book burning

“I’m a book hoarder. So I’ve decided to start a blog where I-”

“Get rid of a book a week?”

“NO! READ a book a week.”

I shook my head at my my friend and tried to imagine what a blog of me getting rid of a book a week might look like. Loads of book burning comes to mind. But no, I won’t be burning any books. I will however be reading a book a week. I’m well aware some people can read a book in a day, but my mind can’t focus for shit, so a book a week for me is pretty epic.

It’s true, I am absolutely a hoarder of books. I love going to book sales and discount book stores and buying heaps of books that decorate my room and make me look very well read, but I so seldom read them. And if I do read them, I rarely finish them. Not because they aren’t great books, but because Oprah will have a really moving Super Soul Marathon on that will better my spirit, or I’ll get an acting job where I have to play a dog for a few weeks, or I’ll drink myself to sleep every night for a month while crying and watching Bob’s Burgers. The intent to read them all has always been there, but my mind is always elsewhere. So in the true 2016 fashion of “if it wasn’t on the internet it didn’t happen”, I’ve decided to start a blog detailing my weekly adventures through literature.

I won’t be writing reviews, because I’m pretty sure none of these books need another freaking review. I will however share why I wanted to get these books in the first place and some quotes I find worth posting along the way.

First up is Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. I was telling my friend Kirsten (the same friend who suggested I burn a book a week) about my favorite movies, the Kathy Bates classic Fried Green Tomatoes being one of them. She got super excited and exclaimed that not only did she love the movie, it was also one of her favorite books. I didn’t know it was a book, but got very excited at the thought of going to the book store so I could buy another book I would never read. “You can borrow mine” she said, which seemed like a great solution due to the fact that I'm poor. This was in November 2015. Flash forward 5 months later and Kirsten asked me “do you still have my book?” That’s when I knew I needed to start this blog, not for me, but for Kirsten, so I could return her book and everyone would know it because I wrote about it on the internet.

Books are always better than the movie, and Fried Green Tomatoes is one amazing movie, with its exquisite acting and its subtle lesbian romance (which I'm happy to hear in the book is not so subtle), so I’m pretty jazzed to have this be the first book I cross off my hoarding list. When I was younger, I would watch the movie over and over again with my mom, so there is certainly an emotional attachment to the story because it makes me think of spending time with her. Plus I love food and there was a lot of food in the movie, so I’m hoping for the same in the book. Literary calories don’t count (the ones I make while I eat and read and cry probably do... but we’ll pretend they don’t).

Book #1, here we go.