A Pointless Ramble about What I’m Reading
I’ve been reading like crazy for the past week. My mom sent me a package containing two books for me to read (books! that do not have a due date stamped in them! that will not cost me money if I do not read them in time) and, when she checked in with me a few days later about them, I was ashamed to admit I had not even started them yet. NOT EVEN CRACKED THE COVER!
But, seeing as how I was in the middle of five books at that moment, I was just too busy to start something new, even something as fun and as new as these books. With that many books going on, I felt like I needed to be reading every moment. And I needed to finish at least one of them.
One of the books is a biography about Hillary Clinton (not one of the two new ones that are being written about like mad right now, but an older one from a few years ago). About every 20 or 30 pages I change my mind about her. I am all for her for a while; all “gooooo, Hillary! You rock!” and then suddenly it’s “wow, you are a messed up gal, who should not be president” and then back again. It’s exhausting, really. The truth is, it’s hard for me to read more than 50 pages at a time of a biography, usually. It’s just too dense to take in faster than that. I’m about 250 pages in, with about 100 pages more to go, so it’ll likely take me a few more days to get through it. Truthfully, I haven’t read much of it in the past few days. After reading it almost exclusively over the past few days, I haven’t had the will to read more; I’ve needed to break and read more fun things.
I’m also reading Sense and Sensibility, which I’ve never read before, but I’m reading that one online at Google Books. I checked it out of the library, but the font was so preposterously difficult to read, that I’ve decided to read it entirely online.
I’ve also been reading Family Matters for the last gazillion years, but haven’t picked it up in over a week and I think it may be one of those sad books that I return to the library uncompleted and then forever feel guilty about.
Fortunately, I did finish the other two books I was reading (The Higher Power of Lucky and Peter and the Shadow Thieves, both of which I plan to write about sometime before I die), so, what with the casting aside of Family Matters, I feel positively free.
And therefore, I spent nearly the entire night reading the first of the books my mom sent me. And enjoying it so much, it was embarrassing. Bart has this unfortunate (for him) habit of asking me why I’m giggling to myself when I read. Then, I proceed to give him a twenty minute summary of the book so far in order to give him enough background to explain the one sentence that amused me. A sentence which, when retold, loses quite a lot of it’s hilarity. And yet, he pretends, so kindly, to enjoy my lengthy retellings. He’s a good fellow.
The best news is that the second book sent by my mom is the sequel to the first. Which means that tomorrow will likely be a terribly unproductive but wonderfully enjoyable day.
Hi Janssen – Aunt Miriam here! I want to know what two books your mom sent you? I love sequels and the fact you were giggling while reading is a good clue that I want to check them out! Also, what is this Google on line books? Clueless older generation here asking savy younger generation for computer help! If I can read books on the computer and not have to take a trip to the library or have to wait for a book to arrive from Amazon, that is really cool! I hope you check your comments to your posts or I’ll have to ask you more directly!!
Aunt Miriam! Thanks for the comment. The first book is called “The Little Lady Agency” and the sequel, which I just am reading this morning, is “Little Lady, Big Apple.” Very fun!
Google Books lets you search the full text of books, which is very handy for college research papers, when you’d rather not make a thousand trips to the library. Most books will only let you read 10-20 pages, seeing as they want you to actually BUY the book, but old books (like Jane Austen’s) can usually be read in their entirety (also, it looks like a book, rather than just being one long huge page of text, which I like). You can check it out at google.com/books.
Google Books sounds like a great find! It might help Jared find his plagiarizers.
Oh dear, my book queue just grew! I was never one for reading multiple books at a time, but I’m finding it practically essential. Right now I’ve got a book for each room–one book in the nursery to read at middle-of-the-night feedings in a desperate attempt to stay awake (and therefore not spend the whole night in the rocking chair), one in my bedroom, one on the couch…I don’t know that it’s any more efficient, but it satiates my impatience for the next book (for now, at least). And I know what you mean about summarizing the plot just to give the background in order to explain one line…and after all that, the humor is pretty much lost on the poor fellow (it’s inevitably a fellow). Way to read! P.S. My mom gave me “Honey for a Child’s Heart” for Mother’s Day. Heard of it? The second half is an annotated bibliography of wonderful books for children to read, organized by age group. And the first half talks all about how to help children use books to develop their imagination and cognitive abilities! I just started, but I’m super excited, and it’s going to be a great homeschool resource.