Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: bibliophile

  • My Current Reading List

    My Current Reading List

    I am a reader who often has multiple books that I am juggling, or on my to be read (TBR) list. I thought I would share the current books that sit there currently.

    The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix : This is one I am currently reading and it is very funny, very tongue in cheek and altogether quite entertaining.

    Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I am currently reading this one as well, and I am enjoying it so far. The NPR review was so intriguing I came home and bought it immediately.

    Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

    Crossings by Alex Landragin: I got this as a new member of the Fantastic Stranglings Book Club through Nowhere Bookshop which is owned by author Jenny Lawson. I haven’t cracked it yet, but I am excited to do so.

    Witches. Sluts. Feminists. by Kristen J. Sollee: I heard Kristen on the podcast The Devil’s Music with Pleasant Gehman and loved her style, so I picked up this book. I am excited to start it.

    Fat Girl Finishing School and Nothing is Okay by Rachel Wiley: Rachel is a Columbus poet who is so talented, and I have been reading these in bits and bobs. Fun Fact: I saw Rachel at the Fat Babes Club of Columbus Body Positive Pool Party last year and I was utterly star struck and just stared at her across the pool like a huge creeper.

    Great Godesses by Nikita Gill: More poetry. This is a gorgeous collection of poems based on mythology. I have been really inspired by poetry recently, and my next class in my MFA program is Fundamentals of Poetry.

    I have more books on the way that I ordered from local bookstores on Independent Bookstore Day Saturday. I am on a brief hiatus from school so I am hoping I can finish one or two of these.

    Are you reading anything fantastic right now? Are you a book juggler who reads more than one book at a time like me?

  • “He Couldn’t Believe it was only wednesday.”

    For the LGBTA+ book club at Prologue Bookshop we read the book The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I technically have until the end of the month to finish the book, but I devoured it in three days (It would have been less but apparently I actually have to work at work, how inconvenient.) This book is transporting, beautiful and shockingly prescient given the current climate. Immediately upon finishing I was ready to pick it up to read it again.

    The book opens introducing us to a social worker named Linus Baker. Linus solidifies himself as the most relatable character in the world as it is established that he is overweight and on a diet, he enjoys his job but hates his boss and he is having a bad week. “He couldn’t believe it was only Wednesday. And it was made worse when he realized it was actually Tuesday.” (Klune 18) One day he is surprised to be given a special dispensation by Extremely Upper Management to evaluate a very unusual orphanage.

    This book will make you laugh, cry, cheer and best of all think. It reminds us that our weirdness can be the best part of us. It teaches to use ones privilege to lift up those who do not share it. That it is not enough to not be racist, you need to be anti-racist. And, that family can look whatever way you need it to look.

    The House In The Cerulean Sea is a magical, magical, magical book and if you have not read it I cannot recommend it more. TJ Klune wrote to my soul with this book, and maybe he also speaks to yours. Buy the book from your local independent, and maybe even black owned, bookstore today.

  • Support Your Local Independent Bookstore!

    So, in Columbus we have this amazing bookstore called The Book Loft. It is a 32 room amazing monstrosity of a bookstore that is rambling and confusing in the best way. My friend told me that once former President Clinton wanted to shop there, so the secret service came in to check it out and promptly walked back out and told him that it was impossible to clear and he could not go in. It is unclearable by the secret service amazing!

    Of course with the pandemic issue they have had to close their doors to shoppers but they are still running their online business. Last week they announced something new they are doing, Malamarkus (the skeleton god of the book loft) Mystery Boxes. You pay them $69.99 and give them a genre, book style, or theme you like as well as your t-shirt size and then they send you a box with several new books they choose for you as well as some extras and a Book Loft t-shirt. It is a brilliant idea, so to get some new books and support my local bookstore I bought one.

    I ended up with a lot of books and adult mad libs and a gray book loft shirt. I am so chuffed by my new reading material. This is absolutely worth the price. Look at all this gorgeous bounty.

