Washington DC: Capitol, Library of Congress, & Supreme Court (Now with MORE PICTURES!)

In August, Josh and I went on our long-awaited, much-planned trip to DC. We had wanted to go together basically the moment that we met, and were planning to go on our honeymoon, but the Smithsonian Museum of American History has been undergoing renovation for the past few years (and what is a trip to DC without seeing the Star Spangled Banner?) I know that by now this is old news, and many who read our blog (do people really read our blog?) may have already heard all about our trip, but I wanted to post some pictures and thoughts from my journal.

I'm going to organize this based on what we did each day and try to include pictures that didn't make it to our Facebook albums (along with pictures that did).

We stayed in a Best Western in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, right next to George Washington University and these neat townhouses:

We walked down this street a few times a day. We got to be very familiar with it! We were also down the street from Embassy Row, which we drove past on our way to the temple.

These were my initial impressions (from my journal 8/19/09):
"Breathtaking (when we first drove into the city in the shuttle bus, I was speechless); the general inhabitants I've seen are are mostly younger than I expected (very few middle-aged white guys, though probably because Congress isn't in session); I expected to feel unsafe, but there are guards, police officers, and tourists everywhere. It is ridiculously humid, which makes me exceptionally cranky-- I'm not sure I've sweated this much just walking down the street since Hawaii."

The Capitol
(disclaimer: I'm going to add new pictures later since some are no longer on this memory card)

From my journal:
"We started with a tour of the US Capitol at 9am. I couldn't sleep the night before [. . .], so I was in a crummy mood. It was the first experience Josh and I had with DC during the day in August, and it was really surprising to be soaking with sweat at 8:30am. When Josh had last been to DC in 1998 with a school trip, the Visitor's Center has not yet been constructed. It was awe-inspiring and I may have gotten a little teary-eyed during the introduction video (after they fixed the eardrum-splitting audio problems). Although we looked high and low, we could not find either of the two statues from Oregon! Josh took a million pictures of everything."

The new visitor's center!

Emancipation Hall, the main body of the Visitor's Center,
is in the background


Me with Lady Freedom, a replica of the statue on top
of the Capitol dome

A close-up of the Lady herself


The Apotheosis of Washington
If you read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, this mural plays a part


The Statuary Room, where Congress used to meet, and which now houses two statues of notable people from each of the 50 states' histories (though not all statues are in this hall)

The above picture illustrates an issue I had the entire time (but mostly the first day) we were in DC. I wrote about it in my journal: "I thought I was going to fall apart yesterday because I wore new shoes that were supposed to be good for walking. At first they were okay, but as we walked more and stood up longer, my feet swelled and my toes were rubbed raw and blistery. [. . .] Thankfully, most museums have a plentiful array of benches from which to choose. Of course, my feet cause much complaint. Josh is handling me admirably well. I definitely married the right man!" After the first day, I wore sneakers. But we still walked A LOT! Josh says that, because of his mission, he can walk forever in any kind of heat, but I didn't go through that! In the above picture, I'm wearing the aforementioned shoes and sweating and just generally hating life.

The Library of Congress

From my journal:
"Then we took the air-conditioned underground tunnel to the Library of Congress where we saw the Gutenberg Bible and the first map that included 'America.' We even saw the Reading Room, though from a balcony and behind a glass. We also saw Jefferson's original contribution of books."

The lobby of the library (do libraries have lobbies?)

We also took a tour. When the docent asked, "What did Jefferson do?" I replied (like the wiseass musical-lover that I am), "He played the violin!" I think I made an enemy, but, seriously, what kind of a question is "What did Jefferson do?" The docent ignored me for the rest of the tour. (This was our first in a long string of docents and tour-leaders who asked stupid questions and receievd equally stupid answers in return from me).

The staircases had these cherubs, each celebrating an advancement
in areas such as farming and chemistry

The floors had all of the astrological figures.
Of course, I made Josh take a picture of mine-- Leo.

"We ate lunch at the US Capitol restaurant/cafeteria. It was interesting because there was the crowded main eating room with kids running around, then an overflow eating room about two feet away with maybe 20 or 30 tables, yet it was entirely empty except for an older couple and us. People had to walk past the overflow room to get to the food, yet 99% of the people chose the super crowded area. Josh said it was the mob mentality or lack of forethought, since the cash registers led into the main dining area."

