Sunday, July 08, 2012

Summer Reading List Update

I know you have been at the edge of your seats wondering how my summer reading effort is getting along. Well, here it is July, and I am doing my best to fill in each category. Here's the tally so far:
  • 2 Biographies: Well, I have two ready to go, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 (OK, I'm including autobiographies in the biography section - sue me) and Kindred Souls, about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch, both via my iPod. I did listen to Tina Fey read her Bossypants - hilarious, giggled all the way through, but since it's about show-biz, I won't count it (though I highly recommend giving it a listen). 
  • 2 fiction (not junk): As you can imagine I've already overloaded this category. Finally read Henry James' Washington Square. Also, Summer by Edith Wharton. Currently reading Pure, by Andrew Miller - excellent story about clearing out Les Innocents cemetery in pre-Revolution Paris. 
  • 2 non-fiction: Just finished The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, read in the hope of giving me some insight into my bad (and good) habits. Now, I just need to switch around a few cue-behavior-reward patterns, and I'm all set. Next up: Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv.
  • 2 theology/religion: Only one, so far: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. Beyond that, I haven't a clue.  Still searching. Looking for suggestions.
  • 1 self-help: Nothing selected so far. I may look for another non-fiction and move The Power of Habit into this slot. Or maybe Bossypants, since it gave me lots of laughs and a light heart.
I have stacks and stacks of fiction ready to go, and by "stacks," I include audiobooks and Kindle e-books, as well as books made from trees.  It has been a test of mental fortitude to stick to my categories in this dreadful heat, though none of my choices have disappointed so far. Still, I long to read a mindless mystery or tawdry beach-book.

If I get through this competition with myself, a great big hot fudge sundae is waiting for me at the end. Yeah. One of those bad cue-behavior-reward habit cycles I refuse to break.


No comments: