Month in Review

I had set a goal to read seven books this month.  I don't know why but I picked the shortest month of the year to attain what would probably have been my highest reading output for a single month.  I put forth a valiant effort but it was not to be.  Five books read doesn't make me feel bad though.  If Inkheart wasn't so huge I might have made six.  I had a shipping issue in getting Code Name: Verity but seven wasn't gonna happen.  I knocked out Clockwork Prince, 13 Reasons Why, The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket, The Best American Poetry 2012,  and Inkheart.  All-in-all a great reading month.  I think I'm most surprised at how much I liked Clockwork Prince though Inkheart was definitely the best single book I read this month.  

The poetry collection added a bunch of names and books to my TBR list, but I'm quickly learning modern poetry is hard to support.  Poetry collections don't circulate as much as other books so libraries don't get as much as they would for books in other genres.  That's okay and makes sense as a business design but I'm broke and only getting my feet wet so having to put out cash for something I may not really understand or even like is pretty rough.  That said, I've got a few in mind that I plan to look into.  

I'm setting high goals for March too; maybe not seven but I certainly think five is attainable.  So much so that I'll state what I plan to get to here and thus hopefully be able to hold myself to reading them.  Sweethearts, by Sarah Zarr, Out of Reach by Carrie Arcos, Permeable Borders, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket, and the previously mentioned Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein.  I also plan to leave comments for four of these five so March could turn out to be a blogger heavy month.  OH!  And Clockwork Princess comes out mid March and I'm determined to be first in the library queue... So six books read just might happen!    

Finally, on a non book note, I've picked up on a really obnoxious new bar trend that I hope dies soon.  Now, would be the ideal time.  Went out to place with some friends last week that no one had previously had been to.  The bar brags about specialty drinks and an awesome beer menu.  We got there around ten and all the lights were off.  I don't mean 'It was Dark' rather all the damned lights were off.  There were candles in darkly tinted votives on the tables, and "so dim as to barely be on" lights in the sconces on the wall that were obviously there only to show off the sconces.  The menu arrived and I absolutely refused to read it and order by the light of my cell phone.  

Because that would be ridiculous and I'm too old for that.  

I asked if they could turn on the lights and our server laughed and rolled her eyes making nice comments on the dark setting.  It was out of her control to do such a thing and I understand that.  Then we left and went to a bar where we could indulge one of our primary senses.  

Sadly I've encountered this, 'lets turn off all the lights' thing before.  (I left that place too.)  I thought it was bad when places turned the music up to absurd volumes as the night worn on but this is even worse.  

Who comes up with all these stupid ideas?