My bookshelf overflows

I am a bit of an entertainment junkie. I love reading, going to movies, watching TV and listening to music both live and at home. But summers for me are usually the time when I devour books. And as a bit of a collector I like to buy them instead of just borrowing or going to the library. Finishing a good book is like a conquest and I purchase them in hopes of someday giving them away. I offer a lot but I think to this day only three people have ever taken books from me. Whether that is because of different taste or because my friends just don’t read as much as I do I am not really sure. One summer a few years ago when I was working at a sleep away camp I read about 8 books, all of LOTR and The Hobbit as well as the whole Enders Shadow series. Since the end of this TV season I have read about a dozen new books, all the Harry Potters, I am Legend, the Gunslinger (Dark Tower book 1), The Book of Fate, and Don’t Stop the Carnival. OK, so that is 11 books, but you get the point, I also bought the Drawing of the Three which is the second book in the Dark Tower series. The problem is that my two little bookshelves are now full and I have started just stacking books on top of other books. I really don’t want to get another bookshelf as I hope to move in the next month or so but I also don’t like my bookshelf to be so messed up and overrun.

 

Since my friends don’t want my books and I still want so many more I have been looking into online trading. My amazon.com cart is always full but I try not to buy too many at a time. There are some great book exchanges online that I am looking into

 

Book Mooch and Zunafish(you can actually trade all sorts of things on here) are the two I am considering signing up for at the moment. There is also Library Thing which allows you to catalog the books you read, no trading though, just kind of cool. Still, even though these online resources provide me with exactly what I am looking for I kind of wish people I knew read more so I could hand them the book in person and get to talk to them about it later. I might be asking for too much, after all I do get to talk to my friends about all the other things I love like movies and TV and music and those mediums we are able to enjoy together often.  

7/21 Bigger British invasion?

David Beckham or Harry Potter? I am not sure whether it is a coincidence that they both arrive on the same day or if this has been orchestrated by the queen. But, it is happening, Beckham plays at 830 pm in his first American MLS game while the final Harry Potter book hits shelves all over the US. Now the clear obvious answer to who will be bigger is Harry Potter, it already has an established fan base in the US and has been selling reserved copies for months. The 5^th movie came out last night and I thought it was the best one so far. Still though, David Beckham is probably the biggest soccer start to hit this country since Pele and that new ESPN commercial is very catchy. Maybe if Beckham can grow interest in a very marginal sport in this country it will be a bigger achievement than the continued success of a children’s book. I guess time will only tell.

Read the book, ruin the movie

When I say I have been reading a lot lately I mean I have been reading the Harry Potter books at the request of my roommates. I am on book 4 and will not start book 5 until after I watch the movie this summer. Some people disagree with this method but to me it is the only way to fully enjoy the story in both mediums. I have my reasons for this, namely the Lord of the Rings experiment I did a few summers ago. The summer after The Two Towers came out I was working at a sleep away camp and decided to read the LOTR books figuring they would take me a long time to finish. However, I ended up having a ton of free time and reading something like 8 books over the 8 weeks I was there. I started the series with the Hobbit, flew through the Fellowship and Two Towers and then was left with a decision to make. Should I continue reading or wait for the movie? I kept reading, I loved the book, it was great but when I went to see the movie with my friends, none of whom had read the books, I felt that they enjoyed it a lot more than I did. In the movie I kept hoping to see things that were in the book, but so many things had been changed or removed that although I enjoyed the movie it was not my favorite of the series. On the other hand, when I read the books of the movies I had already seen I was pleasantly surprised whenever something took place that was new to me. I am currently experiencing very similar feelings with the Harry Potter books. I enjoyed all the movies I have seen so far and I am enjoying the books no less for having seen them. Actually, I may be enjoying the books more with preconceived images of the characters in my head. I know that many people will disagree with me and say that you lose something by watching the movie first and they have a point but I think you lose more the other way around. So, for me watching then reading equals the best net gain from both experiences.