NaBloPoMo Day 3: Apologies in advance for what may appear (rather correctly) to be a filler post, but I am still rather under the weather and not feeling up to much of an entry. Melanie has already made the requisite posting for today, but I would be remiss not to do my bit as well.
As we've complained at every opportunity to anyone who will listen, last month was very difficult and stressful. One of my biggest complaints about October is that I didn't read very much outside of work (where I read a few newspaper articles while I eat my brown bag lunch). I have a stack of quarter- and half-finished books by my bedside that chides me as I turn in each evening.
War and Peace: Undoubtedly a great work, this book requires attention! I had hoped to catch up with John and Tom in time to join their book club, but that vain idea soon fell by the wayside. I think I've read no more than 300 pages; by the time I get back to it I'll probably have to start over.
The Right Stuff: Tom Wolfe's narrative of the race to put the Mercury 7 astronauts into space. Though its fast pacing promises a quick read, the verbal pyrotechnics (the obligatory descriptor of Wolfe's prose) made it an unsuitable bedtime book (hard to fall asleep), so I set it aside before Glenn made his way into orbit. Easy enough to pick up again, I'm sure.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold: I bought this one for $3 to help me pass the time waiting in line to see John Irving at the Coolidge Corner Theater a couple of weeks ago. I've been impressed with Le Carre ever since I read Absolute Friends on our New Mexico trip. This slim volume was plainly written but still held my attention until the doors opened 60 pages later, though I had the nagging sense that I'd read the book before. I suppose I'll finish it next time a famous author comes to town.
The Shield of Achilles: Though the thesis of Philip Bobbitt's massive tome promises to be interesting, its detailed exposition is ponderous in places, and the book was recalled before I'd made it 200 pages in.
A Place of My Own: Food guru Michael Pollan's paean to architecture and house-building, which are not synonymous. As always, unpretentiously erudite and smoothly written (though one unforgivably stupid off-the-cuff remark in it did send me into a rage), it made me want to design and build my own writing shack. I did actually finish this one.
The House of the Seven Gables: Perfect for fall evening reading, this is one I'd skipped in high school. My current choice right before shuteye.
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