Reading

I've been stepping up my reading so far in 2013. Partly because I wanted to -- I didn't finish about half of the books I started in 2012 -- and partly because I've been slogging through a bog of inertia. I began the year with a bout of the flu which caused me to miss two days of work (something that's extremely rare for me), and I feel as if I haven't quite recovered since. The cold and dreary weather is certainly playing a part. Whatever the reason, I've been tired and cranky and it's all I can do to get to work and do what needs to be done. In the meantime, I've used "I have to read: I'm a librarian!" as my excuse to have more down time than usual. So I've actually spent large chunks of time reading, instead of trying to fit it in during the five minutes before I drift off to sleep. I also have decided to "count" audio books as books "read"; after all, I listened to them, and I certainly couldn't read them while driving. I saw another librarian do this on her year-end reading list, which allayed my cheating fears. So far I've read --

Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, by Lisa Sanders, the medical consultant for the television show House. I've decided that medical mysteries are now my favorite genre. I got this book from our campus library (kind of nice to buy the book for the library and then check it out to read), and we have a couple more of the same type that I'm looking forward to reading.

Teacher Man: A Memoir, by Frank McCourt, the author of Angela's Ashes. This was an audio book, read by the author. The book was enjoyable, but a bit tedious at times, as the author does a lot of complaining about the trials of being a teacher. Obviously the listener has to do some reading-between-the-lines, since the author is a Pulitzer-prize-winning writer and award-winning teacher.

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, by Frances Mayes. I picked this up at a book sale sometime last year, and I've always wanted to read it. I haven't finished it yet, but I am enjoying it. I especially like that she mentions Elizabeth David's Italian Food, one of my favorite cookbooks that I've had for many years.

I'm almost finished with Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson, another audio book. I skimmed Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, and wasn't that impressed, but the Einstein biography has had just the opposite effect. (Read the New York Times review, which expresses my feelings better than I could.) Our public library has the Steve Jobs biography on CD, and Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin as well, so I think I'll be spending the next many miles with those.