    So overall, support your local bookstores, and if you would like a Malamarkus Mystery Box you can order one here. Honestly support all your local businesses. Please. They need you.

     

  • “We are made of stardust and stories.”

    “We are made of stardust and stories.”

    I finally finished The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern on Christmas. I was looking forward to this book immensely because I absolutely loved The Night Circus. In fact I re-listen to the audio book of The Night Circus every couple of months; it is read by Jim Dale who brings such life and sympathy to the characters. I need you to know this as I tell you how I felt about The Starless Sea as I am fully aware that I am not the most unbiased source. I will say that when I read the last page of the book I cried, not because it was sad but because it was over and I had to leave that world now. It hurt my soul a little, and still does.

    Zachary Ezra Rawlins is the son of a fortune teller who narrowly escapes an adventure as a child. As an adult grad student he discovers a book in the library and becomes aware of just how close. The discovery leads him into a world of stories that lies beneath our world and just on the edge of a starless sea.

    The world Morgenstern created is so lush and complex, and is laid out in a language of fairy tale and myth in a way that feels as though it was written just for me. I fell into the world freely and gladly, my little escapist Pisces heart happy to be taken away and allowed to live with people out of time, and curious cats. I have read several reviews of the book that say something to the effect of “if you are the kind of person who likes this type of book you will love it but…” I guess I am just that kind of person because I thought the story was original and nuanced, and as everything is starting to come together toward the end of the book her ability to blend and reveal was beautiful and engaging.

    The characters, including our hero Zachary, are unusual, complex and quirky as are the settings. I learned from this book the names of the lions on the steps of the New York Public Library (Patience and Fortitude). I fell a little in love with all of the characters including the cats and with the beauty of the Starless Sea. AS said previously this was obviously a book that was written for someone like me, and I found it beautiful.

    If you are the kind of person who likes this type of book I cannot recommend The Starless Sea more. I plan to read it again and again while waiting for Erin to write me another beautiful tale.

     

     

  • Written Word Wednesday: The Evening of Writing Uncontrollably

    Written Word Wednesday: The Evening of Writing Uncontrollably

    The Evening of Writing Uncontrolably was this past Saturday at the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis, Ohio. My little sister, Traci,  came along to write with me, and we were joined by my friends Jill, Angie and Melissa. Traci and I got there and settled in a nice little nook in the fiction section between Janet Evanovich and Diana Gabaldon. Above us to the right was a bust of Shakespeare. It seemed like the perfect place to write. We settled in and got ourselves all spread out and happy.

    Jill came in a bit later, and was laughing because we had chosen the exact place she always uses when she goes to the library to write, which is often. I thought it must speak highly of the space. She went to get a snack and wander a bit, but eventually came back to settle in with us. Angie and Melissa came in after an hour or so, and joined us in our nook.

    I managed to write 2,866 words in the 5 hours we were there. That was with many drink, snack and bathroom breaks. And breaks to take photos in the beautiful library. We left at midnight, though we could have stayed until 2am. There is a strange naughty feeling being in a library after hours that I cannot explain though we all were feeling it. I felt like the night was successful, and fun, and I am so glad I went.

    I am probably (definitely) not going to win NaNoWriMo this year, but I have learned a lot about myself and my writing style. I am excited to try it again another time, maybe when I am not actively taking classes at the same time. I am glad that I tried though, and glad that I have worked on developing a short story into an actual novel, and one I will continue to work on. That makes the month a pretty big success to me.

     

  • Word Nerd – Spooky Edition

    Word Nerd – Spooky Edition

    I have mentioned previously that I am a certifiable word nerd. So for October
    I present my list of fun and unusual words for the Halloween season.

    1. exsanguinate : verb. Drain (a person, animal, or organ) of blood.
    2. necrophage : noun. An organism that eats dead or decaying flesh.
    3. lycanthrope : noun. A werewolf.
    4. therianthropic : adjective. Combining human and animal form.
    5. macabre : adjective. Disturbing because concerned with or causing a fear of death.
    6. revenant : noun. A person who has returned, especially supposedly from the dead.
    7. viscera : plural noun. The internal organs in the main cavities of the body, especially those in the abdomen, e.g. the intestines.
    8. vivisection : noun. The practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research.
    9. sepulchral : adjective. Relating to tomb or interment. Gloomy; dismal.
    10. charnel : adjective. Associated with death.

