ever so fickle

Yep, that's me. Seriously, I don't even know why I have this blog. I really don't.

Actually, when I started this new blog, it was a fresh start, with a new way of doing things. I had zero intention of even trying to do my pathetic version of a "review." Nope, I just wanted a place where I could record my daily observations on what I was reading. And that's how I started out.

Then as a few of my dear friends started reading it, well, I felt sort of stupid. I mean, who the hell wants to read that kind of rambly blathering. So I started going back towards the way I used to blog about books. Not exactly reviews, but something closer anyway.

Yeah, well here's the thing...I suck at writing "reviews." And I *hate* even trying! Yep, I hate it. I'm not insightful. And I'm not eloquent. And I never will be.

 But see, I still do love reading! And I love talking about what I'm reading. And I really want to go back to the way it was when I started this blog--where I just recorded what I'd read that day and what I thought about it.

I know that's not the kind of thing that anyone else will get much from. Really, I get that. So here's where I beg you not to feel like you have to read my blog out of any sense of obligation or anything of that sort!!!!!!!!!! I promise, promise, promise that I will not take it personally--I will not assume you don't like me as a person--I will not stop reading your blog!!!!

So yeah, this is one of many changes I'm making just for me.

See you at your blog, okay?

*****
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

It's not exactly that I had high expectations for this book/these books. More like I had high hopes. Hell, I knew there was a chance I wouldn't even like them. Ah, but those hopes...yeah, I really, really, really wanted to be utterly charmed and enchanted.

Didn't happen.

Sort of reflexively, I told myself that I might have fallen in love had I read them first as a child. But you know, I really don't think that's the case.

And it's not that I disliked these books at all. I didn't. I just didn't love them. Still, I am glad that I *finally* got around to reading them. Seriously, I wonder how many days one can make it through without running into some sort of Alice allusion. Just knowing that I will better understand those allusions alone makes it worth the time I spent reading it. I also really enjoyed all the word play...something I wasn't really expecting, but found sort of fun.

Pretty sure I won't be rereading it though. Unless it's with one of the boys, I guess. Now Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot...that I'd love to reread one of these days. :)

my inspiration

Before I start talking about today's reading, I just wanted to talk about what inspired me to start this blog. In a word: Dewey.

It's hard to believe how much I still miss her. Every. Damn. Day. It's amazing how much of an impact she had on my life in just the short time I knew her. And how many things make me think of her.

Her blog was incredible, which makes total sense as she herself was beyond incredible. There were so many things I loved about her blog. And one of them was her Reading Journal entries. Where she'd just talk about her daily reading experiences (though she didn't do them daily). They weren't book reviews (and yes, I did love her reviews too!), but just little blurbs about how her reading had gone that day. Somehow, to me, they just seemed so intimate, like I was just sitting at her kitchen table listening to her chat.

I miss them. I miss Dewey.

And while I'm not as insightful, or intelligent, or just plain awesome as Dewey was, I've decided to start this blog and make it my little kitchen table. And I'm just going to sit down with my coffee and chat in my own way about the things I read. I do hope to pop in most days. But as life goes...we'll see.