Sunday, April 26, 2009

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year



I have returned!

The choir trip was... well, I hesitate to say fun. It was truly exhausting, with a few really fantastic and awesome moments.
The sleep depravity and disgustingly hot weather was made entirely worthwhile by...

... the fact that my select female chorus won best overall vocal group at the entire competition!

We were all so excited when they announced it. We jumped up screaming and clapping and hugging each other.
It felt so satisfying and wonderful.



When I speak of the most wonderful time of the year, I of course am talking about the annual book sale at the public library in my town.
Everyone in town donates all their old books, which are then amassed in the basement of the library, shoved into boxes, and available for you to sort through.
Everything costs between fifty cents and two dollars, and they always have the most insane selection of books. I mean, literally, thousands of books.

See my spoils above.
If you've read any of them, let me know what you think!

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Paradise Lost
by John Milton
The Oedipus Plays by Sophocles
A Cup of Tea by Amy Ephron
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Requiem for a Lost Empire by Andrei Makine
The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd
Hotel Sarajevo by Jack Kersh
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Inferno by Dante
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass
Embers by Sandor Marai
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
two copies of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (one regular, one fancy and linen bound with illustrations)

I think I might love books more than I love anything else.



Except maybe for this vintage blazer Karla is wearing in her latest post.
I am in love with it.
Possibly the coolest item of clothing I have ever seen in my life.



A dress like this one from Forever 21 is at the top of my wishlist right now.
Strapless, flawlessly structured, with a big romantic floral print.

The photos I posted above (from weheartit) are so soft and lazy and balmy.
Like the weather right now, but much prettier.

A more substantial post will come soon, I promise. But right now I'm running on about fourteen hours of sleep in three days, my house is unbearably stuffy, and I have to write an essay for English even though I left my books and notes at school. Phenomenal.

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend!

39 comments:

Sammi said...

have you checked out Emmy's latest post at prettyexquisite.blogspot.com ? It's strangely similar to yours...

Sammi said...

small world!

Anonymous said...

WIN BY CHAMBERZ= MOST VICTORIOUS MOMENT OF MY LIFE.

I'm still delirious from being so sleep deprived. And you know the crab grass that gave everyone rashes? I now have a rash...two days later. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?

and JEALOUZ you went to the book sale. i should've gone after all the anticipation we've been going through. BTW started reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius over break but then got bored and went to something shorter. What I read was good, though.

YAY BAND TRIP. love youuu.

Anonymous said...

ALSO, (after legit reading the list)...

atonement: unbelivably gorgeous writing
paradise lost: OHFDSJOIJL SO GOOD. Not really sure if it's your thing, but whatever, STILL SO GOOD
curious case of the dog in the night time: strange but engaging
brave new world: MOST EPIC THING OF ALL TIME. besides lotr, but you already knew that

so jealous of your pretty TTC copy.

Diane said...

That's awesome that your group won! It's always exciting to win something.

I'm completely jealous of your town's book sale! I just missed two that was happening in my town yesterday - how I missed them, I don't know!! Wait, I know. It was my fucking homework and being obligated to stay in the house and work work work on it. I hate you, school. Haha, kinda nerdy that I want to skip doing homework to go buy some books.

I've read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius twice and I absolutely love it! Dave Eggers is a wonderful writer and the book is funny stuff. It's a rather long book so sometimes it could get tedious (I'm starting to like short novels more and more nowadays) but it's still great. If you like it, you should definitely check out Eggers' novel, You Shall Know Our Velocity. Also GREAT.

Good finds!

Oh, and I thought the same thing about Karla's hot pink blazer when I first saw it. Fucking epic.

Randi said...

loved Curious Incident...
welcome home, and congratulations!

Rebecca, A Clothes Horse said...

Love the pictures of your flowers. Congrats on your award!

Elizabeth, Delightfully Tacky said...

Mmmm,
Paradise Lost and Brave New World. So good.

Andrea Eames said...

Hi Annie! Thanks for your lovely comment. And what a great haul of books, you found some gems!

A xx

is said...

My favorite page of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius just might be the one with the sketch of the stapler on it. I mean, staplers. You can shoot coins at cats with them, and plus all the stocking stuffer capabilities.

I REALLY want to see that copy of TTC. You should photograph it in great detail for me. :) or yknow, just show it to me.

Anonymous said...

congrats on the win!

thanks for your comment :) please visit my blog again... i just posted the coolest custom made necklace by leah sakellarides for macaroni club! not only that, but it's being GIVEN AWAY by the designer! the winner will be drawn on thursday, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment and/or sign up to follow the blog!

Eloise said...

Hi Annie,
Thanks for stopping my my blog.....I love your so much! I've read "the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime'....it was wonderful.......a lot of the others are on my book 'to read' list. So jealous of your haul! xxx

The Sydney Girl said...

that pink vintage blazer is HOT!!! i am in love with it too!

joelyne
xxx
www.thesydneygirl.blogspot.com

The Little Princess said...