It's weird what you notice when you don't have kids. I'm not sure why I included those thoughts about the cafeteria in my journal, except that now it's one of the most salient things for me about the Capitol.

The Supreme Court

Josh was extremely excited because Sonia Sotomayor
had just been elected as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice


Josh geeked out at the fact that we were able to
peek our heads in the courtroom.


We poked around everywhere, and found our way to this back spiral staircase made from marble. Apparently each step is a separate piece, designed to pressure-fit into place. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

From my journal:
"After lunch we walked over to the Supreme Court building and saw the courtroom. We saw a diorama and a video in the basement (ground level? We had to climb what felt like about 100 stairs to get to the entrance).

"Then we took some pictures from the inauguration side of the Capitol, and then walked to the National Art Gallery, first in the East building because it was closer, but then we were told by a guard that the West building was better, so we walked over. [. . .] We did a mad dash through the paintings, then went to the temporary exhibit 'The Art of Power,' which was a collection of armor, weapons, and tapestries from Spain. Unfortunately we only got through 3/4ths of it before the museum closed."

We Love to See the Temples!

I am proud that Josh and I established a tradition early in our relationship to do temple work when we visit new places. As of right now, we have been through 27 different temples together (thanks mostly to our Grand Temple Tour last year).

Most recently (well, in August and September but I haven't updated this blog in awhile), we went to the Washington DC temple when we were in DC for a couple weeks, and also to the eastern Idaho temples: Idaho Falls and Rexburg.

Since it's been awhile, I will just quote what I wrote about these temples in my journal at the time of our visit.

Temple #25: Washington D.C.
From my journal, 8/25/2009:
"In the evening we went to the temple (and of course got lost on the way). It's huge! [. . .] We missed the 8pm session waiting for someone to show up to help us. There were only 4 people in the 8:30 session, including us! It was sad to be in this huge temple-- the only one for several states-- with so few people." One unique thing about this temple is that there is a whole light system set up to let people know which room to use. It's interesting to have been to so many temples and see how crowd control has evolved over the years. The DC temple was dedicated in 1974.

Another unique thing about this temple is this skyway that connects the front part of the temple to the back. You can't tell it exists from the front, but it separates the different ordinance work. I got all geeky about this because I like learning things about the temples that I didn't know before visiting.

DC temple at night


Temple #26: Rexburg, ID
In September we drove to Boise for the sad Ducks vs. Boise State game and decided to visit the east Idaho temples (since we probably would never have another reason to drive out there).

From my journal (9/6/2009):
"There isn't much to do in Rexburg. The temple is next to a huge field of nothing. The construction of the temple is similar to Twin Falls, but smaller (it seemed, maybe since there isn't a main, central staircase, but rather two side staircases). The endowment room has a beautiful environment mural that is indicative of the newer temples, though I don't think it was a mural of the surrounding Rexburg land, since that's mostly fields. What a difference in attendance, though, from the DC temple! There were a lot of young couples, of course."


Not really the best picture, but it proves we were there!


Temple #27: Idaho Falls, ID
From my journal (9/6/2009):
"On Saturday morning we went to the Idaho Falls temple, which was begun in 1939. It took a moment to figure out where to take a picture since the area was tight due to a Visitor's Center added later. [. . .] When we came in, they gave us stickers to wear to show off that this was our first time at the Idaho Falls temple. It didn't help, though. I still got lost and had to ask for directions rather than the workers volunteering to help. So the sticker was pointless (and I lost is somewhere). The Celestial Room is one of two with murals (the other being LA). It was funny because when I sat next to Josh he pointed to a wall and said, 'There's a picture of you in here!' He said he could tell it was me because the woman is holding an open book. In the mural, the woman is sitting on a bench with a book looking up at a guy who is offering a flower. She is sort of frowning at the guy and her hand is next to her like she's saving the seat. I said, 'It looks like that guy wants to sit down and I'm having none of it!' Josh said, 'But where am I?' I said, 'You're late and I'm saving your seat!' We laughed. It was the best part of the trip."

This picture is one in a long string of pictures of me pointing at things. I can't exactly explain why, except to say that it changed things up a little bit.

Coming up in December we're going to Texas again to visit my sister and her family. In the past we have visited the Houston and San Antonio temples (I think San Antonio is still my favorite, behind Portland), and this year we're planning to go to the Dallas temple. After that, the only Texas temple we have not been through will be Lubbock, but we'll get there someday too. It gives us something to look forward to.

Here's Hoping!

Well, it's that time of year again, where Josh and I apply for Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which is a 24-hour film festival held in Austin, TX. This is also, coincidentally, where my sister #2 (of 4) lives with her family. For the past two years, Josh and I have applied and been accepted to BNAT, but so many people apply (approx. 2,000 for 200 seats), it's kind of a nerve-wracking experience getting our applications in and waiting around for the results.

This year, the theme of BNAT is "BNAT 1138" in reference to the movie "THX 1138" starring Robert Duvall and because the guy who started it (Harry Knowles from Aintitcool.com) is turning 38. So for our applications, Josh and I had to submit head shots of us without hair (the characters in "THX 1138" are bald). It was an event that took a week of procrastinating and an hour of photoshop, but here are the results:

Josh thinks BNAT 1138 will be fun. . .
and frightening!


I, like in most pictures, mostly look inconvenienced

It's been radio silence for the ShepAlders on this blog, I realize, but not because we haven't been doing anything! In fact, we've been doing too many things, so I'm not even sure where to begin. In the future, you can (hopefully) expect posts about our various travels, including DC, Philly, eastern Idaho, Anaheim, San Diego, and (coming in December) Austin!

UPDATE: We made it in to BNAT 1138!!! From a pool of more than 6000 applications, we were one of the 188 lucky people selected to attend. We're so excited and can't wait to go back to Austin. For a couple of die-hard film geeks like us, it's truly one of the coolest experiences out there. Now the training for a 24-hour movie marathon begins! Trust me... it's harder than you think it would be... like sitting through 6-8 double features, or watching the entire six-film Star Wars saga twice in one day. So awesome.

Celebrating 2 Years of ShepAlder!

It's true: Josh and I have now been married for two whole years, which means that we have been together for three and a half years. Yikes! For some of you, that may not seem very long, but for me it seems like a big milestone.

So I just wanted to share some pictures and memories from our life together (so far):

Josh and I started hanging out more often when our friend Mike's cat had kittens. We would make a date of sneaking into the Hansen's garage and take pictures/videos. Our cat Falkor is from this litter. We had also adopted his sister Ambrosius, but when we moved to Hillsboro, she had a hard time living with my cat Mercury, so we had to give her to Josh's old roommate Jeff.

Here are Ambrosius and Falkor in their kitten days



This picture was taken a year exactly before we got married. We were at the Oregon Zoo for a concert (Dar Williams & Shawn Colvin). I think I broke up with Josh a few days later, but it didn't last because I kept wanting to hang out with him!


In 2006 my family took a trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juan islands.
For the first day, the only thing I could think was how much cooler it would be if Josh were there. So I called him and invited him along. He missed a day of work and drove almost 300 miles, but we got to go to the Whale Museum.


One of the things Josh and I love to do together is go to Ducks games. Back in the day when Josh was a struggling journalist, he was able to sit in the press box, which was cool because they served food and cookies at halftime!



January 2007 we got engaged, but that's its own long story.


My dad took our engagement pictures up at Hoodoo



We gave this engagement picture to our friends.
I think it accurately sums up our relationship.


We have a habit of hugging ducks


This is how we registered for wedding gifts.
Perhaps this is why we only received one or two from our registry.


For Spring Break 2007, my family went to Disneyworld and Josh came along.
I made him buy a matching sweatshirt so people would know we belonged together.


We went to Vegas in May 2007 and went to the temple.
It was the first non-Portland temple I had been inside.


In Vegas we also went to the wax museum, where Josh hit on J. Lo


And Babe Ruth hit on me!


We got married July 28th, 2007


We went on a honeymoon to San Francisco, where we visited Alcatraz
and took a city tour


And spent a week in Jamaica, where we sat on the beach and read books

Josh got a picture in a Jamaican bobsled, which was
worth the trip for him.


August 2007 I started graduate school
(this is me on my first day!)


We hung out a lot in our first home together-- a townhouse in
the Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro, OR


December 2007 we went to Texas for the first time.
My sister had just moved to Austin 6 months earlier.


We spent spring break 2008 in Disneyland, San Diego, and Hollywood


Josh grew a beard at some point
and we went to a bunch of concerts together
(we think this one was The Decemberists, but we can't remember).


I randomly wore a moustache.



April 2008 we bought a house!


But first we had to look at about a million inferior houses.


In August 2008 we did a Grand Temple Tour
and visited 13 temples in 2 weeks

We dressed up a lot.



In December 2008 we went to Texas again to visit my sister,
her family, and to do other stuff.



For Spring Break 2009 we went to Disneyland (again) with Josh's dad and youngest sister.
We drove there and back. It was a long trip, but we had fun.



We adopted our third cat May 2009 and named her Mr. F.

That, in summary, is what 3 1/2 years of ShepAlder looks like. Hooray!

Josh + Emily = Awesome!

One Year Older and Wiser Too?

My birthday was last Monday. This is mostly how I celebrated:

It's an old picture, but you get the idea.

There is something very anticlimactic about turning 28. Maybe it's because I am pretty much at the same place at 28 that I was at 18: in college. Maybe it's also because being 27 was so crummy. Do things just get worse and worse with age? I won't bore you with the details, but believe me when I say that being 27 was above and beyond the worst I have ever experienced. Ever. Ugh.

When I told a member of our ward last week that it was my birthday the next day, he asked if I was turning 21. Josh laughed uproariously at the notion, which seemed to confuse the guy. I couldn't tell whether he was joking (because, come on, even if I was vain enough to believe I still look like I did at 21, I've been married for 2 years and have finished 2 years of graduate school. I'd have to be some sort of genius to get that done by 21 and if there is one thing I know I am not, it's a genius), but I really, really hope he was!

In other news: I was released from my calling as a Primary teacher today and wasn't given a new calling. I get a little antsy when I don't have anything to do, so church today was tough (especially since it's been a year since I've been around most of the adults in our ward). Perhaps I was released because I kept trying to use behaviorist techniques to keep my class in line. . .

Happy Birthday to Josh!

Few people know this, but mine and Josh's birthdays are less than a week apart during the Month of a Million Celebrations (July) in the ShepAlder household. We were also married in July, a week after Josh's birthday and a day after mine.

Unfortunately for Josh, who is probably the best present-giver I have ever met, I'm not so good with planning ahead. Where Josh thinks about presents for months in advance, I am more likely to wake up on the day of and think to myself, "Wasn't there something I was supposed to do today?" It isn't that I don't care or that I don't think planning ahead is important, I am just really, really, REALLY bad at keeping secrets, so to compensate, I have a tendency to, on the day, say, "I am planning to get this for you." Every once in awhile, I will hit Gift Gold, plan months in advance, and actually keep my mouth shut, but those times are rare.

I think my best showing for me was our first birthday celebration together back in 2006 when I got Josh a Dwight Shrute bobblehead and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. This year, I had imagined July to be a month of magic and wonder, but unfortunately things didn't go as pictured (mostly because I was picturing rather than doing, but also because I spent most of July either at school, NARA, or sleeping-- in fact, I had to take a final in the morning instead of doing something nice like cook breakfast).

But Josh still had some excitement on his birthday:

Instead of a cake, I got some birthday doughnuts
since there are only two of us.
I may or may not have eaten 80% of them...



Josh pretty much never grew up, so I figured it was
fitting to buy some Transformers party supplies.



They came in handy when we had Josh's desired birthday dinner--
Chinese food.

Something that my family does (sometimes-- when we remember) on birthdays is go around the room and say one nice thing about the birthday person. Since Josh and I are only a family of two, it's up to me to fulfill the tradition!

So, here's a list of 29 (in celebration of Josh's 29th birthday) things I love about Josh:

1. He takes care of me when I'm sick, which actually happens more often than it should, for two reasons: 1. I whine a lot, and 2. I get stressed and therefore get stress headaches really easily.

2. He makes up words to otherwise wordless themesongs. An example is the words he made up to my favorite show, "Murder, She Wrote" that starts with "Oh it's a show called Murder, She Wrote..."

