read

    In an effort to keep better track of what media I ingest, I started keeping a yearly list of all the movies I watch and books I read. My resolution at New Years was simple: read more books than last year, and watch fewer movies. After giving it more thought I added another component to my goal: non-fiction. Last year I read a depressingly small amount, and only three of the books weren't fiction. Clearly, this problem had to be resolved.
   And so: non-fiction of 2013, so far:

1. The Kitchen Counter Cooking School / Kathleen Flinn - about teaching "real" women how to work wonders in the kitchen.
2. French Milk / Lucy Knisley - a charming comic-format travelogue of a trip to Paris.
3. Under the Banner of Heaven / John Krakauer - unsettling account of radical Mormonism. Honestly difficult to read, prepare to feel physically ill if you pick it up.
4. The Tipping Point / Malcolm Gladwell (abridged) - I was unaware this was abridged when I started it, and was rather disappointed to find out. Read Gladwell if you get the chance.
5. Bossypants / Tina Fey - best takeaways: "yes, and" and "I don't care if you like it". Well worth your time.
6. Blink / Malcolm Gladwell - seriously, go find one of Gladwell's books and read it. This one is about "thinking without thinking": first impressions, snap judgements, assumptions, etc.
7. This Book is Overdue! / Marilyn Johnson - what could go wrong with a book about librarians!? SO MUCH. An interesting chapter about the tension between American libraries and the FBI, overshadowed by a hugely long and boring section about Second Life. It's possible that I was biased by just finishing Blink, Gladwell is a very hard act to follow.
8. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? / Mindy Kaling - in the same vein as Bossypants. Delightful.
9. Nurtureshock / Pr Bronson, Ashley Merryman - turns out the "new science of children" is absolutely fascinating.
10. Enough Room For Joy : Jean Vanier's L'Arche / Bill Clarke - one of the most encouraging books I have ever read.

   (The vast improvement in non-fiction reading is largely due to discovering the audiobooks in the CPL ebook catalouge. Downloading audiobooks directly onto my phone? Yes please. If you have some sort of smart phone or tablet or ebook reader, I highly recommend getting on that train. Free audiobooks and ebooks! At the touch of a button! What's not to love?)

    While I am doing rather well on the literary front, there are still some bad habits I need to mend. NB exhibit A:

    This little pile is some of the books I have started reading this year and never finished. Not pictured are How Did You Get This Number / Sloane Crosley, Jeeves in the Offing / P.G. Wodehouse, Les Miserables / Victor Hugo, and others. It's a bit shameful. I have more than ten books on the go, some of which I haven't cracked for months. I'm working my way through this pile, but sometimes the prospect of a fresh new story is all too attractive. Perhaps I ought to start a book club.