I only just realized (two hours after publishing this blog post) that today is actually TUESDAY, not Wednesday.  I have no excuse other than I clearly do not have enough structure in my life.  Please consider today a whimsical treat:  What Are You Reading Wednesday (on Tuesday).

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What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

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1. What’s the name of your current read?  

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

“You know,” he [Jared] says, when we meet back at the waitress station (still called a waitress station even though it’s only us two waiters tonight), “this thing with Henna only really came up when she started dating Tony.  And now she’s going to Africa after graduation.  And then Nathan comes into our lives to catch her eye when she’s single and you’re still ‘gathering your courage.'”  He eats a french fry off a plate.  “Ever thought you only really like her because there’s always something in the way of actually getting close to her?”

“I think that all the time.”

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Mmm, nah.  Ness’s satirical world is fun, but I’m not dying to live in a world where indie kids fix supernatural problems while everyone else struggles through real life issues.  I’ll read about it, though!

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

1. What’s the name of your current read?

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

I have been largely silent about my attitude toward weddings.  Anyone who knows me even slightly will recognize how unusual that is, since I am notorious for making impassioned speeches about things nobody cares about.  Like, I think it’s a federal crime parking meters won’t accept pennies.  Yeah, government, we know pennies suck.  But you made them!  You have to accept them!  Parking meters are literally one of the three things anyone uses coins for and you decide you don’t want to deal with them?

That’s technically from page 23, but I’m not to page 34 yet and that was hilarious, so.  I do what I want.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

A world in which Mindy Kaling exists?  Of course, that way I get to enjoy The Office and The Mindy Project.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

1. What’s the name of your current read?

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

Most magicians know who I am.  Most of them knew I was coming before I knew myself; there’s a prophecy about me–a few prophecies, actually–about a superpowerful magician who’ll come along and fix everything.

And one will come to end us.
And one will bring his fall.
Let the greatest power of powers reign,
May it save us all.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Um, YES.  A pseudo-Harry Potter world, but with more cursing and sillier spells and more romance?  Sounds perfect.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

1. What’s the name of your current read?

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

I turned the blade.  I was surprised that it hadn’t already disintegrated in my hand.

“I dunno, Randolph.  This thing looks way past renewing.  I’m not even sure it can be recycled.”

If I sound unimpressed or ungrateful, don’t get me wrong.  The way I’d pulled the sword out of the river was so cool it freaked me out.  I’d always wanted a superpower.  I just hadn’t expected mine to entail retrieving garbage from river bottoms.  The community service volunteers were going to love me.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Of course!  Rick Riordan always does an amazing job of combining epic myths with humorous modern life, which is exactly the sort of vibe I strive to accomplish in my daily living.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

1. What’s the name of your current read?

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

Talat [a wounded war horse] followed her.  When she stopped, or grabbed a tree limb for balance, he moved a step or two away and dropped his nose to the ground and lipped at whatever he found there.  When she moved on, he picked up his head and drifted after her.  On the third afternoon since finding the recipe she was still pacing, not only because she was a slow thinker, but because her four-legged shadow with the dragging hind foot intrigued her.  It was on the third day that when she put her hand out to steady herself against the air a horse’s neck insinuated itself under her outstretched fingers.  She let her hand lie delicately on his crest, her eyes straight ahead, ignoring him; but when she took another step forward, so did he.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

Yes!  How fun to live in a world of magic and dragons!  I like McKinley’s slow burn fantasy worlds, and hanging out in the royal court with Aerin and Tor would be so much fun.

What Are You Reading Wednesdays #WAYRW is a weekly feature started on It’s A Reading Thing. Everyone is welcome to participate. You can answer the questions in the comments section of the weekly #WAYRW post or link back to your #WAYRW post on your blog via the link up. You can grab the image above or create your own, just please make sure you link back to IART as the host for this meme.

How to participate:
Grab the book you are currently reading and answer three questions:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

1. What’s the name of your current read?

Girl at the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther

2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a couple of sentences.

Papa George hands me the gift and leans forward, watching intently.  “Don’t rip the paper!” he warns.  “Save it and give it to your mother.  Maybe she can use it for another gift.”

I carefully unwrap the present.  In Papa George and Grandma Betty’s view, childish stuff like ripping open presents is intolerable.  Childhood is a time of serious preparation for Christian service and the End Times.

3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?

NOPE.  Elizabeth Esther’s memoir is a haunting look at what happens to a child when caught in the visegrip of fundamentalist Christianity, and I want no part of that world.