Alessandra is reading…

The books I bought on vacation this year…

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Scum by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healey
Restoration by Olaf Olafsson

There’s so many things about used books that I love. The price is normally right, especially if it’s at a 50% (or greater) markdown. This is always better if I beat the fuck out of my book, as pictured below. This was the Stephen King book I thank God found in my bookstore since I forgot to take one with me, and I surely couldn’t break tradition by not reading an SK book this year. My copy of Under the Dome surely took a beating from the countless times I carried it over rivers, one of the dogs knocking it out of my chair, one of the dogs was wet and jumped on me while reading, I was wet and picked the book back up, etc. I’m probably as messy as a child, so I’ve always gotten upset when I mess up a book I paid full price for, especially a $30 hardcover.

I also like that a used book comes with more than 1 story. There’s the story in the book, but then I wonder who had this book before me? What’d they think of it? If there are notes, what’d they say?

And lastly, I have this kind of aversion (but it’s not entirely an aversion) to consuming entertainment that it seems like everyone else is enjoying. If I watch a tv show (which is very rare now), I don’t particularly like watching it at the same time that it’s popular. I’ll wait a year or so until people are done with it to get into it. Similar to books; even though I have a “bookstagram,” I’m not interested in reading what’s popular. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved some of the books that I’ve found because of bookstagram. But I believe for the same amount of books that I’ve read because of bookstagram and loved, I’ve also read that amount and hated.

Back to not being interested in reading what’s popular, I think that’s mostly because I don’t want to think like everyone else. I’m trying to separate from the masses; be as opposite from the mainstream as possible so I can know my choices, desires, and dreams are authentically me.

Read on, and my advice is to read whatever the fuck you want.