You know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

My friend Brooks has a list of books to read before he dies. We were talking about this the other day, and he told me it would be decades before he read through those 250 books. I laughed at him and said, “Well just start reading. It’s not that hard!”

And so he challenged me to see who could read the next book on his list first. The book? The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

It’s possible I’m in over my head.

But Brooks’ list of books to read got me thinking. I have a long to read list, but it’s determined mostly by what people have recommended lately, the New York Times Book Review or whichever great deals I’ve come across in recent weeks. (A month ago, some friends who were moving to Boston invited a group over for an open house. They’d covered their dining room table with books they were getting rid of. I filled a bag, and I still have to read the better part of my library sale books!)

I don’t know what would fill my list of books to read before I die. Would I fill it with obvious choices–the (rest of the) Bible, classics I skipped in high school, childhood classics that I somehow missed out on? I still can’t remember if I read The Chronicles of Narnia as a child, although I am slowly working my way through them as an adult. Right now I’m so distracted by the books that have taken up residence in my kitchen (because that’s where normal people keep their unread books, right? Right?). Instead of destroying Brooks in this challenge, I’ve been tempted by the books I’ve heard about over the past several years–Water for Elephants, The Kite Runner.

Tonight I added yet another book to my list. My uncle struck gold with his birthday gift to me: a gift card to Books-A-Million and a second to Joe Muggs. With time to kill on a Saturday night and a book club pick still unpurchased, I decided to spend an hour wandering the aisles of a bookstore. My generous uncle refused to tell me how much the gift cards were for, and I was so shocked (and excited!) by their $75 sum that the bookstore clerk teased me for not spending it all in one trip. My sole purchase was Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink–one more tome to add to the ever-growing list.

I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that I may not win Brooks’ challenge–not because I’m busy, but because I’m busy reading so much else. But win or lose, I’ve got a second book on my must-read list. I will finish The History, even if it takes me 60 years.

I’m writing you to catch you up on places I’ve been

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

I misplaced my camera a while back. I say misplaced instead of lost because I know it’s in my apartment, somewhere. In the months since it went missing, I’ve relied even more heavily on other people for photos.

Well, both Elisa and I were camera-less for last weekend’s Jazz Fest in New Orleans… but this is what I would have shown you, had I the means.

  • An overcast, windy day
    We arrived at the festival an hour after it started on Friday. Mission one: Food. (We both had crawfish etouffe and cheap, flavorless, domestic beer. I quickly learned that Jazz Fest is all about the food.) Mission two: Set up camp. The main stage wasn’t terribly crowded, perhaps because the sky promised rain. A less crowded festival and breezes to keep us cool made for a glorious afternoon.
  • A dork with a book
    The sky finally delivered just before Stevie Wonder’s set. Everyone scrambled for their ponchos when it began sprinkling, then pulled them off when it cleared up, only to scramble again 10 minutes later. The rain was persistent, forcing me to protect my book from the weather and read through my translucent orange poncho. (Yeah, that’s right. I said I was forced. Putting the book away was not an option!) Someone out there actually has a picture of this… the people next to us found me pretty amusing, I suppose.
  • A dancing hippie (or a few thousand dancing hippies)
    While I was racing toward the final pages of Paper Towns, Elisa threw back her hood and danced in the falling rain. Neighboring dancers even invited her to join them. I suspect she might have had as much fun as I did reading my book!
  • The best festival moment, ever
    As Stevie finally launched into “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” (thank you, California Raisins, for introducing me to this song so many years ago!), the sky responded with equal abandon. Rain poured on what remained of the crowd, and the New Orleans Fairgrounds became a beautiful, muddy dance party. (I was still reading, for a few songs longer anyway.)
  • The aftermath
    The rain returned early the next morning (not that I know from personal experience–I slept through the storm!). By the time we returned to the festival, it was a barely-controlled mud pit. We spread a beach mat below our chairs, prepared to throw it out at the end of the day. We’re smart girls–appropriate shoes and appropriate attire meant that the only mud on us was from our fellow spectators stepping on instead of around us.
  • The look on my face when I realized Community Coffee uses powdered creamer
    Not. OK.
  • Two sleepy girls
    A day in the sun, surrounded by Parrotheads, makes for two smelly, exhausted girls. I was so disgusting when we returned to our hostess’ house that I sat on the floor instead of furniture while I awaited my turn to shower. But exhaustion didn’t keep us from making a late night fast food run…
  • A gorgeous day for eating outside
    We skipped the final day of the festival, instead sleeping in and taking a lazy Sunday morning. I met an old friend who lives nearby for lunch. We sat on the restaurant’s deck, with a view of the water a block away. It was the kind of day when you never want to go inside again.
  • A dork with a deck of cards
    Yeah, I played solitaire on the (passenger side) floorboard of my car during the drive home. And I lost. Every time.
  • Two happy girls
    Road trips with friends have to be one of my favorite things. I could do without gas prices and travel time, but without them, would we have six hours of Beatles, multiple boxes of Nerds and more enthusiastic laughter than I can recount? Doubtful.