    Now you can liberally sprinkle these through your Halloween conversations and appear the smartest and most macabre revenant of them all.

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  • I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts…

    The paranormal has always held a fascination for me. I was always the weird girl who would check out books on hauntings, cryptozoology, witches, and anything else a curious seven year old could get her hands on. I already believed in ghosts because I had lived in a haunted house.

    At one point we, my mother and I, lived with my Grandparents in a nice 50s style ranch home in Heath, Ohio. It was a typical three bedroom one bath house with basement rec room. There were a couple of things that happened in that house. Sometimes late at night a man made of static would come out of my closet and walk toward me across the room. I would cover my face with my blanket, but then I could still feel him staring with his face inches from my covered face. That seriously creeped me out, and it should be said that I was afraid of the dark so there was always a nightlight on in my room, so all of this happened by soft light and not in the dark.

    The other thing that happened in that house was that sometimes I would hear an adult (my mother or a grandparent) calling for me, but when I went to them they would say they hadn’t called. Then I knew that my friends were calling me from the basement. The people in the basement were white and they would peek around the corner when someone was coming to see if it was me. They were smaller than the static person, but still had no real features just a basic human form in white. They would play with me in the basement. I remember that, but I cannot remember what I played with them.

    So…by the time seven year old me was checking out all the paranormal books from the school library I was pretty old hat with ghosts.

    Many years later when talking about that house my mom revealed to me that the couple who had lived in the house before us the husband had been killed in an accident at a local factory. The wife went crazy with grief and had painted nearly the entire interior of the house black. So that when grandma and grandpa moved in they had to work super hard to cover it all with white paint. I feel like some of mg experience in that house was just the remnants of the wife’s grief. I wonder if people still experience things there.

    I still believe in ghosts, and I am a witch. I feel like there are still many things in this world that have yet yo be explained and I am open to the possibilities.

    Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever had a ghost encounter?

  • Confessions of a Certifiable Word Nerd

    Confessions of a Certifiable Word Nerd

    I love words. I love the sound of them, learning the meaning of them and the joy of finding just the perfect word when I am writing or speaking. I love to play what my family calls Dictionary games; where you open the dictionary to a random page, find a word you don’t know and tell everyone all about it. I love that moment when I am reading a book and find a word I don’t know. I eagerly run to the dictionary or to google if my dictionary isn’t handy (I prefer the Webster’s Collegiate personally, but Oxford English is nice too!) and find out more about the word, and often write it in my planner if I really like it. My word of the year for last year was pulled straight from Neil Gaiman speaking about his friend Tori Amos, Coruscate which means to sparkle or reflect the light back. As an amateur etymologist and self professed word nerd, I thought I would share with you ten of my absolute favorite words. All definitions are pulled from Google Dictionary because my Websters is not handy at the moment.

    1. Zeitgeist : noun. origin – German, meaning: the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.  “The story captured the zeitgeist of the late 1960s”  Literal Translation: Time Spirit
    2. Kerfuffle: noun. origin – British, meaning: a commotion or fuss, especially one caused by conflicting views. “There was a kerfuffle over the chairmanship” 
    3. Petrichor: noun. origin – English, meaning: a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. “other than the petrichor emanating from the rapidly drying grass, there was not a trace of evidence that it had rained at all.”
    4. Onomatopoeia: noun. origin – Greek, meaning: the formation of a word from a sound associated with what it is named (eg. cuckoo, sizzle)
    5. Schadenfreude: noun. origin – German. meaning: pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune. “a business that thrives on schadenfreude” 
    6. Metanoia: noun. origin – Greek. meaning: change in one’s way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion. “what he demanded of people was metanoia, repentance, a complete change of heart” 
    7. Susurrus: noun. origin – Latin. meaning: whispering, murmuring or rustling. “The susurrus of the stream”
    8. Brazen: adjective. origin – Old English. meaning: bold and without shame. “he went about his illegal business with a brazen assurance” 
    9. Hyperbole: noun. origin – Greek. meaning: exagerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. “he vowed revenge with oaths and hyperboles” 
    10. Quixotic: adjective. origin – English. meaning: exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical. ” a vast and perhaps quixotic project” 

    What are some of your favorite words? Why? What do you love most about words; the sounds, the meanings, the way they feel when you say them?

