Friday, February 18, 2011

Reading, a lot of the time

I am still hip deep in changing (stubborn) behaviors -- behaviors that are fragile at the best of times. Talking about it will likely scare my progress away, so what's safe?

I enjoy a good cup of coffee. Tully's Evergreen Blend is my current favorite. Drinking it now.

The biographies and autobiographies I ordered through half.com are slowly trickling into my mailbox, making everyday feel like my birthday. Ben Franklin's autobiography came two days ago, then the Shirley Jackson bio came yesterday. I am looking forward to today!

The best part about half.com is I didn't pay more than $2 for most books (plus media mail shipping). The most expensive was a hardback for around $6 and that was a splurge. Sorting through dusty stacks has its benefits, but sometimes you just want what's on your list with minimal fuss.

Unfortunately I cannot read fast enough to keep up with what I've received so far, so I am about 10 pages into roughly 8 different books. At least 8, my head hurts trying to count them. There's one about language, one about archaeology, almost done with Murakami's "The Elephant Vanishes" - only one story left - and rereading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the Charlie Munger Almanack one.

Then there are the short story collections. One of just Hemingway stories and one with a bunch of other authors. And also Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle." (I was so excited to find that at a used bookstore last week after searching for it used for ages. It's so good!) And "The Power of Myth" transcript. How could I forget that?

Yep, that about covers it. As T.H. White wrote in "The Once and Future King":

Look what a lot of things there are to learn.

2 comments:

AZGypsie said...

The Once and Future King is one of my favorite reads. My step mom had it in her library and offered it to me to read. I fell madly in love and actually did a reading out of the first few chapters for an Oral Interpretation class in high school (a long, long time ago!). Love that book!

Folly Blaine said...

It is a great book! I read the quote first (I've used it in my blogger profile for years now) and then tracked down the book because of it.