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Oct
15
Bob Speaks, part 2 (more dish on life with the Book Lady)
2009 at 11am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Well, this is just a week of guest posts, isn’t it? I swear, I’m still reading, but in the craziness of wrapping things up at my bookstore job and getting ready to begin my new position next week, I haven’t had time to write reviews. I’m hoping that will change tomorrow, so I can share a wonderful little book called The Good Good Pig with you. Until then, here’s part 2 of my husband’s guest blog about life with a book blogger. (Check out Part 1 here.) And just because I couldn’t stay completely out of it, you’ll see me chiming in in italics every now and then.
Kathy of Bermuda Onion (who is totally the best commenter ever) wants to know: Bob, please share Rebecca’s biggest book geek moment with us!
She has many small ones. Getting teary at the death of a pig (that would be in THE GOOD GOOD PIG, which I’ll talk about tomorrow), declaring her love for certain authors, making fun of others (Nick Sparks, I’m talking to you buddy in your tight black shirt, you’re not fooling anyone), talking to fellow book nerds for hours on Twitter, hosting a book Twitter party and being blocked from Twitter for using too many characters in a 1 hour period (is that even possible?) and dancing when she gets an advanced copy of a book months before it comes out so she can write about it before anyone else all come to mind.
Jill at Rhapsody in Books asked: Does Rebecca use you as a sounding board for reviews?
Not really, more when she’s having trouble deciding to go on reading a book she doesn’t like, she’ll bounce the situation off me and ask if she should continue or not. Normally I say drop it; she usually presses on.
From Deborah at Books, Movies, and Chinese Food: Do you ever want to push her pile of books on the floor? (my husband threatens this to me all the time, jokingly though)
I don’t want to push them onto the floor, but I do think about re-arranging them in a small way that you wouldn’t notice, but once you did it would ruin your day. Mildly out of whatever order they were in. Hiding one somewhere weird – medicine cabinet/bed sheets/microwave her to find and wonder. Just enough to wonder… “if he did this…what else did he do?”
(This stems from a long tradition of mischief-making that began with sneakily stealing his favorite afghan back from his brother, escalated into leaving packing peanuts in random places throughout his apartment in college to drive his roommate crazy, and continues as he regularly turns the toilet paper backward from the way I like to have it. Everyone knows God intended for toilet paper to go OVER.)
Trish, one of my blogging besties, had a couple questions: Do you ever tire of her talking about her blog and the friends she’s made because of it?
Not really. Being new to Richmond, it’s nice to know some people – even if they do live in a computer on the world wide inter-web….that is where you live, right? Just left of pixel 790?
Whose idea was it to get married in a library?
Rebecca initially found it, and I don’t think we really knew if we wanted it because it was a weird idea, but once we went into the room, we both knew it was the spot. (Actually, the wedding planner found it. But I’ll be happy to take credit for it.)
Do you have nightmares that books will overtake your house?
No – my nightmares involve bears, cobras, and ninjas. That and the screaming.
From Jill at Fizzy Thoughts: Can you buy Rebecca a book on your own, without needing a wishlist to guide you? In other words, do you feel confident in your book buying skills? Or do you resort to gift cards?
I don’t resort to gift cards because normally we just decide “let’s go spend X amount on books” and then go on a spree. I buy her very few, if any, books on my own because if she wants it, she gets it, and we have different tastes. I did get her an old Scarlet Letter for Christmas the first year we were together because it is one of her favorites and she collects vintage copies.
(Since I do my own book buying, Bob gives me fun gifts I would never buy for myself, like the Hot Diggity Dogger hot dog cooker, a towel warmer for the bathroom, and other random things I mention and forget about but that he remembers and makes mental notes of. He is, hands-down, the better gift giver in this arrangement.)
Jackie of Farm Lane Books asked: Bob: In an ideal world, how many books would you like Rebecca to own?
As many as she wants. And she is good about passing them on. So “own” is different than “read” or “has”. If she kept every book, I’d need to work much harder to buy a bigger house – or a book storage facility. (And this is when it comes to handy to have lots of good friends who love to read and will happily take boxes of books at a time….and who always return them when they’re finished.)
From Jenn at Jenn’s Bookshelves: What book would you use to describe yourself, and which one would describe Rebecca the most accurately?
For me – a cross between I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, The Three Musketeers, The Wolf of Wall Street, A Brief History of Time, and certain political authors who shall go nameless. (His inner bad boy is alive and kickin’!)
For Rebecca – Book Lust and The Best American Non-Required American Reading, for her passion and range of interests.
Chris at Book-A-Rama wants to know: Does Rebecca discuss html or css with you? Does it get on your nerves?
No. She will re-do her layout every once in a while, but I’m not overly interested in the mechanics, and she doesn’t bring it up.
Diane of The Raabe Review asked: Do you get it? (I think she means “do you get the whole blogging thing?)
I do. It’s a great outlet since I’m not overly interested in her books on the whole, and it’s a way to connect with people of similar interests. Plus, I have observed her range of tastes has expanded. It’s also a potential economic opportunity if something were to come up. Now Tweeting…don’t get me started. I do not understand that and don’t want to.
