Girl’s Gotta Read

In Knoxville, Tennessee, there’s this place called McKay Used Books. And we lived literally one minute away from it. There are no words to describe the kind of happiness that comes from pulling into that parking lot and knowing the amount of cheap used books inside. Let me tell you, Jamie and I could get into some serious trouble there. We found ourselves quickly running out of bookshelf space, what with our already huge collection of books from growing up and then from college (I was an English major and he was a history major, so you can only imagine.) Multiply that with my pack rat tendencies and Jamie’s refusal to let go of any book he has read, and let’s just say the amount of insanely heavy boxes we’ve had to move across the country and back the past couple of years is kind of insane. What can we say? We love books. Not only just reading them, but collecting them, the physical act of flipping through their pages and smelling that new book scent.

So when we moved away, we never thought we would find another McKay. Until a few weekends ago, when I happened to stumble across an ad for this new place in Birmingham called 2nd & Charles. Well, 2nd & Charles is McKay… ON STEROIDS. If there’s a place we could literally stay all day, it’s here. The abundance of cheap used books is fantastic, but I was also really impressed with how good of a job they did with their branding and marketing and design of the actual store. (Just go check out their website. Seriously.) It ain’t your grandma’s used book store. I mean, when you first walk in, your eyes go straight to the back wall, which is this:

If we had that many books that we didn’t actually plan on reading, I would most definitely make a wall like this. I was mesmerized by it.

Lately Jamie and I have gotten in the habit of reading for an hour or two every night in bed before we go to sleep, and I’ve really come to love this quiet time. Sometimes it just feels so good to turn the computer and TV off at the end of the day and curl up with a really amazing book. It has brought me back to my childhood, when I used to prefer reading to doing anything else. When other kids would be watching TV or playing outside, I would be reading. I took a book with me to the breakfast table, read on the bus, sometimes read during class when I could, and spent evenings sprawled on my bed reading. Sometimes there is nothing more wonderful than getting lost in a really good book.

That said, here are the last few books I’ve read in the past month or so. I might love books, but I’m no book snob. (Shakespeare? Don’t care for him. Respect him, but can’t just sit down to read his plays for kicks and giggles.) I have no shame picking out books off the New York Times bestseller list or from Oprah’s book club. Seriously. A good book is a good book, whether it has mass appeal or not.

The Girl Who Played with Fire: The past couple of times I’ve been stuck in airports for long layovers, I’ve picked up Stieg Larsson’s books. I finished this one, the second one, not long ago, but I’ll probably wait until the last one comes out in paperback before I buy it. (I don’t know why, I just don’t like hardcover books. They’re beautiful, but so much harder to read.) Larsson is a tremendous writer, and Lisbeth Salander is by far one of the most complex, powerful, and interesting heroines I’ve come across in a long time. These books are the definition of page-turners, so if you’re looking for one to get caught up in, start out with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: I just started this one a few nights ago, but I am already in love with it. It is just a beautiful novel. I have a feeling this one’s going to go into my top 10 by the time I’m finished. In fact, I can almost guarantee I’ll read the last 50 pages with tears and snot gushing all over my face. (Jamie knows to give me my space when he sees me reading a book in this condition. :) ) This is one of those classics I’m sad I was never introduced to in all the jillions of literature classes I’ve had over the years.

Water for Elephants: This book was… eh. Part of the reason I wanted to read it was because I knew there was going to be a movie made about it (is a girl not allowed to have shallow reasons?!), and because the setting of a train circus during the Great Depression seemed really interesting. It was definitely entertaining and even educational, but not one of those that really resonated with me emotionally. I think I’ll still see the movie though, because I think it will translate really well visually. We shall see!

Naked: Oh, David Sedaris. If you haven’t read any of his books… oh man. Get on that immediately. Because it’s getting closer to Christmas, I would start with Holidays on Ice. It’s short and sweet, but when I read it in Borders for the first time, I was literally laughing so hard my side was in stitches. Right there in the nonfiction aisle. Oh, and it’s even better if you buy his books on audio… his voice REALLY takes the humor to a whole new level. Did you know that his most recent book, he released on vinyl? How awesome is that? Naked is one of the only books of his I hadn’t yet read for some reason, and it did not disappoint.

The Help: Two reasons I couldn’t wait for the paperback version of this one to buy it. One, I love Southern novels, especially those written by women. Two, I knew there was a lot of controversy surrounding the book, what with a white woman writing from a black woman’s perspective, in the 1960′s no less. So I was really skeptical, but also intrigued. I, personally, think Kathryn Stockett handled the challenge really well. Racial issues are so politically charged, but I think her treatment of the relationship between white women and their “help” back then in Mississippi is really well done. I felt connected to all the characters, and even though the ending is kind of… well… open-ended, overall, I really enjoyed the book. I think what I loved most was the author’s note at the end, in which Kathryn talks openly about the challenge she faced. Here are two excerpts I adore:

“I don’t presume to think that I know what it really felt like to be a black woman in Mississippi, especially in the 1960′s. I don’t think it is something any white woman on the other end of a black woman’s paycheck could ever truly understand. But trying to understand is vital to our humanity. In The Help there is one line that I truly prize: ‘Wasn’t that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.’”

“The rash of negative accounts about Mississippi, in the movies, in the papers, on television, have made us natives a wary, defensive bunch. We are full of pride and shame, but mostly pride. [...] Mississippi is like my mother. I am allowed to complain about her all I want, but God help the person who raises an ill word about her around me, unless she is their mother too.”

o o o o o o o o

As always, I love getting suggestions for new books to read. I gotta know what to be on the lookout for next time we find ourselves in 2nd and Charles. :)