Hey Annie, thanks for commenting on my blog:-)
The curious incident of the dog in the night time is great.

Silje said...

I have not read any of them, but I think The Virgin Suicides is a good one!=) And that jacket is truly amazing!=D

Seeker said...

Congrats on the win!

Thank you for visited my blog and left such nice note.

OMG I just love that dress!!
What a cool blog you have.
Keep in touch if you feel like it.

xoxo

Ania said...

that's so great for you, congratulations :))))
beautiful pictures.
the dante club is a perfect book for summer, you'll finish it in no time.

Julia mode said...

<3 ur blog !!!=)

xx

Parapluie said...

The book sale sounds wonderful!

elena-lu said...

congratulations on your win and wow thats a great load of books good job!

this wheel's on fire said...

that's so great that you won! :)
i've read: atonement, oedipus, on the road, the virgin suicides, brave new world, and a tale of two cities. i actually love them all! brave new world was always a strange favorite of mine xo

Mary said...

I loved all the pcitures, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles is such a great book! Start there!

bajbasj axd said...

Congrats on winning the competition! And Dante's Inferno is the best thing ever. And might I suggest reading the Sandow Birk version. Its a modern version of all the books (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.)

Unknown said...

Oh myyy, love all the books you bought! That book sale sounds so epic. Congratulations on winning the choir competition! x

Angela said...

wow congrat to your group.

Annie Spandex said...

Oh congrats!

Marilyn Hayward said...

I'm jealous of your books! I miss having time for recreational reading. College is a drag that way. Congrats on the choir recognition! It's fun knowing another fashion blogger sings :D

indigotangerine said...

i just went to my city's booksale last week. It's in an old airplane hanger and absolutely packed, an all day exursion for sure. Nothing better than used books.
I read a mango shaped space, the topic, synthesia, is fascinating, but i couldn't really get into it because i found the main charachter a little too unlikeable.
-indigo

jumpseat monalisa said...

franny and zooey + a heartbreaking work of staggering genius = two of my all time favorite books.

i think i saw dave eggers in the airport once. he was on the same plane as me and looked like dave eggers and sounded like i imagine dave eggers would sound. he made some comment about eating sausage and drinking beer before flying.(which i imagine is something dave eggers would say.) he's the shit. he also just wrote a movie with his wife that looks absolutely adorable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mpLvUY8TUE.

ps- i love your blog! glad i stumbled across it.

Fashion Cappuccino said...

Hey! Congratulations on winning the chorus competition! That is so exciting! I envy that you got all those amazing books for dirt cheap! I've read the 'Brave New World' when I was in college and it was a little bizarre at first but then it was so fascinating to read. I hope you like it!! xxoxoo

Allie said...

WOW, books! I need to make more time to read. So jealous of the sale!

Paradise Lost: Read it!
Oedipus: I can't not associate this stuff with Freud. I can't stand that.

And if you finish 'The Inferno' I wanna know how it is!

Syed said...

Congratulaaaaaations!!!! (On the books obviously lol). Wow, gotta love book sales, and I think I've read about half of your list. Virgin Suicides is sad but beautiful, and Tale of Two Cities is amazing! Ooh On The Road is a perfect book for summer. Annnnd that floral dress is gorgeous :)

Unknown said...

I love that dress from Forever 21! It does have great structure! Also, I myself, love to read! Reading can take you away from your ordanairy life for a day or two...lol

Anway, check out my bookshelf on my blog, to see my favorite books!!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh! So many books. I am in love.
<3 I've heard of most of those, but haven't read any of them. You've got me in the mood to go browse a used bookstore :]

Flashes of Style said...

What a lovely post! I'm glad your back. :) I also loved that outfit of Karla's, she is flawless.

tanya said...

congratulations!!! That's fantastic, darling :-)

Camryn said...

I've been wanting to read Atonement for a really long time, but I haven't managed to get my hands on a copy. *Sighs.* I'm so jealous that your community sets up a book sale with really cheap books. Around here, only the really moldy and old books are cheap. LOL.

Btw, congratulations on winning the competition.

tucker said...

thou shalt read Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress in Selected World Lit! Probably my favorite book that we read. You also get into the Inferno...I think you and klein are on the same wavelength here.

we missed you in chem today...p.s. chambahzpartayweds

Slanelle said...

so let me see ! I've read

paradise lost : very beautiful but soooo difficult to read (i'm French, which propably didn't help)

on the road : okay i guess, but not my favorite

the virgin suicides : awwww this is my favorite book ever, ex aequo with the catcher in the rye

franny and zooey : omg, what a disappointment after the catcher in the rye ! how can a writter be a genius, and then lose it like that !?

brave new wolrd : okay, but i don't really like sci fi

the importance of being earnest : soooo funny, i really liked it



you should tell us your favorite to give us inspiration for the next book we'll read ;)