People Underestimate the Value of a Good Ramble

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

2010; The Year of the Books

Lately, I've been thinking about how marriage has dumbed me down. I'm not blamng my husband, really, but I used to read. Of course, I'm much busier now than I used to be, but I do still find time to read a little. But basically everything I read now is at 8th grade level. You know, Harry Potter, Twilight, Vampire Diaries. Sure, I have my genre, but that doesn't mean that I only like sci-fi or fantasy. I used to love to read historical books, some fiction and some non-fiction. I can remember reading textbooks about medieval architecture and crazy stuff like that.

Since it's the start of a new year, it seemed like a good time to make some changes. For one thing, I plan on blogging more, both here and on my TV blog, and I plan on reading more. Of course, I also plan on thinking more about losing that 100 lbs I need to lose, too. I didn't quite start that exercise program on New Year's Day, but maybe tomorrow. ;)

I did, however, start reading several books. Yay for me! I have already completed one, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Predators and Prey (Season 8, Vol. 5) graphic novel. Alright, clearly not a serious tome, but still, I did read something.

I am also currently reading The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake. Yes, you read that correctly. I'm about half way through right now and I'm still not exactly sure what I think. The stories are interesting, at least one was pretty creepy, but in a good way, and overall they have a folksy feel. Pancake set his stories in rural West Virginia and he wrote them as though he were uneducated, which he definitely was not. Sadly, he took his life when he was only 26. This book was published posthumously from his published and unpublished stories.

On the non-fiction side, I'm reading The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, Leonard Mlodinow. I'm really enjoying this one way more than I thought I would. I'll take a stab at explaining it, but I'm not sure I can do it justice. Words like statistical, mathmatical, analysis, problem-solving all come to mind. Think historical background meets gambling. No, that's not right. Anyway, it makes for much easier reading than you think.

Plus, I was able to take out lots more good reads at the library. So at least my year is starting out right.