The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop Book #1

Happy New Year Book Lovers and those with a goal for the new year. I said to myself, "Self, what do you want to do this year?" Taking a cue from Gretchen Rubin and The Happiness Project, if you haven't read it, check it out, I decided I needed to do more things this year that really make me happy. Reading and writing were among the things on the list. I have a damn English and journalism degree and it's basically collecting dust in the other room. What happened to doing things that really bring us pleasure? I want to get back to that. For me, books are the ultimate pleasure. I keep lists of books I want to read. I can spend hours in a bookstore browsing and making wish lists. The smell of paper gets me so excited that every time I get into a bookstore I have to poop. I don't know it's some sort of visceral physical reaction to the books. I know, I'm some sort of freak. So each book I read I will share with you. I will take your suggestions as I am trying to open myself up to those I would have not happened upon myself.

For my first selection I have chosen Lewis Buzbee's The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop. I wanted my first book to have some sort of meaning to this journey. Each book after this can be shit I don't really care :) but this one means something. Buzbee has worked in bookstores and as a publisher's rep and takes us on a journey through the history of the book. Check back in the next couple of days for my full post. Thanks for taking the time to check me out. Check back often as I will have to average about two books a week to make this happen. Wish me luck and best of luck with your goals this year, whatever they may be, make sure they make you a happier person.

1/8
First book the year down readers! 99 to go. Any lover of books is really going to enjoy this one. It's a little bit memoir, little bit history. I want to get you all involved in these posts. Here are some excerpts from the book I wanted to share with all of you and I want to hear your responses.

"There's nothing exceptional in my reading history and that's why I've chosen to detail it. For those who are afflicted with book lust, those for whom reading is more than information or escape, the road to our passion is quite simple, powered merely by the presence of printed matter.
It's a common story; fill in your own blanks I was ____ years old when I happened upon a novel called ____, and within six months I had read every other book by the writer known as _____."

Mine is roughly 21 years old, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. You can say I am slightly obsessed with her and have since read every single one of her books. I suggest anything she's written. Share with me. Give me your suggestions. Open me up to your reading world.

Here's another excerpt I found to be enjoyable and true to my experience as an avid reader.
"In his novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino wrote a stirring description of the abundance a the bookstore: Books you haven't read, the books you needn't read, the books made for purposes other than reading, books read even before you open them since they belong to the category of books read before being written...the books that if you had more than one life you would certainly also read but unfortuantely your days are numbered..the books you mean to read but there are others you must read first, the books too expensive now and you'll wait till they're remaindered, the books ditto when they come out in paperback, books you can borrow from somebody, books that everybody's read so it's as if you had read them too."

Isn't this the truth? And doesn't this get to the root of my experiment? There's so much out there I want to read, to devour, and I never feel there's going to be enough time. What books do you want to read this year? Are there other things you want to do but never feel there's enough time? What if you made time? 100 books seems like a big undertaking, I know, especially with a full-time job and starting Monday, a full-time school schedule as well. Can I do it? I don't know. Am I going to try. You bet. And I'm going to have fun doing it. So readers I suggest adding this book to your reading list, you might learn a little something, you might be entertained, you might come to find, as I did, that of the money you're paying for a book, only a very small percentage actually finds its way to the author, which I find to be a sad state of affairs. But I must press on...the first week of the year is done....and Stephen King is next