Saturday, September 06, 2008

Reading

I can't believe how much I'm reading right now. I'm a pretty casual reader, usually about four or five books a year. I have been on an absolute tear right now, though. This is the most I've read in a year since high school. Of course, in high school I had to read books. I read quite a few on the side, too.

Let's see, here's my list as of three weeks ago:

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Hunting the Tiger - Christopher S. Stewart
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
Ghost Wars - Steve Coll
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

Okay, so that was through three weeks ago. Not a ton of reading for most people, but I'm proud of it. I really started reading this year while working in Norfolk. Molly got me In Cold Blood as a Christmas present. This was the first time in years I could actually take a lunch break, so I got into the habit of going to Starbucks and reading. It was nice, but that was all the reading I did.

After Oscar Wao I picked up Helter Skelter from Molly's bookshelf. I was really picking up my pace when I started this book. I figured it's 700 pages would slow me back down. But I pounded that book down. I finished it in seven days. Pretty much any little time I could find, I read.

Since then, I read Drown by Junot Diaz, and I'm now finishing up A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I'm averaging a book a month now. My goal is to also read some Chuck Palahniuk (starting with Choke) and some Cormac McCarthy (The Road) next. Still need to read A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs. After that, who knows? I want to pick up The Prize by Daniel Yergin, but I'm a little intimidated by it. But if I can read Helter Skelter in a week, I'm sure I can handle it.

All the while too, I've been rediscovering comic books. I started reading some borrowed trades of Y: The Last Man last year, but stopped. I'm going to start all over now. Also thoroughly enjoying Ex Machina and just finished A History of Violence. Pride of Baghdad is sitting on my shelf too.

I need to maybe slow down a bit. I'm running out of things to read. Also, I'm all out of room on my bookshelf. I just bought it a few months ago. I don't have any more room for another shelf. Plus, books can be expensive. However, I'm really proud of myself suddenly and don't want my pace to slow down. Give me suggestions.
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