While on vacation, I picked up more books than I could read. This was surprising considering all the time sitting in the airport, sitting in the airplane, sitting in the hotel room, sitting sitting sitting waiting waiting waiting. My biggest obstacle: the tv. The TV screams, "Look at me! Listen to me! Me me me!" and it makes it really hard to read. I suppose books and TV have been at odds with one another ever since TV was born.
Nonetheless, I finished one book...and it wasn't even a book I completely enjoyed. It was Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. When I was in grad school, a fellow student raved about this book. The professor agreed - it was a wonderful book about teaching. And as I read it, it seemed to be more about Frank McCourt's personal life rather than teaching. He shared a few stories about his students, but moreso about his personal life stories he shared with his students. Okay, they were amusing, but as a reader, I expected to read about teaching, not a personal life autobiography of sorts. I guess that's why I didn't enjoy it. The disappointment overshadowed what was probably a good book.
I'm currently reading A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's been on my "MUST READ" list for at least 2-3 years. I love dystopian novels - 1984, Fahrenheit 451 - I could read them all! As soon as I actually had some quality time to read the book, sitting in a hotel bed in Vancouver with my husband (who's reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson), I whizzed through 50 pages in less than an hour. I have to return the book in 3 days. I hope I'll find the time to read the rest before I have to return (or renew) it.
I still have 2 books left and both have been renewed once. One is a biography of Elizabeth I and the other is a biography of Marilyn Monroe. These are lengthy books, requiring time and attention to detail. I guess I'll renew them again...as long as I can renew them to read them. I don't want to give them back and then forget that I wanted to read them. Or *gasp* someone else take them out for weeks at a time so that it won't be there when I'm finally ready.
What can I say - I'm a greedy reader and library user.
No comments:
Post a Comment