Beers Books in downtown Sacramento, California!

Last weekend, my husband and I spent four days in Sacramento, California (Friday through Monday) to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. We had a blast checking out several tourist sights in the downtown area of Sacramento. 

Of course, in my opinion, no trip would be complete without visiting an independent bookstore. We visited Beers Books in downtown Sacramento, which sells both new and used books. They are open daily from 10am to 8pm. Beers Books started selling new and used books around 1936.

So how did Beers Books get its unusual name? 

Many people often ask how old our shop is and wonder how we got our unusual name. In some form or another, Beers has been selling new and used books in Sacramento since about 1936. Through four different owners and several locations, it has evolved into its present incarnation at 915 “S” Street. The history of Beers Books began around 1936-37 when our namesake, Mrs. Nellie Beer, worked as a clerk for L.H. Mytinger Books at 1125 8th Street in Sacramento. Her name appears as one of the charter members of the Sacramento Book Collectors Club in 1939. At some point this store on 8th Street changed its name to "Beers Book Store," for we have a circular advertising books-for-sale under this name at this location.

To read more about Beers Books history, check out their about page.

I was impressed with how large the interior of Beers Books was during our visit! They have a good selection of books for sale and places to sit and read during one's visit. The staff members were warm and welcoming.

I've had the goal of not buying books during the year of 2019 as I currently have way too many books to read! However, I could not resist buying three used paperback books for the grand total of $1.63! 

One of the books I purchased was Diane Ackerman's nonfiction book, A Natural History of the Senses. I loved reading Diane Ackerman's book The Zookeeper's Wife and have always wanted to read another one of her books since then.

More bookish related posts from our trip to Sacramento to come. Until then, happy reading!!

Rupi Kaur Reads From Poetry Collection, Milk and Honey.

Rupi Kaur is a new to me poet and author. Below is more information about her from Wikipedia:

Rupi Kaur (born October 4, 1992) (Punjabi: ਰੂਪੀ ਕੌਰ) is an Indian born Canadian poet, writer, illustrator, and performer. Her debut book, a collection of poetry and prose titled Milk and Honey, was published in 2014.[1] Her second book, The Sun and Her Flowers, was published in 2017. Both of these books contain images, drawn by Kaur and others to help the reader associate a picture with each poem.

Interesting poetry and prose, but I am not sure I love her writing. 

Maya Angelou's Reads Her Poetry

'On the Pulse of Morning'

'Phenomenal Woman'

'Still I Rise'

I am a huge fan of Maya Angelou's poetry and her life's work. The above videos are of Maya Angelou reciting three of my favorite poems she has written: 'On the Pulse of Morning' read on January 20, 1993 at President Clinton's Inauguration (I remember hearing her read this live on television in 1993), 'Phenomenal Woman', and 'Still I Rise'.

I had the honor of hearing Dr. Angelou speak live in my life twice. The first time was while I was a college student at the University of Iowa and the second time was roughly a decade later in Santa Barbara, California with my husband at the Arlington Theatre. Both times hearing Dr. Angelou speak were amazing experiences for me. Dr. Angelou was a very gifted and captivating speaker. She'd dance, sing, recite poetry, and tell the most amazing stories about her life. 

Dr. Angelou is truly treasure and her life is a gift to us all. I can't believe it has almost been five years since her passing. 

I Love You by Paul Éluard

I can't remember when I first came across this specific poem, but it was definitely a couple of decades ago. The following quote about Paul Éluard is from Wikipedia:

Paul Éluard (French: [elɥar]), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel ([ɡʁɛ̃dɛl]; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the surrealist movement.

Paul Éluard was at one time married to Gala Dali before she left him and eventually married Salvador Dali.

Reading Quote of the Day!!

Why Shakespeare Loved Iambic Pentameter Explained In a Ted-Ed Talk!

With April being National Poetry Month, I thought it would be fun to share this video as to why Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter so much. Enjoy!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I've been wanting to read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell since 2014 at least. I happily acquired the unabridged audio version of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and narrated by Rebbeca Lowman and Maxwell Caulfield last fall from Audible and finally listened to it this year.

I first learned about Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell because it was so hyped by so many blog reviewers out there on the blogosphere. I liked Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell well enough, but I am not sure it lived up to the hype for me. There was too much going on plot wise for me in this novel... I felt like the author tried too hard to juggle too many topics in Fangirl and some of the topics needed more attention/details.

Also, I get the concept of what it means to be a 'fangirl', but I felt like the 'fangirl' part was a bit overkill and sometimes a distraction to the rest of the novel and what was going... I was tired of all the 'Simon Snow' series related excerpts at the end of each chapter and all of the times Cath read her Simon Snow fan fiction to Levi during the novel. I felt like this was a major distraction to the other topics that needed more attention. 

On the one hand, I loved Cath and Levi's romantic relationship, but Levi was too perfect!! Plus, I wanted a more definitive answer to which direction their relationship was going by the end of the novel as well... Along with some resolutions to other topics mentioned in the novel.

The following is a the plot summary for Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell from Amazon:

In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life - and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow Series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to.

Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words...And she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else's fiction?

Listening time for Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is 12 hours, 49 minutes.

I am giving Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Dylan Thomas - 'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night'

Happy National Poetry month! 

Listen to Dylan Thomas's Villanelle poem

'Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night'.

Top Ten Tuesday - Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Below are a few reasons I pick up a book to read!

1. I've read a book by the author before and loved their writing.
2. The book has been recommended to me by another avid reader that has the same taste I do in terms of genre, writing style, etc.
3. I like the book cover and/or book title.
4. The blurb about the book on its back cover makes me want to read it.
5. It's a book club pick.
6. I want to explore a new genre. 
7. I'm interested in learning a new hobby or skill.
8. The book is required reading for a class.
9. I found the book at a Little Free Library.
10. I keep hearing a lot of positive buzz about a particular author.

Happy National Poetry Month!!

Have fun reading poetry this month!! Perhaps you'll even have 

fun writing some poetry this month too.

I wrote a Piku Poem in 2011 and dedicated it to my husband.

So read my Piku Poem below!

Quickly sleep

comes,

I dream of you

Now

Kissing me softly,

Lovingly on the side of my neck,

I blush,

awaken with desire

for a kiss from you,

Now, forever

***

So, what is Piku? Well, it's a poem like a haiku.. instead of the 5-7-5 format of haiku, Piku uses pi as its base. The number of syllables in each line of the poem corresponds to the numbers in pi. In other words, as pi is 3.141592653..., the first line of the Piku contains three syllables, the second line contains one syllable, the third line contains four syllables, and so on.

***

So, will you take the piku poem challenge?

If so, share your poem with me in the comments

section below.