I may not have anything physical to show for a long weekend away, but I have memories, music and friends. Sometimes, misplacing your camera isn’t so bad.

Get back to where you once belonged

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

Reasons why you should not read in the morning before work, No. 1:

Because it is nearly impossible to leave for work when you know that you’re 30 pages away from finding Alaska (or concluding the search for her, at least), and you can’t read and drive because that’s not safe, and oh my GOSH how are you going to make it until lunchtime without finishing your book? And it’s right there, in your purse, waiting for you. And you know it. And your friends all already know what happens, but what happens isn’t necessarily the point so much as how much you adore this author is the point. And you can eat and read, and do your makeup and read, and sometimes even walk and read (although you didn’t think to try that on the way into the office this morning! Dang it! Four lost minutes of reading time!), but you certainly can’t read and write. And so, Alaska must wait.

But only for three hours and nine minutes.

There’s a time you hold your head up, say it doesn’t hurt so much

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

I’ve been feverishly working my way through my book sale, book swap and other unread books for the past month. I returned everything I had on loan from the library, and notices of holds ready for pick up have gone unanswered. I’ve started to read books on loan from friends once or twice, but they’ve been quickly abandoned for my own growing collection.

I’ve made a little bit of headway, too–The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; Ghostgirl; Plainsong; A Year in Provence. But that’s got to stop.

As summer slowly draws nearer, I’ve got to reduce my personal reading to the occasional interlude. It’s time to focus on Alabama authors instead.

As if that’s such a trial–this is perhaps my very favorite part of my job. Last year I got to live the dream. I spent weeks in coffee shops, stacks of books surrounding me, as I whittled a list of 60-some prospective titles to the 18 I recommended in the article I wrote. I interviewed a rock star of the Alabama literary world, and my coworkers and I recommended some of our all-time favorite books. I’ve been looking forward to this year’s article ever since.

It’s easier this time, because I’ve been paying attention to new releases through the year. I’ve already settled on probably half the books I’ll include and am still expecting several others to arrive soon. (I’ve even started my list for 2009!)

Yeah, my job’s pretty great. I know. The hardest part of this assignment is that it brings me face to face with the fear that I’ll never write anything so magnificent myself.

Why don’t you tell me something good?

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

We all know I’m addicted to reading, but I have to admit my addiction includes a lot of blogs–my friends’ blogs, music blogs, local blogs, other work-related blogs, news blogs, and of course, book blogs. I read these quotes today on {head}:sub/head and thought they merited repeating.

In So Many Books (which should be required reading for anyone thinking about publishing, Gabriel Zaid notes:

“If not a single book were published from this moment on, it would still take 250,000 years for us to acquaint ourselves with those books already written.”

“Maybe the measure of our reading should therefore be, not the number of books we’ve read, but the state in which they leave us. . . whether the street and the clouds and the existence of others mean anything to us; whether reading makes us, physically, more alive”

So silent and peaceful in the darkness where we fell

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

Further evidence that I am a dork (and that my eyesight isn’t my first priority):

 

I read until I couldn’t keep my eyes open last night—which was probably around 10:30 p.m., knowing me. I talked myself into putting the book down because I knew I would have time to read the last 50 pages before I got ready for work this morning.

Then, I lost power in the storm. No worries. I finished my book by cell phone and candlelight instead.

(If anyone wants to borrow my copy before book club next month, let me know! Non-book club members welcome–we’re bringing in the author and inviting friends and family.)

