Book Giving

There have been stacks of books, in the kitchen, at work.

Every morning, when I go to put my lunch in the fridge, I am greeted by a pile of books on the communal kitchen table. A sign on the side stating: "FREE BOOKS." And every morning, I pause, stumble, then keep walking to the fridge. I walk out of the kitchen and back into my cubicle.
Everyday there have been different genres of books stacked on the table. Yesterday they were all paperback crime novels. The day before hardback bestsellers. Today they were mystery novels. I couldn't resist. I stood there with my lunch bag in one hand and the other hovering over the books. It's been years since I've read a mystery novel. Thriller and suspense plots always make me anxious. But I recall the Nancy Drew series and how much they entertained me when I was in elementary school. I remember bringing a Nancy Drew book to a family outing and being told to put the book away and mingle. And I will forever remember that incident as the time that Nancy Drew got me in trouble.

I stare back at the stack of books. I pick up one on top. The summary on the back seems promising. So does the "New York Bestseller" sticker on it. I take the book back with me to my cubicle.

I want to know the mystery person slowly giving away their treasure trove of books at the kitchen at work. I want to know why they do it by genre. I want to know where they're going and why they're clearing out their shelves.

I like this mystery book-giver.

Mini Adventures For Now

These next few months are filled with so much activity and travel. I'm so excited to see where all the places Russ and I might end up going to (so stay tuned -- I'll share more as we solidify our plans).

Last week, Russ and I had a simple day trip to LA. We took a half day on Friday, drove up to beautiful Los Angeles and visited a bunch of cool places. One of which was THE LAST BOOKSTORE.

For all book lovers, this is a must-visit. I heard about this place from my friend Stephanie (hi!) and told Russ about it. He then told me he already had this place on his list of "Places to take Katrina on dates". We were in LA to originally submit some government documents but since that appointment went by faster than we expected, we searched to see how close this bookstore would be to where we were at. It turned out it was just around the block. So we didn't even have to pay more for parking. Yay!

It's easily now one of my favorite places to visit. There's even books arranged by color:

The place is so pretty.

Afterwards we went to an ice cream store, a mall, and Santa Monica pier. None of which I took pictures of but all were equally as fun. But come on, a giant bookstore will of course have more pictures and take a majority of this post.

That's all for now. Till next time!

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I made a mistake of only bringing one book during my family trip to Vancouver and Seattle. So when I finished the one book I brought, I spent two days waiting to get to a bookstore so I can get another novel. When in the airport in Seattle, I was able to buy a book from a small bookstore. I bought this book since I heard many good things about it.

Note to self: I must not read this in public. I find myself laughing out loud while reading this book. Mindy Kaling has a way with words that I will forever be jealous of.

Oh, and my favorite section is by far this one:

It is just so cleverly titled. Also, I relate to this chapter in a funny way. Though I was not bullied when I was little nor did I struggle with being chubby, I still forget nothing. Haha, this is not to say that I wish I didn't. 

One of my favorite passages from this section is when she talks about high school and directs it towards teenage girls. I agree and love this advice so much that I will put it on this blog in hopes that a teenage girl will stumble across this blog and take something away with it.

Sometimes teenage girls ask me for advice about what they should be doing if they want a career like mine one day. There are basically two ways to get where I am: (1) learn a provocative dance and put it on YouTube; (2) convince your parents to move to Orlando and homeschool you until you get cast on a kids' show, or do what I did, which is (3) stay in school and be a respectful and hardworking wallflower, and go to an accredited non-online university.

Teenage girls, please don't worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I've noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also a big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it's so wonderfully fair.  

 — Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Back to Basics

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Little Beauties by Kim Addonizio

I bought two books this weekend (and a bridal magazine)! I'm going to get back into reading, guys. It's time I filled my head with some beauty and got rid of worries and negativities. 

On a side note, today I was watching the ducks land into the pond and I couldn't get over how poetic it was. 

Books

(Source: Observando) 

Reading Good Writing

I miss good books. I know that there are many out there but it feels like for every one great and beautifully written book I read, I have to get through at least ten blah/boring/mediocre ones. I don't even know why I'm being picky seeing that my writing is blah/boring/mediocre. It's just...I miss good books and I miss good writing.