, in it. While there were a few stories I really liked, I have to be biased and say that I think Vera’s was my favourite. There was a great mix of stories in this collection and I like how they all dealt with flight. There was dreamy stories, violent stories, and just plain weird stories. The art was extremely varied — some simple, some extremely complicated. There were some stories that I just didn’t get at all, but I guess that’s okay. All I can say is that this collection really has something for everyone and is a great way to find a new favourite illustrator. I’d be interested in trying out some of the other volumes of this series, too.
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No new books for me this weekend. I’ll be taking a little break from library posts since I can feel the books on my shelve staring me down!
Have you read these books? What are your weekend plans?
