I’m almost 31 and I still eat chocolate chips out of the bag. In fact, if I buy chocolate chips, the odds are great (probably somewhere in the 99.999999999999999% range) that I will have eaten those chocolate chips before I will make cookies.

Also?

Today I was daydreaming about how awesome it would be to have someone who came and cleaned our bathroom, vacuumed the living room and our bedroom, and swept the kitchen floor. Oh, and maybe cleaned the stove? Just the top part! I think I would be much more relaxed if I had that.

Apples – a fantastic snack that helps me get through the day without snacking on junk food. Too bad I haven’t been bringing them to work lately.

Blogging friends – for keeping me sane when I think I’m going to scream. You know who you are!

Cold weather – I wait all summer for winter to come! I love skirts and tank tops, but I love staying bundled up at home even more.

Dave – my husband, who keeps me grounded in reality, and always proves to be my hero.

Emergency workers – so important whether there’s an emergency or not!

Family – the little family I have I am extremely grateful for!

Google – from Google Wave to Gmail to Google Docs to Google Calendar to Google Maps to Google Images to just plain Google. I love it all.

Hot showers – I try to appreciate every hot shower I take.

Ice cream – mmm…

Jammies – It’ll be hard to get out of my jammies this whole holiday weekend!

Knitting group – I love them probably more than I should!

Lemonade – one of my favorite things to drink, but only if it’s nice and tart.

Mail – as in, receiving books in the mail!

Nail salons – can you have a pedicure too often? Really?

Orthodontics – I love my straight teeth.

Pets – even though they can drive me crazy, I love them!

Quiet time – you know, the kind of time where your mind isn’t racing about the next thing you need to do? It’s few and far between, but I’m very thankful when I get it!

Reading – need I say more?

Snaps – Few things make me as happy as undoing a bunch of snaps, preferrably on a shirt.

Trash collectors – Ever wonder what we’d have to do if we had to get rid of our own trash?

Underwear – I’m not one who can go commando.

Violins – I think they make the most gorgeous sound.

Wine – I wish I had the occasion to drink more!

Xerox machines – What can I say? I’m an office supplies junkie.

Yarn – Oh, how I love my knitting.

Zero debt – Well, I WILL be thankful for this when I get there!

What are you thankful for? Can you tell me one serious thing and one silly thing?

I wasn’t going to read Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, despite the fact that everyone seemed to love it, and it almost seemed right up my alley. But then I found out that Josh was coming to my local independent bookstore, and since my friend Jessica really liked the book, I thought I’d read it and we could go see him together! And talk about his book! And generally be book nerds!

So the book opens with a scene that let’s you know Dr. Peter Brown is a bad ass. And then you find out that he IS a bad ass because he worked for the mafia killing people, back before he was saving lives. Before he was in the Witness Protection Program, he was Pietro Brnwa, who basically just wanted a family and got involved with the WRONG FAMILY (you know the family I’m talking about…the MAFIA FAMILY).

Beat the Reaper goes back and forth between present day and history, getting you up to speed as to why Peter is on the lam, how he ended up being a hit man, why he’s a doctor now and why it’s so terrible if his cover gets blown.

The first thing you’ll notice when you read the book is that there’s footnotes. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I love footnotes. I get giddy when I see them. But you only ever see them on something serious, so you see them in your fiction book and wonder if you should also check in the back for a bibliography (as if anyone remembers how to do those). Fear not! These footnotes are like the funny asides your hilarious friend mentions when he’s telling a story. Par example:

(In the main text, he says, “Elisabeth Kübler-Ross at one point said that our comprehension of death passes through five distinct stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.” Now to the footnote.)

I say “at one point” because this progression is what we think about when we think about Kübler-Ross. But what we avoid thinking about when we think about Kübler-Ross is how she later changed her mind and decided we’ll all be reincarnated. I wish I was shitting you.*

That reminds me: if you’re offended by curse words or graphic violence, this book isn’t for you. But dang if this isn’t one of the more refreshing books I’ve read in a long time. I don’t even know if I could classify this book. It’s not a mystery, not really. It’s just…a really great story.

