BOOK HAUL!

I love books. My reading list is long, and I really should not be adding to it when I have a bunch of other books I need to finish first.
My actions do not wish to comply. I only bought four books today, and only one of them is a sit-down-and-read-this-thoroughly book.

First, I bought Beowulf, an edition translated by Michael Alexander. This edition is part of a Penguin Classics series about "Classics that Inspired The Hobbit."
Beowulf is one of the oldest works in the English language, and was originally composed as a tale to be sung, as The Iliad and The Odyssey were. Like those works, Beowulf is, most simply, about a man who kicks mythical butt and takes mythical names, until he is defeated. A lot more than that happens, but you should go find the summary for yourself.
I studied Beowulf briefly in the first half of British Literary Traditions when I was a freshman. This was one of the first clues that I think really old things are really cool. I didn't read it very thoroughly then, so I'm going back to read it properly now. (My next goal is to read it in Old English, but that probably won't happen for many years. I need to learn Old English first.)

I also bought Grace's Guide: the art of pretending to be a grown-up by Grace Helbig. This is basically what it sounds like: a guidebook on How To Do Adult Things, but funnier and more relatable than a wikiHow article on How To Apply For A Job. I follow Grace on YouTube, and I've wanted to get this book since it came out last year. I've been trying to limit my book purchases, but now I regret not buying it sooner. It provides Actual Life Advice similar to what my mom always tells me, but it's written like someone closer to my age than my mom. (This is nothing against my mother. It's just that Grace Helbig is closer to me in age.)

Next up is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and David King. This is the only one I haven't opened yet, but is probably the one I most need to open. I'm in the process of editing my 2011 NaNoWriMo novel, and I need all the help I can get in editing this and future novels.

Last, I got a jokey sort of book: Pengin Classics Mad Libs. If you don't know what Mad Libs are, you need to find your preferred search engine and look it up. Penguin Classics Mad Libs is just what it sounds: Mad Libs and Classic Literature. Excerpts from Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, Jane Eyre, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray all make appearances. I'm excited.