I want you so bad, it’s driving me mad

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

Emma loves books

I’m not the only book lover in my house. (Emma requests that you ignore how massive she appears to be in this picture. I didn’t dare change angles for fear that she would evacuate her book fort.) 

Last week my friend Lauren sent me an email, reminding me that one of the local libraries would be holding its annual book sale over the weekend. She intended to drive down there on her lunch break Friday, and I thought I should do the same.

I completely forgot about it until I was driving to her house on Saturday night. I briefly mourned my forgetfulness, then dismissed the thought. Surely all the best stuff would be gone by Sunday, I thought.

I could not have been more wrong.

I spent Sunday afternoon with another friend, Elisa, and when I arrived at her apartment she quickly told me about all the wonderful books she bought the day before. At some point we would take a break from our day’s project, we decided, and she would take me to the library sale.

Oh my word.

The sale was divided into two levels, and we started (and in fact, ended) in the basement. There were tons of people, lots of hustle and bustle, and I’ve never talked so much (or so enthusiastically! and loudly!) in a library. I started selecting books carefully, browsing the shelves and critically thinking about how much money I would spend.

Then we realized that a brown grocery sack of books cost only $7.

Elisa grabbed a bag and I dumped my armload of books inside. And we began grabbing every must-have book we could find. If I spotted a favorite that I already owned, it went in the bag for her. She must have selected at least seven or eight books for me. By the sale’s end, the bag was brimming over, filled with plays, classics, food books, novels… and days and days of reading to come.

We left the library on a book high. I was so excited that I literally turned cartwheels. (She followed suit.) Even hours later, I literally jumped up and down while telling friends about how many books I’d acquired.

I can’t wait to get home and stare at the beautiful pile of pages on my bedroom floor.

  1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Of course I already own it. I just couldn’t abandon it there on that shelf, and I figured I could find someone who doesn’t already have a copy!)
  2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (I’ve never read any Dickens!)
  3. Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Childs
  4. Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantock (I read this one last night. It’s beautiful, and now I need the rest of them.)
  5. The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton (One of many books Elisa tossed into the bag for me. I returned the favor!)
  6. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
  7. Macbeth by Shakespeare
  8. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (One of the first books I picked up upon arrival. This was before we realized that a bag of books was so cheap. My sister’s former roommate recommended this to me; it’s been on my list for months.)
  9. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
  10. The Chicago Manual of Style (Did I mention I’m kind of a dork?)
  11. Love’s Labour Lost by William Shakespeare (This is a beautiful edition—so pretty, in fact, that I was tempted to cram the entire set into my bag. But they wouldn’t have fit, and all of my favorite plays were already gone.)
  12. 1984 by George Orwell (I love Animal Farm.)
  13. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (When I was a substitute teacher several years ago, I was showing this movie to the AP English class. They were so precious—the kids stayed in my class during lunch so they could finish watching the movie. “We want to see how it compares to the play,” they explained. I figured if they were that curious, surely I should read it as well!)
  14. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (PS, 10 Things I Hate About You is still my favorite teen movie.)
  15. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (This is one of several books on this list that I pretended to read in high school. Please don’t tell Mrs. Robertson.)
  16. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I actually read and loved this one in ninth grade. I had fun discussing it with my pastors’ sons at church last night!)
  17. A Separate Peace by John Knowles (I think I actually read this one, too!)
  18. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  19. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
  20. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (I was lectured at work on Friday because I had never read this one. I’m very excited about it.)
  21. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (I started reading this when I lived in Tuscaloosa, but had to return it to the library before I was done.)
  22. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
  23. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  24. One Writer’s Beginnings by Eudora Welty (Welty is one of my coworker’s very favorite authors. I probably should have snagged everything I saw with her name on it.)
  25. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (I just watched a movie based on a Peter Mayle book this weekend, so this was very exciting.)
  26. French Lessons by Peter Mayle (Oh, and have I mentioned that I like to think I ought to be French?)
  27. The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden (I am super excited about this one after listening to Elisa talk about it.)
  28. In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson (I’ve never read Bryson, but I’ve been meaning to for years.)

(And yes, I realize I estimated 32 books. But Elisa also got eight, so really my estimate was over, not under.)

