Alex's Bookshelf

"I avoid that bleak first hour of the working day during which my still sluggish senses and body make ever chore a penance. I find that in arriving later, the work which I do perform is of a much higher quality."
--A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

After I graduated college, I went on a pretty long hiatus from reading. I read a lot when I was a kid -- I was a big fan of The Baby-Sitters Club and I think I read all 357 or so -- but I think the required reading from high school and college really turned me off for a while. Not to say that everything I read was horrendous, but by the time I graduated from college I was so bored from rereading Greek mythology and Beloved that I spent way more time with my iPod Touch than I did with any novel.

When I got married, though, all that changed. It might have had something to do with the fact that we were going to be on a beach for eight days and I needed something to do when I grew tired of crossword puzzles. I read three books while on my honeymoon (The Devil in the White City, A Window Across the River, and World's Fair). And with that, I was a reader again.

Being a reader in this day and age is not like it was when I was a kid. My parents got me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I've been able to read a few classics on it for free, as well as the Hunger Games trilogy. And I absolutely must recommend this website to you. It's called Shelfari, and it is amazing. It's basically a virtual bookshelf. You can list all of the books you have read, are reading, or want to read, and you can give them a rating between one and five stars. You can write your own reviews of the books you've read, or browse through reviews other people have written and get ideas for what to read next. It's hella-cool, and it's nice to look back at a book that you've read that you might otherwise have completely forgotten about. Sign up, and check out my bookshelf! I've read some good ones!