Thoughts of a Bookstore on a Saturday Afternoon

Because bookstores on a Saturday afternoon are the best ever.

I went to the Christian bookstore first, because I rarely leave there with more than the exact item I went for. But they didn't have the book, so I had to go to the big bookstore down the street. Which is where I had these thoughts:

- I love bookstores. That's always my first thought when I get to a bookstore. I love bookstores. Once, on a non-date (long story), a guy told me that I could have any book in the store. Just go pick one out and he'd get it for me. Now, I can go in any day I want to buy any book I want, but there was something a little romatical about him saying it. And I didn't really realize it was a non-date, so I was overanalyzing the whole thing, so I didn't end up choosing one. But in the non-breakup-because-we-were-just-hanging-out-and-not-really-dating (told you it was a long story), I ended up keeping one of his books. So there.

- There are so many more options for my students to read than when I was a kid. I was reading "grown up" books from about the 6th grade because there weren't a lot of options for me, and I was pretty much permanently grounded, so I always had my nose in a book. And the non-young-adult books were sooooo not appropriate for me! And I read them!

-It's all about the vampires. I just finished the Twilight series, which have had an almost obsessive hold on me, and the girls that told me to read it in the first place gave me the name of a couple of other books they liked, and those were about vampires too. And, while I was looking for those books, I noticed all the other young-adult-vampire books out there. It was actually kinda weird, because there was a classic novel sandwiched in between a book about vampires and a book about fairies. Odd. Oh yeah, and now HBO has a new series about vampires (based on a series of books, of course) and now I'm going to have to watch it because I just finished this book about vampires and I'm such a nerd and a teacher that I have to compare the book with the series, etc.

- I bought the next book to read to my kids, because I've said it before...reading aloud to my students is one thing I will absolutely not budge on. I will do it every day, come what may, and no one can make me do otherwise. In the land of TAKS and other educational-four-letter words, I will not give up time for my children to sit and listen to a book for sheer enjoyment, or the opportunity for my children to see an adult love reading.

-This next book, The City of Ember, is very exciting to me. They're making a movie, and I always read them a book before the movie comes out. I read the introduction to the book and I am SO hooked. And I'm really excited about reading this book and it's timing. The book is coming just in time for the fall, when the weather gets cool enough that we can go sit in the garden to listen to the book. Because my school has a garden fit for teaching and reading in, and I am that much of a gypsy/bohemian teacher that I relish the opportunity to take my kids outside and sit under the shade of a tree and listen to a book.

-The GATORS play tonight! I'm so excited! It's on tv! Tim Tebow! You're the cutest thing I've ever seen! Call me!