A time to laugh, a time to weep

Posted on by Carla Jean Whitley

I joke about my various maladies all the time–and I’m even a hypochondriac about being a hypochondriac–so don’t take me too seriously when I claim to be a little bit OCD. But I am, and that rears itself in my obsessive list-making habits. I’ve got lists of everything–grocery lists, lists of guys I’ve dated this year, lists of things I need to save money for, lists of every article we’ve published in the last year.

But this is my favorite list: books I’ve read this year. (My mom gave me a book journal as a stocking stuffer, and I have already loved putting it to use.) Of course, every list has its rules. (OCD) Books that I’ve read multiple times in a year count each time. Books that I haven’t finished (even if I’ve come dangerously close, even if it’s more of a gift book than a book really meant for reading cover to cover) don’t count at all.

In rough chronological order, and copying my friend Kari’s style, these are the books I read and often loved in 2007.

January
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner (f)
If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News From a Small Town by Heather Lende (nf)
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster (nf)
The Lucky Shopping Manual by Andrea Linnet (nf)
The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket (f)

February
Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach (nf, book club)
Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield (nf)
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (f, book club)

March
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (f, reread)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (nf, book club)
Because She Can by Bridie Clark (f)
Here’s to Hindsight: Letters to My Former Self by Tara Leigh Cobble (nf, reread)

April
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling (f)
Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (poetry, summer reading)
William Christenberry’s Black Belt by William Christenberry (art, summer reading)
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (f, summer reading)
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond (f, summer reading)
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace (f, summer reading)
Blood and Circumstance by Frank Turner Hollon (f, summer reading)
Alabama Moon by Watt Key (f, summer reading)
Red Clay Suite by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (poetry, summer reading)
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (f, reread)

May
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (f)
Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (f, reread)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (f)

June
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (f)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (f)
When Harry Met Sally by Nora Ephron (f)
Big Fish by Daniel Wallace (f)
See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America by Logan Ward (nf)

July
Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown: Notes from a Single Girl’s Closet by Adena Halpern (nf)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (f, book club)
Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love by Anne Fadiman (nf)
Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster (nf)
The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart (f)
Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way by Taylor Hicks (nf)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (f)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling (f)
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas (nf)
Leaving Birmingham: Notes of a Native Son by Paul Hemphill (nf)

August
Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship, with Recipes by Amanda Hesser (nf, reread)
Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor by Linda Wells (nf)
If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder and Liberation by Janine Latus (nf)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (f)
Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Elyse Schein (nf)
Strange Skies by Matt Marinovich (f)
The Coma by Alex Garland (f)
Here is New York by EB White (nf)
Dixieland Delight: A Football Season on the Road in the Southeastern Conference by Clay Travis (nf)
Five Men Who Broke My Heart by Susan Shapiro (nf, reread)

September
When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin (f)
Hurricane Season: A Coach, His Team and Their Triumph in the Time of Katrina by Neal Thompson (nf)
Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Contentment by Linda Dillow (nf, reread)
The Best of Friends: Two Women, Two Continents and One Enduring Friendship by Sara James (nf)

October
Slam by Nick Hornby (f)
Life on the Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and a Daughter by Alice Kuipers (f)
Bar Code: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene by Stephanie Naman, et al (nf)
Songs Without Words by Ann Packer (f)
Here If You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup (nf)
The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia (nf)
The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (f)
How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privelege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill (nf)
Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (f)
Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type by Isabel Briggs Myers (nf)
Crowded Skies by Tara Leigh Cobble (nf)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffengger (f)

November
The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (f)
Cormac by Sonny Brewer (nf)
Love You, Mean It: A True Story of Love, Loss and Friendship by Patricia Carrington, et al (nf)
My City Was GOne: One American Town’s Toxic Secret, Its Angry Band of Locals and a $700 Million Day in Court by Dennis Love (nf)
The Year of Living Biblically: Oen Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by AJ Jacobs (nf)
ESPN Guide to Psychotic Fan Behavior edited by Warren St. John (nf)
Crowded Skies by Tara Leigh Cobble (nf, reread)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffengger (f, reread)

December
Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford (nf)
The Agnostics by Wendy Rawlings (f)
Changes that Heal: How to Understand the Past to Ensure a Healthier Future by Henry Cloud (nf, reread)
Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table by Ruth Reichl (nf, reread)

By my count, that’s 76 total books. I might go back later and count up how many were fiction and how many were non-fiction, and how many were rereads, but then you might really think I’m crazy.