Josh Bazell’s writing style is so conversational that I could have been sitting down chatting with a friend (we all know how much I love that). AND, the narrator is smart! With quirky little asides that just make you go, Huh! Interesting! Yes, these are the same asides as the footnotes, but really, the greatness beared repeating.

And you know what? I’m really glad I read this book. Because dang if the first question out of my mouth isn’t going to be, “How the #%$@ did you think up (this one scene that if I told you would spoil the book)?!” (Side note: I didn’t end up getting to see the author. Something came up, and dang if my life did not get the message that I have IMPORTANT AUTHOR APPEARANCES TO ATTEND.)

Rating: 89 out of 100 (I feel the need to point out here that anywhere in the 80s is 4 stars. So while it fell short of me wanting to have its babies, it didn’t fall short of me having a frolicking good time.)

*Re-reading this, I see that perchance I didn’t pick the most stellar footnote, but I promise you, this footnote slayed me when I read it.

Beat the Reaper website

Other reviews:

Both Eyes Book Blog

She is Too Fond of Books

an adventure in reading

Booking Mama

At Home With Books

Bermudaonion’s Weblog

Book source: I got this book from the library.

And one more thing? If you click on one of the Beat the Reaper links and buy something from Amazon, I’ll make a commission! Mwahahahaha!! Maybe with the pennies I make I’ll be able to call someone who cares.

You can thank the FTC for this disclosure!

I’ve been biting my nails all week because I want everyone to win!

What I HAVE enjoyed, though, is going through all your comments to see what books really touched you. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was mentioned a few times, and if it wasn’t at the top of my TBR pile, it is now! I added quite a few other books to my wish list as well.

Well, without further ado, random.org picked…

The winner was Kari from five borough book review! Congratulations, Kari! I’ve already emailed you for your mailing address.

Please be sure to visit Words Move Me, and share what books have moved you! Maybe I’ll stumble upon one of your submissions. Thank you again for participating!

Oh, do I have a giveaway for you.

I was approached by Digital Influence Group, a company that has teamed up with SONY Electronics Inc. to generate awareness around a new website called words move me. To generate awareness and excitement for words move me, they’re giving away a SONY Reader Pocket Edition to one of you.

Words move me is about connecting readers with the emotions they felt while reading a certain book. If I want to read an inspiring book, I can search that term and see what it brings up. (By the way, I DID search that term because I always want to be inspired, and found this: “I discovered Arty when I learned to read. He was a little fish who didn’t follow the crowd. When others swam this way, Arty swam that way. He also wanted to make a big splash in life. Arty inspired me to follow my heart, even when I had to swim alone.” The book is Arty the Smarty by Faith McNulty. That book sounds like a keeper. )

If you search “wow”, you’ll find this: “With little interest in literature, I was assigned One Hundred Years of Solitude. Wow! It ignited a passion for literature, unlocked my own creativity and opened my world to non-Western works leading to life enriching cultural exploration and adventures.” Doesn’t that make you smile? To know that One Hundred Years of Solitude opened up the world of books to someone? Doesn’t that make you want to go read the book if you haven’t?

If you search “hopeful”, you’ll find this about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: “Since age 13, this has been my touchstone. The story of Francie Nolan growing up passionate, creative, hopeful-despite poverty and tragedy in the concrete in a Brooklyn tenement. It still thrills my heart. I even named my firstborn daughter Francie Nolan.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve just moved that book to the top of my teetering TBR pile.

I’ve had lots of emotional reactions to books. In fact, you could say that’s how I choose which books to keep! I went through my books and came up with several that I wanted to document how they’d made me feel. You can check them out in this cool widget.

SO! I’m sure you want to know how to win the SONY Reader Pocket Edition, right?

I’m going to make this really easy on you. Here’s the deets:

How to Enter:

• Answer this question in the comments section: What is the one book that you’re never able to forget and what was the emotion that that book inspired?

Rules/Information:

• One entry per person.
• Any entry that does not follow the rules will be disqualified.
• This contest starts on Monday, November 16, 2009 and goes through midnight PST Friday, November 20, 2009.
• Winner will be announced on Monday, November 23, 2009.

Disclaimers:

• SONY has empowered me to participate in this campaign and I have been compensated with a SONY Reader Pocket Edition™ valued at $199.99 (I got the pink one).
• No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning are not increased by a purchase.