boxes, schmoxes

Why unpack when there is reading to be done? Please. As if books are not the single most important inanimate objects in my world.
Here's a little walk down recent Book Memory Lane. Caro & I hit up Charis Books here in Little Five. Yes, it's your local feminist bookstores, and quite fittingly painted lavender. There, I picked up Crescent, which was oh-so-wonderful until the end. I think, though, that it was still worthwhile, despite my bitter disappointment in the author for what I thought was a cop-out of an ending. It's very to-the-minute, talking about the war in Iraq in a deeply personal way. It's set before Saddam's overthrowing, so it's good for a bit of perspective. (And for those of you who don't know that I'm obsessed with Iran & Iraq, now would be a good time to tell you that I am, in a cultural way, obsessed.)

Last Friday, Lindsey & I went to Decatur, where we were able to visit Little Shop of Stories. Oh. My. Goodness. They are living my dream. They have BOOKS and ICE CREAM. Yep, together. In one store. As in, get a cup of mint chocolate chip AND look at books. (Although, they don't encourage you to get the books sticky, which is probably important from a financial perspective.) We won't even talk about how wonderful the people are who work there, or how many precious families were bringing their kids to get BOOKS (not video games), or how they have Petit Nicholas translated into English, or how they have two whole sections of books for adults. No. Instead we are going to talk about The Penderwicks which may be the best book written for 4th-5th grade girls in the last decade. Or longer. It's up there, for me, with Anastasia Krupnik & everything Beverly Cleary ever wrote. Words cannot describe how beautifully & timelessly it is written, and how magical the plot is. Here's the best part: there is not a wizard in it! So much fiction written since our little lightning-bolt friend started raking in the moola has focused on Fantasy that writers of fantasy-in-the-real-world can't seem to get ahead. It's about girls, but I think boys could be encouraged to enjoy it (there are some male characters who are very important), and there's enough action to keep it moving for reading aloud. I'll hush, but you should read it. Now.

And, finally, the nice postman brought me a box from Amazon, which contained this:
Now, I do stalk Amy Karol's blog. I may in fact be on the verge of becoming a groupie. Nonetheless, this books rocks, and actually has projects in it that I will complete. I know this because I already want to give some of them away, so naturally I need to go & buy the fabric that will let me make them!

So, now you know why IKEA bookshelves are an integral part of our home decor. It's a problem, I'll admit, but it's better than heroin, right?

One final note: my partner for Garboodle's Soup's Vintage Kitchen Swap is Maria, of the Junk Drawer. Check out her cute site & her Etsy link. I'm excited to get shopping!