Books and friends are the best, moving is the worst

I haven't had a housing update in a while, mostly because buying a house (when mortgages are involved, anyway) is a paaaaaaainfully slow process. And when you're dealing with 2 different banks and 2 different places (buying one and selling another) things take that much longer, and I know people are well-meaning, but if everyone could stop asking me when closing will be, that would be great. I promise all parties will be alerted when something is actually set, but till then know that each time you ask me (and my answer is the same "I don't know. Hopefully soon because we're done with most steps. Yes, I know we thought it'd be done already, but it's clearly not.") my stress level increases and since there's nothing I can actually do at this point, you're not helping things.

We've been slowly packing for a while now, starting with the books because book are always the easiest thing to pack. They're the biggest pain in the ass to move but they fit so nicely in boxes. They're also something we don't need day-to-day so it's a good first thing to go. Which means I've been staring at empty bookshelves for roughly ever now. Well, not entirely empty. I saved a couple books that I hadn't read yet and of books just naturally seem to appear, even when I'm not buying new books. Or at least not new physical books (hellloooooo, ebooks).

Rather than write another review (be productive, whatnow?) why don't we take a look at my depressing bookshelves (boo) and my new books (wheee!).

They're so lonely

Book prison. Note the bar remains unpacked. #necessities

NEW BOOKS!

OK, so, one of those new books is actually Tom's. But you know, married so his = mine. (And mine=his and "it's our nausea" and blah blah blah.) But anyway, the books:

Exploring Calvin & Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue by Bill Watterson and Robb Jenny - This is Tom's, a gift from good friends of ours who understand our love for C&H. We have the full, hardback copy of all of the strips, plus most of the individual books that were put out, and the 10th Anniversary copy. Our table at the wedding even included 2 Calvin & Hobbes quotes. My iPad includes a Calvin & Hobbes quote engraved on the back AND C&H make up the login screen. So yeah, we are fans so this was an exciting addition.

To Be OR Not To Be: A Chooseable Path Adventure by Ryan North, Shakespeare and YOU - Yes, this is a Hamlet Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. HOW AMAZING IS THAT? So amazing. Same friends that gave Tom the C&H book gave me this one. Because books and friends are just the best. I've flipped through it and already seen exciting endings (is that Ophelia with a chemistry set??) so yeah, this is going to be great.

Euphoria by Lily King - This was the second book in the book-of-the-month club Tom got for me. I know nothing of it and while the summary didn't exactly excitement at first, I've seen some good reviews from people with good taste, and the last book (The Husband's Secret) was a success, so I'm tentatively optimistic.

Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable In Your Skin...Every Inch of It by Brittany Gibbons - This was a review request book, which I am often skeptical of BUT this was from a publisher I've heard of* and I skimmed Gibbons' blog and liked what I saw so yeah, I'm excited for this. Besides, the cover reminds me of How To Be A Woman so hopefully it'll be along those lines (in terms of awesomeness, if not content).

So there you go. New books, sad bookshelves, moving stress. Man, I hope the next post on this topic is us unpacking in our new place. *fingers crossed so hard they might break

*Sorry self-publishers. I know being self-published itself doesn't mean the book won't be any good. But I have been burned enough to assume this is more likely to be the case, unless you've proven yourself otherwise.