I Think I Can...

I'm not ignoring my faithful blog readers. It's just that I'm trying to crank out these books while I have the time and the drive. Recently, I've read Siddhartha, joining my student in their summer reading, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, for a maybe book club with the work folk, and American Wife, because I've been dying to. I liked each book more than the one before. Siddhartha took me a while to get into, but it was a quick read and I am most anxious to talk with my students about their impressions and what thoughts it inspired in them. Oscar Wao was great. I was definitely engaged with the story and once I got over the sometimes page-long footnotes (not my favorite thing about the book), I enjoyed the story and I'm glad Junot Diaz told it the way he did. American Wife was my marathon today. I really liked Sittenfeld's first book, Prep, and I think I liked this even more. Based (a lot) on Laura Bush, I could not put this book down and it was such fun to read. I do best with books that have nuanced characters (which is why Siddhartha didn't like my fire, perhaps...it was just a bit too one-note) and The Blackwells fit that bill well.

That makes seven books for 2009, one that was on CD. I'm back on pace! My goal now is to get to 11 or 12 by the time school starts (I'm officially back on the 17th) because once it does, books become a pipe dream.

Next book is The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer. She wrote a great book a while back called The Position, which I enjoyed quite a bit, so I'm looking forward to this one. Maybe it will wake me up from my x-year nap.

I promise, one day you will hear about the fun trips I've taken. Today's just not that day. I'm off to REI to get some stuff for a short backpacking jaunt with Bec. We're going into the woods on Friday and Saturday and then to the famous Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Final Notes: Stepbrothers, the movie with Will Farrell, is pretty darn funny and I wish I was better at bar trivia. I was really good at the celebrity picture round and okay at The Beatles, but I second guessed myself on battle of Waterloo and The Outlaw Josey Wales. Next week, I will arrive with confidence! And pray for a Bob Dylan or Lance Armstrong round. Or better yet, maybe some high school math.