3/2/11

What I'm reading - on my nightstand right this minute!

 *via Teacup Vintage and its fun post about Librarian style icons!

No sooner do I write a superior-sounding post about how important it is that we read things that are deep and pensive, than I am reading a book that is dense and meandering and I am tired of it.  I've been reading The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare and while his writing style is gorgeously poetic and he pulls the sorts of quirky details  in that I love, he meanders, a lot.  The reason I picked up this book - I wanted to learn more about whales!  And I liked the idea of some intelligently, artistically written non-fiction while I was at it.  But I feel as if my curiosity about whales and the history of whaling is not being satisfied.  Nothing goes in a straight line.  There are millions of pinpoint dots and I'm not sure when I walk away if I will know or remember how they connect. I'm reading it on the Kindle and I find myself looking at the percentage bar (which shows how much progress you're making through the book) and groaning - I'm ONLY at 25% and I'm ready to read something new.  That's it.  Time to fly the white flag.  Guess I'm not as deep and advanced as I thought.  Ha!

So I've picked up some lighter fare to give my poor little brain a break.  I'm reading Her Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.  And after three days of reading, I'm 33% through it.  Ha!  It's a lovely, light, enjoyable adventurous read - part Patrick O'Brien, part Jane Austen, part dragons.  And if this makes no sense, go check it out. 

And last but not least on my nightstand is The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn.

I've always had this vague fantasy about going to cooking school.  It's probably not a serious desire, one of those silly notions, planted by the sight of Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina or Julie and Julia.  So I'm indulging that desire vicariously through this memoir about a woman who left her life behind to spend a year in Paris going to Le Cordon Bleu. 

What are you reading?

3 comments:

  1. Someone recently told me that legendary librarian Nancy Pearl (check out her site)advises that you should only give a book 100 pages minus your age and if it hasn't grabbed you by then give it the boot!

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  2. I totally agree with you about the Whale book! I tried to read it too, and finally just gave up and took it back to the library. :)

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  3. @Caz - interesting advice. If you took this seriously, then children would suffer the most, while the elderly would have the most freedom :-)

    @Adele - teehee, glad I'm not the only who has gotten stuck on the Whale book!

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