I've fluctuated a lot in the amount of non-required reading I do. I was a huge reader as a kid (not a big surprise, I was that kid who stayed inside with the books rather than refining any sense of hand-eye coordination), but since then I've sort of petered out with it. There was a short window of time in maybe 2003 when I was single and bored and felt like I *should* read lots of important literary works, but that phase died a spectacular death when I went to law school and spent several years avoiding any and every page of text I wasn't academically required to read.
I've been reading books again, though (the scars from law school have apparently healed), and I've been surprising myself by reading, and looking forward to reading, works of nonfiction.
Right now I'm reading One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, by Rebecca Mead. It's timely for me, fascinating, and a wonderfully snarky reminder to not let myself get to the place where I would consider spending half of my annual salary on a one-day celebration.
Next on the list is a book I can't wait to read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. I heard about it by chance when I was listening to NPR in my car and the author was interviewed on Fresh Air. She spoke with so much enthusiasm and emotion about the process of researching the book (over ten years!) and how strongly she felt she needed to communicate the story she found to the rest of the world, I was hooked. Apparently, a lot of NPR-listening, library-card-carrying folks in my town had the same thought. 15 people had beaten me to the punch in requesting the handful of available library copies. Enter Senor Stupendous to the rescue, though: he bought me a copy for Valentine's Day! I can start reading about medical ethics and socioeconomic injustice whenever I finish reading about the evolution of social norms surrounding nuptial spending!
He knows me very well, that man. If you'd asked me even a few months ago, I would've said I only read novels. Apparently he knows me better than I (used to) know myself.
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3 comments:
Please tell me you got your title from the Bad Religion song!
You will have to tell me (us) how you like the Henrietta Lacks book. I read the description on Amazon and it seems like something that might be interesting, but I'm uncertain. So I eagerly await your review.
Are you on goodreads? If you are, will you be my friend? :P
1. Uh, nope, just from the general addage about truth. Sorry to disappoint!
2. Oh, you know I'll be posting about the book if it's awesome. I'll try to remember to update you either way. It might be a while. My reading pace is slow, in that I don't have that much time to devote to books.
3. Sorry, another nope. I may have signed up ages ago (in that window of time when I was reading what i thought I should read), but at the most I have an abandoned account that I don't have time for now.
But yes, I would totally be your friend. :)
I have the Henretta book on my Must read list, I have read multiple reviews and it sounds awesome.
I love books :)
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