free books: sign me up!

Turning the package over and over in my hands, I wondered what it was I'd ordered from Amazon that had just shown up, leaned against the front gate, left for me to discover upon my return from work.  I'm pretty good about ordering judiciously, keeping my huge book appetite in check so that I've only got a small To Read stack waiting for me here at home, while the mental stack remains miles high.  And since I just did re-stock my To Read stack thanks to Booksmith in San Anselmo, where I wiped out my trade-credit and then some, what on earth could this be?  I have been making a concerted effort to buy books in real stores, instead of just online, so what's in the package?

Delightfully, it wasn't a title I'd forgotten I'd ordered from Amazon, sitting at my laptop in my usual home-costume of bathrobe and slippers.  Which would seriously mean my mind was slipping, because if there's one area where I don't lose a detail, it's book-shopping.  Every moment between online order and receipt is spent in a state of almost-Christmas anticipation -- oh when when will I get to unwrap it, touch it, feast my eyes upon it?

Nope, not losing it. It was, instead, book #2 of my membership in the From Left to Write online blogger book club --  not an as-yet-unpublished book in galley form, but still a title I am interested in and 100% FREE.

That right there just makes me want to jump around!  Free books & the task of reading them and writing about them!  Seriously: my dream job, but I do this one for love not money.  And the free books.

I jumped right into the book last night, after an episode of Downton Abbey after an exhausting puppy class -- the television viewing being an essential part of my recovery from what was a truly stressful hour of Mr Burns not listening at all, being the worst dog in class.  For a Hermione like me, that's just the most awful situation.  I know it was just last night, that really he is such a good boy, but last night, honestly, he was such a jerk.  So anyway, post-Downton, I dove into the book.

So far, so good.  And I'm not just saying that because it was free.  I'm really looking forward to the entire process -- the reading, the annotating, the blogging.  While I'm doing it, honestly, I am perfectly true to what I am.  I'm doing exactly what I should be, what I'm designed for: words in, words out, stories in, stories out.

Just like breathing.  And also free.

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