True Crime

Poisoned Love (2005) by Caitlin Rother
The End of the Dream: The Golden Boy Who Never Grew Up and Other True Cases (1999)
Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder (1988)
Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal (2007)
By Ann Rule
Weight: 2 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

That question of true crime again.  It just does not seem right to get entertainment from other people's loss, and I have trouble finding a way to make it not entertainment.  I see the usefulness in learning, predicting, preventing--like in the case of domestic violence (Too Late to Say Goodbye), but is that why these are national bestsellers?  Or why there are so many crime shows on tv?  We are horrified and scared, but also enthralled by evil.  Is it because it lives within us?  Do we need something more evil than our evil so that we do not feel so bad?  Do we need to be heros who solve the crimes?  Do we need to see the clues so we can feel confident that it won't happen to us?  I don't know.  I am done getting sucked into these shows and books.  There are some things I will never understand and senseless murder is one of them.

Spirit of the Polar Regions

Spirit of the Polar Regions: Explore the Icy Wilderness of the Arctic and Antarctic  by Gerard Chesire
2007
Weight: 3. 7 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

I have been fascinated with the (Ant)arctic since I was a small girl.  Mostly because of the penguins but also because I am in awe of whales and polar bears and anywhere I may never get the chance to go.  The animals and the icy blue landscapes are beautiful.  I use to daydream about becoming a scientist so that I could make it to Antarctica to see the Emperor Penguins in all of their tall, eerie, glory.  Now, I dream of volunteering for penguin rescue off the coast of South Africa...

Gone With the Wind

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1964)
On the Road to Tara: The Making of Gone With the Wind by Aljean Harmetz (1996)
Weight: 5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

You cannot grow up in Atlanta without hearing something about Gone With the Wind.  I have seen the movie so many times I have lost count, and it was a requirement in my elementary school.  It was also one of the first adult books I read, and on field trips we would go around Atlanta and see how Gone With the Wind was connected.  There were postcards of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in all the stores.  The Margaret Mitchell house may have been burnt down on several occasions, but it was always built back.  The Civil War was still very present in the South.

It was not until I was much older, probably college, that my love for Gone With the Wind came into question.  I was ignorant of all the implications and the racism.  I am not anymore and now I do not have the same trouble letting these things go.

Children's Literature

The Adventures of Captain Underpants (1997)
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schulz (1976)
Celebrate: A Book of Jewish Holidays by Judith Gross (1992)
Cookie Monster's Book of Cookie Shapes Sesame Street (1979)
Disney's The Lion King by Gina Ingoglia (1994)
The Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater (1999)
Horrible Harry and the Holidaze  by Suzy Kline (2003)
How to Eat a Poem: A Smorgasbord of Tasty and Delicious Poems for Young Readers  Edited by The American Poetry and Literacy Project and The Academy of American Poets (2006)
I, Houdini: The Autobiography of a Self-Educated Hamster (1978)
Junior Science Book of Penguins by Patricia Lauber (1963)
Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears by Emily Cravett (2007)
Mr Popper's Penguins (another copy) by Richard and Florence Atwater (1988)
My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki (1993)
The Night Crossing  by Karen Ackerman (1994)
Penguin Pete and Pat by Marcus Pfister (1989)
Smurf Cake by Peyo (1981)
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck  by Beatrix Potter (1987)
Walt Disney's Alphabet A-Z (1983)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (2007)
The Young Folks' Shelf of Books: Sport and Adventure (Book 9, 1938)
Weight: 6 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

I am packing boxes and hauling old furniture out to the curb to be taken home by new people.  I am walking in my front door and feeling overwhelmed by how messy everything looks and how many more boxes I need to get.  I am daunted by the idea of moving everything 30-40 minutes across town and also learning how to do my new job (new title, same place).  To calm myself in between all of these things, I am re-reading all of my young adult and children's literature before putting it in one of the donation boxes.

Today, I learned about various winter holidays, the night crossings some Jewish families took to escape the nazis, and the different breeds of penguins.  I also read about 260 lb pet chickens, the too trusting Jemima Puddle-duck who laid her eggs in a foxes house, and several love poems to literature.  It makes getting rid of books a slow process when you reread them all, but it is so much fun to revisit the stories of my childhood, then my teenhood, then my bookstore days, and then, hell, even a book I read last year and then forgot.

Brave New World

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1998
Weight: 8.5 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

Love this book.  It was one of my favorites in high school, but I still have love for the dystopian societies.  Mass produced people placed into various caste systems at birth.  Some people still do not fit in.  And there is your story...

And a place where even sex is taken away because reproduction has been streamlined...

My. Personal. Hell.