"No there ain't no rest for the wicked/ Until we close our eyes for good"

"Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in book that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true." -The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I haven't read a good book in a really long time. And this makes me sad. I mean, I really liked The Blind Side a lot. I teared up several times (much like I did during the movie) but I skipped over a lot of the technical football/history stuff cause I don't understand it and frankly, didn't really care. I already wrote how I felt about Picoult's latest. I read Water for Elephants which I feel like got really talked up both by the reviews and some of my friends but I just wasn't crazy about it. LC's "book" (I'm sorry, I just really doubt she wrote it all by herself) was entertaining and of course it leaves off with a cliffhanger so you're eager for the next one even if this one was only so-so (kind of like previews for the next episode of The Hills). But really, I just want to read a really great book. Maybe one that makes me cry, just a little bit. Maybe the last great book I read was Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah but that was a loooong time ago. But that book was excellent.

I did start reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society two nights ago and after a slightly slow start, I definitely like it and am excited to read more. So that's good. But I liked The Help too and the ending just didn't clinch it for me. I know, I'm a tough critic. This is just setting me up for terrible reviews in the future if anything of mine ever gets published. But maybe TGL&PPPS will end the dry spell.

And even if it doesn't, my sister goes to this HUGE used bookstore in Chattanooga every now and then and always brings back some goodies. I used to send requests for books and she'd bring some back or let me borrow some of hers. And I got to tagalong a few weeks before Christmas and got several books. And she and I went on Monday and I got a rather large supply this time around. But really, she and I treat it like a glorified library because you always tote back a box of stuff you are trading in for credit. My first trip to McKay's was super successful. I got at least three books that I had been wanting for several months and she never found them (or they just weren't in stock). But this time around, I went in with a list of book, organized alphabetically and by genre so I could maximize the time I was there. I think I found two on my list of 20+ books. So then I just started throwing in anything that looked interesting and ended up accumulating quite the pile. My sister made me whittle it down a couple of books but I walked away with this:

Hopefully a really, really, really good book is hiding in there. Fingers crossed. Oh yeah, you can also see what kind of book I go for: the toss in your bag to read at the pool kind.