3. He doesn't like to eat a lot of ice cream. So this leaves it all for me!

4. He can accurately finish my sentences. I always check to make sure he's right, so that when I say, "I think we should..." and he says, "I know," it isn't that he thinks I was going to say, "I think we should build giant net to catch our neighbor's dog" instead of "I think we should eat pasta for dinner." He's always right, though.

5. He plans ahead for vacations. Right now we're planning for Washington DC in August, and Josh has been reading guidebooks and TripAdvisor for at least 3 months, possibly 6. Just now he said, "I'm going to make a list of all the restaurants in DC to take with us so we'll know where to eat." Before we got a GPS for our car, he would print out pages of google maps. When we went to Austin for the first time, he knew how to get around almost better than my sister who lives there!

6. He does the chores that I abhor. These include: cleaning the catbox, taking out the trash, and washing the dishes.

7. He plays the guitar. He even taught himself when he was an RA at the University of Oregon. Sometimes he'll break it out and give me a personal concert of all my favorite songs.

8. He does the grocery shopping and 98% of the cooking. We have both come to realize that I should not be put in charge of anything involving food. It's not because I'm a bad cook, but because I never think to make food until I'm hungry (at which point I am ravenous and need food right now). Also, and Josh and I both say this all the time, if I had to buy groceries we would find ourselves to have a surplus of turkey bologna, ice cream, and organic Cheetos.

9. He is very, very, very patient, which makes up for the fact that I am very, very, very impatient.

10. He can entertain himself. Josh is never bored and I never have to come up with things for him to do. Sometimes this can be frustrating (like when I have things that I want him to do, and instead he does something else), but most of the time I like it.

11. He lets me pluck his eyebrows. I might have a slight obsession. Plus, his eyebrows go on forever. If he didn't let me pluck them, they would go from one side of his head to the other, connecting at the hairline.

12. He loves cats. And I love cats! So we love cats together.

13. He loves the library. I don't understand people who don't love the library. I mean, it's free! Josh goes to the library at least once a week, which means he carts my books back and forth. There are some things about Josh and the library that I don't love, but that's a different story.

14. We are equally messy. It's kind of bad because it means things are only moderately clean (we both have a tendency to make piles), but it's also nice because we live in an acceptable level of disarray with which we are both comfortable.

15. He motivates me to do more temple work. Josh and I have made it a point to go to the temple whenever we're in a new place, and, honestly, it's entirely Josh's doing. Because he plans our vacations, he always budgets in time for us to visit nearby temples, which is why we've been to 24 different temples together. Last year at this time we took a Grand Temple Tour, which was an amazing experience.

16. He supports me as a student. During my two years (so far) of graduate school, Josh has helped me in innumerable ways, but he supported me when I applied to grad school (and would call him crying almost every day during the application process), when I was interviewing (we almost missed my Pacific interview because we got lost and I was certain it meant I wasn't supposed to continue my education), and when I was choosing where to go (when I was accepted to Purdue he even said he would move to West Lafayette, Indiana for me. Thankfully, he didn't have to).

17. He supports me as a psychologist. It has been hard these past couple years to actually see the ending of all of my schooling. This year, when I worked in a residential alcohol and drug treatment facility, Josh was very understanding about the troubles I faced. Sometimes I would come home and just need to sit and not do anything, or space out and watch tv. Because of confidentiality, I can't really talk to him about specific clients or specific difficulties, but he has been very understanding of that and has never asked me to push those boundaries (and I think I might have done if the situation was reversed because I am endlessly nosey, which is why I'm studying to be a psychologist!)

18. He lets me just be me. The circumstances of our courtship were not ideal, but it also meant that I was at a point where I wasn't trying to be on my best behavior for anyone. It seemed to me that the more I was like myself (my whiney, unwashed, cranky self), the more he loved me. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

19. He loves movies. I have always loved movies. I've seen more movies than pretty much everyone I know. One of my favorite things to do with Josh is go to a movie in the afternoon, then come home and watch another movie. And Josh doesn't think that's weird!

20. He loves history, museums, and learning. Josh likes knowing things. Going places with him is sometimes like having my own personal tour guide. But when he doesn't know things, he's willing to take the time to learn more. And he indulges my curiosity, which is why we went to San Simian on our honeymoon, and why we're going to Hershey, Pennsylvania in August.

