put the book back on the shelf
This year, I'm giving up buying books for lent. I realize that I have a problem. Hopefully this will prevent my library from growing to further monstrous proportions, if only temporarily. AWP weekend can be considered my Fat Tuesday, because I bought more books than I should have, even with Catie's "don't" glares keeping me in check most of the time. I've been meaning to read something by Jennifer Egan, so I bought her novel "Look at Me." And finally I bought "Another Bullshit Night In Suck City" which sounds like a pretty good memoir. Also I found a book of poetry based on female super hero characters. Nice. I think I'll give that one to Ian. On top of that I got a few copies of "One Story" magazine, which is really cool.
The fact that I've held out for this long is surprising. When we were in Boston I spent a day "shopping" with Catie, Angie, and her friend Yee. I managed to hang in there for .. oh, two stores. But after that I was sick of looking at clothes. So I spent an hour in Barnes and Noble, and another hour in Borders. It was torture! When Easter comes there will be a feast - a feast of books. I'd really like to get something by Stewart O'Nann. Sal wrote about him in his blog and most of his books sound really good. I'd also like to get something by Dennis Johnson. There are a lot of modern authors who I still haven't explored, and need to. There's a book called "History of a Bad Year" that has a really cool structure. It's about an old professor who hires an assistant for dictation and help with his book. Every page of the book is divided into thirds. The top third is the content of the political book being written. The middle third is the professor's thoughts. And the bottom third is the thoughts of the girl. I'm not sure how you actually go about reading that though. It's like reading a really long jump page.
My obsessive reading habits actually helped me to write a great cover letter to be a researcher at Panel Intelligence. I cast myself an information junkie, always on the lookout for my next fix, and I wanted Panel Intelligence to be my new dealer. Well, it wasn't QUITE that radical, but it was really fun to write a creative cover letter after writing a dozen boring letters.
I want to channel my obsessive reading more towards reading books, and writing short stories. If only there were a way to escape internet news. The primaries will be over soon, which is a relief, I can stop agonizing over whether or not Obama will blow it to Hillary. But then the baseball season starts and I MUST have a fantasy team, and I MUST obsess over it. I'm determined to win. On the bright side, I don't have any drug or alcohol problems. On the downside, I am lame.
At some point I should post a list of all the books I read last year. And no, I didn't make it to fifty.
The fact that I've held out for this long is surprising. When we were in Boston I spent a day "shopping" with Catie, Angie, and her friend Yee. I managed to hang in there for .. oh, two stores. But after that I was sick of looking at clothes. So I spent an hour in Barnes and Noble, and another hour in Borders. It was torture! When Easter comes there will be a feast - a feast of books. I'd really like to get something by Stewart O'Nann. Sal wrote about him in his blog and most of his books sound really good. I'd also like to get something by Dennis Johnson. There are a lot of modern authors who I still haven't explored, and need to. There's a book called "History of a Bad Year" that has a really cool structure. It's about an old professor who hires an assistant for dictation and help with his book. Every page of the book is divided into thirds. The top third is the content of the political book being written. The middle third is the professor's thoughts. And the bottom third is the thoughts of the girl. I'm not sure how you actually go about reading that though. It's like reading a really long jump page.
My obsessive reading habits actually helped me to write a great cover letter to be a researcher at Panel Intelligence. I cast myself an information junkie, always on the lookout for my next fix, and I wanted Panel Intelligence to be my new dealer. Well, it wasn't QUITE that radical, but it was really fun to write a creative cover letter after writing a dozen boring letters.
I want to channel my obsessive reading more towards reading books, and writing short stories. If only there were a way to escape internet news. The primaries will be over soon, which is a relief, I can stop agonizing over whether or not Obama will blow it to Hillary. But then the baseball season starts and I MUST have a fantasy team, and I MUST obsess over it. I'm determined to win. On the bright side, I don't have any drug or alcohol problems. On the downside, I am lame.
At some point I should post a list of all the books I read last year. And no, I didn't make it to fifty.