days_unfolding

Dang-nabbit, internet, is persuading me to buy books again. (I really do not need to buy any more books. Although at least they are e-books - which is either a lease to read it on the Kindle, so not really buying ...I don't know, the whole thing confuses me to no end. And I can't afford a Kindle and a Kobo. Plus buying books on Kindle is easy and cheap, so there's that and I get points. )

1. I bought Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Safron - about a boy in late 1940s Barcelona or post WWII Barcelona who is charged with protecting a book, long out of print, and rare - from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The Book in question is also entitled "Shadow of the Wind". Thank you Sarah Michelle Gellar for perking my curiosity enough for me to purchase this book. Much appreciated. (She said in an interview broadcast on Instagram that her two favorite books were Donna Tartt's Secret History (which I loved and devoured in the 1990s) and Shadow of the Wind (so I got curious about Shadow of the Wind - which Stephen King also adored). The book is difficult to describe with a convoluted plot - I apparently like to read and write these types of books, which makes my life more difficult but far less dull.

Then grabbed, "Locked-In by John Scalzi" - which I'd flirted with previously, as when he first published it ages ago, but got persuaded when he posted that a bunch of people in Texas (it's always one of the Southern States - must be all those hot days? Bakes the brain?) had chosen to ban it. He was upset about it. (I'd have been too.) Apparently it's never happened to him before. (which is interesting - he's certainly liberal and political enough). So, I got curious - and decided to get it for $6.99.
Which is admittedly more than usual, but there you go. It's a sci-fi/mystery hybrid with a convoluted plot. Has a Black Mirror vibe to it. I've read a couple of his "stand alone" books: Red Shirts, Starter Villain, Kaijiu Preservation Society...the last two were read by Will Wheaton. Scalzi is a nerdy sci-fi writer, and usually has nerdy protagonists. He's kind of similar to Andy Weir? Except I like Weir's books slightly better.

As an aside? I'm fundamentally against censorship. Are there books that I despise? Yes. Do I think they should be censored? No. The challenge of "free speech" is folks you don't agree with have to have it too - in order for it to work. There were librarians commenting on Scalzi's post stating they sent out books they despised all the time.
( thoughts on book censorship )
And finally a Dark London Mystery/Romance Series novel entitled Winterblaze by Kristen Callihan which was $1.99,
and a second chance romance between an estranged married couple, in a paranormal verse. "Poppy Lane is keeping secrets. Her powerful gift has earned her membership in the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals, but she must keep both her ability and her alliance with the Society from her husband, Winston. Yet when Winston is brutally attacked by a werewolf, Poppy’s secrets are revealed, leaving Winston’s trust in her as broken as his body. Now Poppy will do anything to win back his affections." The second chance ex-lover trope is a huge kink of mine. (I prefer older romances to young ones...for the most part.)

I love books. Books are my friends. They've seen me through some tough times.

Coworker: Are you one of those people who always has a book in your hand or with you?
ME: Definitely

If I had to choose between books, television and movies - I'd probably pick books - easier to carry around and less noisy.