But, recently I noticed to what extreme it went. Well, maybe not extreme, but it's getting a little wild.
I have had two cars in this lifetime, and one day I shall make a long post about the wonders of my first car. But, the important thing to note in relation to this blog post is that the first one was named "Maureen" and the second "Johnson."
As in, Maureen Johnson the young adult fiction author, BFF with John Green, Cassandra Claire and others, and a strong member of the Twitter community. The latter is how I fell in love with this sassy woman. I have deleted twitter, but I did love her tweets and just saw while googling her that she met Lin-Manuel Miranda, which is super dope. Anyways, I was on twitter when I got my first car, and I hear it is bad luck to not name your first car (that car needed all the luck it could get to get me from point A to point B without crumbling to pieces). So, I chose her. She was funny, I'd read several of her books at this point, she was BFFs with other authors which is #Goals, and she started that cool movement about gender flipping book covers.
By the time my second car came to be, it just seemed natural that I finish out the name. Also, my last car had a million problems, but this one seems to have one problem and that is I've gotten two flat tires while driving it. So, it is a mild stress relief to shout "JOHNSON!" at my car when I am upset at it. I feel like an 1857 detective with an assistant who is an imbecile.
Now, we all name things after our heroes and people we admire. Some people just don't go with authors. There is probably a young man driving his first car, Peyton Manning. Or, a teenage woman jamming to the newest song with her car, Malala. But, do these two people make clothing decisions based on their heroes and passions?
I am a sucker for floral designs, and for beautiful book covers. I've learned control, but there have been times where I would buy three hardback books a week because the covers were just SO WONDERFUL! I mean, the books were good, but the covers man. I'm talking The Faithful by Alice Hoffman (Or, as I like to call it: woman rescues (steals) five dogs while dealing with depression and survivors guilt), and Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke. But especially The Muse by Jessie Burton.
Oh man, oh man that dark green with the ecclectic symbols and images scattered intentionally across the cover. IT'S JUST SO AESTHETICALLY PLEASING! And, the paperback has like a yellow background and I just, like, can't.
Side note: This is also a very good book.
But, this book caught my attention and I just had to have it. Then, weeks later I found a shirt that I felt a similar pull to. People give me compliments on this shirt frequently, and I always tell them: "Thanks. I bought it because it reminded me of this book cover I love."
The last time someone gave me this compliment I had to stop and think about it. I admitted to the woman, "You can tell what my life revolves around, can't you?" Because clearly, I love books, and therefore I am just trying to immerse myself in the world of books.
Or... I am trying to become one myself.
"Hi, welcome to the bookstore! I'm Paige, like a book. And, my shirt was purchased because it looks like this amazing books, please buy it so I may continue to put gas in the car I named after a beloved author."