21. He makes me laugh. . . a lot! Whether he's singing "Moonriver" in a chipmunk voice or "Johnny Angel" in bass, Josh is pretty dang funny. He doesn't really tell jokes or make puns (thank goodness), but he can make me laugh harder than anyone.

22. He gives great presents. I know I said this earlier in the post, but Josh needs more recognition. He's the kind of person who listens when I say, "I wish I had. . ." and actually does something about it. He's the reason I have the full series box set of Angel, an eliptical machine, and several pairs of cat socks.

23. He likes my family. He actually spends more time with them than I do!

24. He reads the newspaper. So I don't have to!

25. He likes video games, but doesn't play them all the time. He doesn't sit around all day and play Madden, but he will sit, play for half an hour, then get up and do something else.

26. He has three sisters. I think this prepared him appropriately for life with me. Josh was already used to not getting his way.

27. He can find a good deal. I'm not patient enough to cut coupons or sign up for deals, but Josh does all of that. Most recently he had signed up with various companies that give away free birthday things (like a free burger at Red Robin and free ice cream from Coldstone). He also does things like fill out customer survey forms, which usually yield coupons as a reward.

28. He's pretty good looking, for a boy.

29. He loves me! That, I think, is the best reason to love him back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHERS!

Emily's Books Read in 2009: Second Quarter

Following through with my New Year's resolution, and continuing on my first quarter list, here is the list of books I read from April through June:

19. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich (finished 4/4)
Not good. Don't read it. Janet Evanovich's books tend toward trashy mixed with mystery, but this book was just trashy. Ugh.

20. Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster (finished 4/11)
I heart you, Jen Lancaster, for writing something about social class and living in a big city that I can relate to as an upper class White girl. I much prefer this book to the ones required for my practicum.

21. Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs (finished 4/12)
This is the author responsible for inspiring the "Bones" tv series. I much prefer the tv series, but the books aren't terrible.

22. Size 14 Isn't Fat Either by Meg Cabot (finished 4/19)

23. Big Boned by Meg Cabot (finished 4/29)

24. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs (finished 5/4)
I wish I had realized before I started reading this book that it was about bikers. I had a hard time getting through it.

25. Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie (finished 5/20)
Before this book, I read about 3/4ths of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, but had to return it to the library. This Christie book was just okay-- a collection of short stories with Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, who aren't as good as Poirot and Miss Marple.

26. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (finished 5/28)
Proud author in this author photo. This is book 4(ish?) of the Dresden Files series, centered around a wizard who is also a private investigator. My sister really likes the books and she gave a few of them to me, so I read them.

27. Death Masks by Jim Butcher (finished 6/3)

28. Killer Hair by Ellen Byerrum (finished 6/8)
I was inspired to start this series about a fashion-reporter-turned-crime-investigator because ads for the made for tv movie were running on the Lifetime Movie Network. Unfortunately, the movie wasn't that great, but the series is entertaining.

29. Murder by Manicure by Nancy J. Cohen (finished 6/10)
I wouldn't recommend it, though it wasn't the worst I've ever read. I felt Byerrum is better, but her books are also set in DC.

30. Deseigner Knockoff by Ellen Byerrum (finished 6/16)
Missing intern and a 60 year old murder mystery.

31. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (finished 6/23)

32. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster (finished 6/25)
I loved this book, especially since I've been trying to lose weight lately.

33. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (finished 6/30)
Okay, so technically I haven't finished this yet, but I wanted to write this blog post instead of writing a paper, and I only have 100 pages left. I think the later books in the series are much better than the earlier ones.

So I read more books last quarter, but I also had to drop out of a class last term because I flunked 2 tests. Coming up in a month, I'm taking a term off school, so I will likely read more books (as well as finally finish painting my kitchen alcove and finally fix our kitchen floor and light fixture).

Up Next
* I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max
This book was recommended to me by Amazon, and is a collection of short stories by a total douchebag who reminds me of my best friend in college, who is no longer my friend precisely because he was a douchebag. It should be interesting.

* A Graveyard for Lunatics by Ray Bradbury
Apparently this is book was inspired by the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which Josh and I are planning to visit when we go to LA in October.
(NOTE: Be sure to look for the requisite photo of me standing next to Johnny Ramone's amazing headstone statue! -- Josh)

* The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Maybe I'll actually finish it this time.