The Instructions Causes a Franzen-Sized Frenzy in TRBC
Those of you that stop by on a regular basis may remember me mentioning The Rumpus Book Club. For those of you who are not familiar with my fanatic love for TRBC, it’s an online book club that sends its members an early release every month. There is also a pretty awesome email chat group that goes with the club. Anyway, for the past week or two the book club has been all abuzz with anticipation for the arrival of The Instructions by Adam Levin. Much of the anticipation is due to the size of the book. At 1,024 pages, The Instructions is a monster. On top of all that, the cover art is beautiful. And here’s the kicker: Amazon.com and other bookstores started selling it ahead of the official release date. So, RBC members started seeing it in public and getting antsy. Actually antsy is an understatement. The group developed severe McSweeney’s (publisher of The Instructions) inspired cabin fever. Members were at first timidly requesting to know when the books were mailed. Then the tone of the requests became a little demanding… After each request, Stephen Elliott (Editor-in-Chief of The Rumpus, Author of Many Books) assured everyone that the books were mailed book rate and that they would probably take a week or so to reach us. Meanwhile, Isaac Fitzgerald (Managing Editor of The Rumpus) posted a teaser picture of The Instructions next to a can of Tecate Light. The book was nearly as thick as the can. Everyone went nuts.
My Brilliant Plan
Being the smart ass that I am, I decided to order a second copy of the book via next day shipping from Amazon.com. I was going to pretend that it was my TRBC copy and post a picture of myself to the blog with a caption saying something like “Hey everybody! Suck it! Mine came today!” Because my aura is black For whatever reason Fed Ex got lost and could not find my house. So, I just got the Amazon.com copy today. Guess what else came today? Yep. My Rumpus copy came as well.
I think everyone probably knows what this means!There’s a The Instructions giveaway in future of WellReadWife.com.
Hmmm. I wonder how The Instructions sizes up to an 11 month old’s head?
Let’s see how it sizes up to a 3yr old’s!
Okay, that’s all for now. Many thanks to The Rumpus Book Club for making reading such a fun and exciting experience for so many people!
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Feel free to leave a comment on this post and let me know what you’re reading currently. Also, I love getting new Twitter followers and lots of Facebook “likes”!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
That is so funny. I wondered if there would be a karmic backlash for ordering a second copy via Amazon. Turns out: pretty much. Looks like you got two colors—which ones?
Still trying to wait patiently (hopefully not longer than Friday, since they’ve now reached the Mississippi).
Hey Kevin!
I got the blue copy and the red copy. I’m going to keep the red one b/c it has more detail in the illustration on the front.
Will the wellreadwife’s giveaway arrive before TRBC’s copy? If, let’s say you should give it away to a fellow TRBC member like myself? I’m in TX and a TRBC member – we could have a book race to my house. Love your bookshelves! (the kiddos are pretty cute, too,)
Funny. My copy just arrived today and there was joy. Plus I’m going to a reading at the local indie bookstore this month in hopes of getting my brick signed.
Blue happens to be my favorite color, but extra detail on red sounds cool, too.
I don’t know how you read so much with two little ones. And keep a neat house. And get dressed. Very impressive. My apartment has been a disaster since I joined TRBC. And I think I read maybe two books by the time by first and only son was 11 months old. Please give me a lesson in time management.
@Denise I’m probably going to do the giveaway with my review post after I finish reading it. That should be in a week or two. I’m sure you’ll have your Rumpus copy by then.(I hope!)
@Robert I wish Levin would come down here, so I could get mine signed. I need to look and see if he has a New Orleans stop…
@Meghan Thanks! I can’t take credit for the clean house though. I have a super awesome housekeeper that comes once a week, and the house would be an absolute pig sty if I didn’t have her…
I’m still waiting on mine. Anyone in CA get theirs yet? I went for a walk in the rain thinking the sadistic delivery guy might have hid it from me in the shrubs. Not.
I can’t wait to get started…I am a bit obsessive about deadlines and such, plus with school fulltime and a toddler, I need my book! Yikes.
BTW, really cute boys!
Thanks Amy!
I hope you get it soon too. I know how important time management is when it comes to taking care of the kids and trying to keep a reading schedule. I can’t even imagine throwing school into the mix too!