From Jeane of DogEar Diary: Are you jealous of the books? Taking over the house, taking up time and attention? Or do you just humorously tolerate them?
I enjoy the look of books around, and I have a lot of books, too, probably about 70% of the number she has around the house. Rebecca reads more and passes them on. I keep them. Plus I like the look of bookcases. I do get annoyed when a stack sits somewhere I didn’t want them in the first place, so after a few months I’ll move them somewhere else.
(And he’s not jealous of my reading time….it gives him plenty freedom for ESPN and fantasy sports.)
Valerie at Life is a Patchwork Quilt wants to know: Bob, do you tell Rebecca “you spend (x amount of money) on books every month!!”, based on amazon.com charges, plus debit card charges to various bookstores around town?? Every month?? [Basically, are you shocked by how much she spends on books, and do you feel compelled to express that to her?]
I’m shocked at how much we spend on a lot of things, but we’re actually pretty good about the book budget. With her job, we get a great discount year-round, and an extra kick-ass discount twice a year, when we buy 15-20 books each to take advantage of it. She has publishers sending her random books all the time, and she can request some as well, plus authors will send her books for review. Between them showing up in the mail, the regular discount, and the twice a year super discount, we really don’t spend as much as one would think.
(Though the annual statement of benefits from the bookstore that shows how much we saved on books that year always shocks me, as in “If we saved that much, then HOW MUCH DID WE SPEND?!”)
Ryan Lindsay asked: Bob, do you ever argue with the lady that the film was better than the book? Does that sort of shit make you smile?
I can’t say I’ve ever thought the movie was better. I have several where the movie was just as good, but different, although normally the book is better. For instance, I read all ofthe Jason Bourne books—the movie plot is about 20% similar to what the book plot is, but the movies were excellent, just completely different. I think she’d say the same.
(Yeah. Sometimes the “separate but equal” thing does work, but I rarely even think movies do a decent job of adapting books, so I generally stay away. Harry Potter is one exception, and I’d say that The Lord of the Rings films were pretty great as well. Of course they had to leave out some details and change others around, but they kept the integrity of the story, and the cinematography was just gorgeous.)
Bethanne’s husband asked (via Twitter): Bob, where does she put all the books? Is her office as bad as my wife’s?
Everywhere…E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. We bought lamps just because they had shelves on them so we could have lighting that doubled as bookshelves – we’re just that cool. We have books in the cubby holes of our nightstands, on the dining room table, on the entryroom table, on the bar in the kitchen, on the coffee table, in her purse, in the car, on her desk, on the bookshelves. Soon Millie will have a sling to carry books for us And it’s both of us. So there are twice as many books.
(Which makes things crazy but also makes them easier because I don’t have to worry that he’ll complain about my books….he can’t because he is almost as bad.)
This concludes Bob’s guest post. Give him some love, and maybe he’ll come back again sometime soon.
No related posts.
I want a Bob. He sounds great.
Bob sounds almost as good as Carl.
Most of my books are in one room, and they’re about to take over that room!
Bob sounds so lovely!
Any chance of a photo of the bookshelf lamps? They sound great!
I think I need to hook up my husband and Bob, for a little motivational direction. My husband just barely humors my obsessions (and he really has no true idea how much time I spend on here!). I find that as long as the house is clean, the kids are fed and there is food in the house, I can squeak by.
Great answers! I do hope Bob plans on coming back for a visit. I’m still trying to convince my husband to guest post!
The shelf lamps look like this….but these are on sale!
Oh, poor Millie! I’m picturing her wearing the threatened book sling! (in my daydreams (daymares?) the fabric matches the readathon PJs)
Lpved it — and can totally justify buying any kind of household item if it also gave a home to my books.
It makes me happy to know Bob doesn’t mind all your books.
Reminds me of Dave! Dave NEVER says ANYTHING negative about all my books. A new book comes in the mail? “Hey look honey, you got a new book!” Music to my ears.
Bob is usually pretty entertained by the flow of books as well, especially when unsolicited ones show up and turn out to be something he’s interested….like the Lesbian Vampire Erotica collection I got today. Hmm…
You got married in a library? That. is. AWESOME!!!
Yep. The Grand Reading Room of the Kansas City Public Library. Pure book nerd gold.
I think Bob needs to start an advice column for partners of book bloggers. He can offer advice on how to be properly supportive.
“Everyone knows God intended for toilet paper to go OVER.”
AMEN.
I enjoyed reading all of Bob’s answers, and all your comments accompanying his answers! Bring him back to your blog sometime again soon!
I should remind my husband that what I spend on books is actually a very low percentage compared to the rest of our budget
. Although he doesn’t read as much, he is actually pretty tolerant of my bookish habits.
Love those book shelf lamps!!
This was so fun to read …again. I hope Bob comes back on a regular basis!!!!
What a great sport you husband is to do this!
I second the ‘AMEN’! My husband doesn’t seem to care one way or the other, which you would THINK would mean he would do it my way. But, alas, he doesn’t care enough to give it a second thought, and it goes on however it goes on (until I turn it around).
[...] let your husband guest blog once, and you better be prepared to spend weeks listening to him gush about his “adoring [...]