     

  • Written Words Wednesday – Book Wyrm Post

    Written Words Wednesday – Book Wyrm Post

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    I believe I mentioned previously that I am a bibliophile. I consider myself a Book Wyrm rather than a Book Worm, because I horde books like a dragon. Today I thought I would share what book I am currently reading, and a couple of books I recently purchased.

    NorseMythologySpecialEdition

    I am currently reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. If you have ever read, or attempted to read, the Poetic Edda you know that it can occasionally be hard going and sometimes things just get lost in translation. In Norse Mythology Gaiman successfully modernizes the language of the myths, but loses none of the meaning and beauty. My favorite re-imagining in the book so far is The Treasures of the Gods which is the tale of when Loki stole Sif’s hair and, after being threatened by Thor, comes up with a way to get the Dark Elves (Dwarves) to craft her new golden hair. The twists and turns and Loki’s slippery nature are a very entertaining read.

    I am in the middle of reading the story The Mead of Poets, so I am about halfway through the book. That being said I would already recommend it highly, especially for lovers of mythology.

     

    Seth and I wandered into Barnes and Noble the other day, because I was wanting to pick up a Squirrel Girl comic or two. As you can see above I found one, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl – Like I’m the Only Squirrel in the World.

    I also picked up another Graphic Novel called Spell on Wheels by Kate Leth, Megan Levens and Marissa Louise. The tag line on the back reads: A road trip story. A magical revenge fantasy. A sisters-over-misters tale of three witches out to get back what was taken from them.  Sounds intriguing, right? I will report back with what I think.

    On a sale rack I found The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer for $6.98. I already have the book in audio form, but could not pass up a physical copy for that price. If you have not read this beautiful book, do it. Or buy it as an audio book and Amanda will read it to you.

    Happy Reading!

  • Writing Challenge – Day 28

    Writing Challenge – Day 28

    Day 28: Post five things that make you laugh-out-loud.

    I feel like I should add a disclaimer that I am, in fact, a laugher. I laugh a lot, and at seemingly everything. So…almost anything can make me laugh out loud. My husband and I just crack each other up all the time. It is a thing, I love it, and I think it is how the two of us stay sane. I love to laugh, and I will do it as much as I can. So…here is a list of things that will make me laugh every time.

    1. Those stupid pet videos of animals tripping, falling, jumping into things, making crazy faces, or the gif of the fuzzy cat saying Diabetus. I will watch them again and again and cackle. It is sad, and also makes me deliriously happy. diabetus cat  mqdefault
    2. Acher! I love this cartoon with all my heart, and it often makes me laugh out loud. Shit Snacks! archer
    3. The My Favorite Murder podcast. This is a new obsession of mine, and the hosts (Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark) are so funny. And, yes the subject matter can get heavy, but Karen and Georgia keep it fun and often laugh out loud funny. It has often been listed in the top ten comedy podcasts on Itunes.  Check it out! 427
    4. The Smartest Man in the World podcast. My celebrity crush, Greg Proops, talking about whatever takes his fancy, and keeping me laughing out loud at work. I absolutely love Greg.  Greg’s website. smartestman_4232
    5. Christopher Moore books. If you have never read a book by Christopher Moore do it. I recommend Dirty Jobs, as it is a personal favorite, and more than that recommend the audio book read by Fisher Stevens. But seriously his books are so ridiculously funny that I quote them constantly and crack myself up. So good.  Christopher’s Website chrismoore