Nerding Out - a Non-Baby Post

Obligatory Baby L pic

As you may know, I used to be an avid reader.  As in, nose-in-the-book-all-the-time sort of reader.  During my formative years, I would max out my library limits and inhale the books at break-neck speeds.  I wasn't a particularly fast reader (unlike Hubbs), but I spent a lot of time immersed in other worlds and the (mis)adventures of various protagonists while other kids, you know, played.  And I loved it.

As a grown-up with a job (and now a child), reading is no longer the easy hobby it once was.  I've also become quite a snob when it comes to my books, which doesn't help.  A browse through the local bookstores has me turning up my nose after reading the plot summaries or the first few pages of the novels I find.  Much of what I see is abysmally-written, with predictable plots and/or unlikeable characters.  Others seem to be too much try, which I don't like either.

I am increasingly drawn to young adult fiction, which is sometimes also horrifically-bad (hello Twilight series), but at other times so much better than the adult fiction out there (hello Harry Potter).

So colour me delighted upon the discovery of the following things:

1) the iPhone Kindle app (which is super easy to use, and no I don't miss dog-earing the pages of a "real" book)
2) the "Divergent" series by Veronica Roth (a Christian) - so so addictive, and though set in dystopic Chicago with a female protagonist, bears little resemblance to the Hunger Games series that I loved so much
3) Speak - a brilliantly-written, sometimes-banned book by Laurie Halse Anderson about a teenage girl who finds healing after a very traumatic event in her life
4) Bossypants - Tina Fey is hilarious in this memoir
5) Pottermore - a website with trivia and additional excerpts re: Harry Potter, written by the awesome J.K. Rowling

I've finished the books, and now I'm exploring Pottermore in my "free" time (after Pinning, and doing chores, and all that jazz).

Anyway, if you find yourself with minutes to spare (or are willing to stay up until 4:00 am finishing the books cuz you just can't put them down), go get the app and start nerding out.  You're welcome ;)