School Days: Cartoons from the New Yorker

School Days: Cartoons From the New Yorker 2010

Weight: 8 oz

Method of Disposal: Gave to a friend at brunch who will later most likely leave it in a lending library...

Despite having learned about Bookcrossing while in college, this is the first released book I ever found.  I found it in a lending library in Decatur, GA after having Sunday brunch with my crew.  It was particularly exciting because it had a little kid's drawing as an extra inside.  I was less than impressed with the actual cartoons in the books though and had no qualms handing it over to a friend after the following Sunday's brunch.  Being a minimalist, I am sure it will find its way back to a lending library.  Being that we often brunch in Decatur, it may find its way back to the very same one.  Who knows?

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/14158612

Joe Jones

Joe Jones by Anne Lamott
1985
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal:Leaving at Oakview Manor in Savannah, Georgia

I have lived in Georgia thirty years and never been to Savannah until now.  I am super excited to check out this city that so many people talk about.  I've heard the claims.  It is beautiful, crime-ridden, scary, gothic, boring, amazing.  I have heard it all, but so far so good.

The house we are staying in has books in the kitchen, the bed rooms, the living rooms.  I plan to leave mine in with theirs in hopes that travelers find it and read it while they are here.  I have always had a soft spot for Anne Lamott ever since my friend Sarah introduced me to her when I was 16.  She will be a little different that the books laying around here, probably more character driven and a little less dark, twisted.  Joe Jones focuses on a group of people who gather around a local cafe in the South.

O.K. I am being rushed out the door!  More later if I am sober enough to type ;) We are celebrating a friends 50th.

Do Not Deny Me

Do Not Deny Me: Stories Jean Thompson
2009
Weight:9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Left on Bainbridge Island in front of the grocery store

I want to write this whole blog about how amazing Do Not Deny me is, because it is so very amazing.  The first story brings you in strong and the last story ends strong.  You are not flipping any pages trying to see when it will end.  I am in love with the way she presents American dysfunction, and I cannot wait to get my hands on her book, Throw Like a Girl.

Unfortunately, that is all I can say on that right now.  I am far more focused on the fact that two black men were shot dead in the United States in the past two days.  Philando Castile and Alton Sterling.  Two more names to add to an incredibly long list of black people killed in this country unjustly.  Two more human beings with family, friends, loved ones who are most likely mourning, scared, and confused right now.  How do you make sense of a death like that?  Some of us can turn it into a cause or movement, some of us will be debilitated from it for some time, and some people cannot risk doing either of those things.  Some people have lost the people they love and they should not have to fight this fight.   We need to stand behind them, support them, affirm that black lives matter.  Don't be quiet in your discomfort.  This has got to change.  

Rescuing Sprite

Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish by Mark R. Levin
2007
Weight: 10.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in a Lending Library in Decatur

The plumber came by to investigate an obnoxious and overwhelming smell that infiltrates our house every time we take a shower, wash dishes, or clean our clothes.  He walked in the basement and saw my mementos and memorial boxes of the many dogs I have loved and asked Harriet if they were for deceased dogs.  She said yes, and proceeded to lead the poor guy down the road of "Laura is actually crazy."  She decided not to admit I was a shelter manager, which only makes me look worse.  I do not intend to keep them forever, but I want to find the best way to memorialize all the dogs that have touched my life and, in almost ten years of work at an animal shelter, there are a lot of them.

I absolutely understand why other people and write and read books about rescued dogs and the families that love them, but I never understand why I do.  I read Rescuing Sprite, inevitably crying a bit, and thinking I hear so many sad animal stories on a daily basis.  Why am I doing this to myself?  This is like answering the phone at work on any given day.

But it is not really.  It is wonderful to hear about a nice, loving, generous family who loves the senior, ill dog that they adopted and does not blame the shelter for the things they could not know.  It is refreshing to hear about that dog's retirement and how good it was and how grateful the family was to know Sprite.

I am going to leave this one in the lending library and hope it opens someone else's eyes to rescue.

Modern Romance and Swallow Me Whole

Modern Romance Aziz Ansari 2015
Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell 2008
Weight: 2.8 lbs
Method of Disposal: Leaving in parking deck for Human Rights Museum

I am back at work and fighting to catch up after a 5 day staycation with my boo.  It was SO nice to disregard all responsibility, hang out 24/7, and treat ourselves.  I am not quite ready to let it go.  I feel like there are so many incomplete things.  I started a painting of our puppy, Whiskey.  Will I ever finish it now?  Harriet and I started a big conversation about some big life things.  When will we get back to it?  I got rid of these two books.  When will I ever have time to blog about it?  Hence, the reason I am up at 3 am instead of resting up for the alarm to go off again.

I picked up Modern Romance without knowing a thing about who Aziz Ansari was.  I have been filled in by several people about how absurd and nonsensical that is.  I think it was better this way though.  I really enjoyed the book and found it interesting, bizarre, a little scary, a little hopeful.  I did not love the jokes, but I just kind of ignored them.  The people I know who love him seem less impressed than me and, as far as most of them go, I think it is because we are looking for different things from him.  And/or I was able to read it without hearing his voice and was able to take it more seriously.

I could not get into Swallow Me Whole despite the gripping cover.  I get the feeling it was more of a me problem than the quality of the book.

I hope someone found them in the parking deck and was excited to take them home!