Book tale

I already told you that I loved this book. I truly did. I was thinking about the characters for days after I finished it.

And I just had to show you the cover because of how beautifully simplistic it is. And those colors...I'm totally into that color combo.

Anyway, this little book found me in the YA section of the black hole 2 weekends ago. It was on a recommendation shelf with another book I had just finished. I tried out about 20 pages and then put it back on the shelf.

That's my book store thing. Try something out. Read enough to get a feel for the story. If it's still talking to me days later; if I can't stop thinking about the characters; if I'm still dying to know what happens, well, then I go to the library and put it on hold.


Books are so freakin' expensive and I could spend a fortune on building this giant library. But then I live in a cottage the size of a shoe box and I wouldn't have room to do anything else but have bookshelves full of books. That just doesn't seem like the best way to spend my money....although I really want to sometimes.

This book was still talking a day later, so onto the hold list it went. And gleefully it appeared at the library a mere 2 days later. I finished reading it in 2 quick sittings and was sad when it was over.

Anyway, after I finished If I Stay..., I vaguely remembered that there was another book by the same author on that shelf. And I was secretly guessing and hoping that maybe it was a sequel.

So, off to the black hole I went again this past Sunday, determined to find this book. And there it was on the self in the exact spot I remembered.

I almost ran over and scooped it up and made a bee-line for the magazine section where there are a few benches (when did book stores stop having soft cushy chairs? I miss that...). I sat down and hurriedly flipped the pages to the beginning of the story. And I disappeared for almost 2 hours. Rooted to that spot with that book cradled in my hands. I ignored everyone around me. Didn't even really know they were there. I got about halfway through the entire book and looked up kinda bewildered at where I was. I glanced at my watch and then had to force myself, several times in vain at first, to close that book and not purchase it that minute. It was tough.

I went home and put it on my hold list immediately. And then the long, long wait began. Today, I couldn't take it any longer and went to the library, convinced in my head that it was there waiting for me on the "hold" shelf and I just didn't get the email. It was. I snatched it up and scooted out of that library super fast and dashed off to finish my errands (a new boat battery that didn't fix our problem. grroannnn.)

I read it at stop lights. Eating up all the short paragraphs. It was crazy tonight, but as soon as I finished the day, I went home and instantly plopped down on our porch couch with it in hand. It was a perfect night. Semi-cool, twilight, beautiful sunset. I turned on the twinkle lights when it got too dark. I finished up the rest. I couldn't stop until the last page was read and the last tear had fallen.

It's no Harry Potter or Anne of Green Gables, but it sure was good. And it sure was fun to be caught up in a story again and to live and breath new characters. Sometimes I think the thrill of reading has more to do with the experience of a good book than the actual book itself. It's the escape. The free-falling imagination trip. The caught-upidness of the whole thing. There's nothing like it.

Yes, I am a total book nerd.

The end.