1. Megan Whalen Turner. Since she is one of my top ten favorite authors, I am delighted to be rereading Turner’s third Thief novel, The King of Attolia, for the third? sixth? eighth time. What makes me even happier is that book four, A Conspiracy of Kings, is coming out on Tuesday, March 23. A week from today. So if I don’t seem to be paying attention to the thread of a conversation, I’m not: I’m daydreaming about Eugenides.
2. Literary Crushes. Eugenides. Sherlock Holmes. Ender Wiggin. Paul Atreides / Lawrence of Arabia. Genly Ai. I am attracted to dark, intellectual loners who save civilizations. I can’t help it.
3. Reading List. For a brief Tuesday through Friday trip, I’m bringing four books (The Art of the Novel by Kundera, The Dew Breaker by Danticat, Dubliners by Joyce, and The King of Attolia)—but they’re short, and I’m already halfway done with one of them. I’m concerned that four might be too few, but I reassure myself by the fact that I will be only half an hour from a bookstore, in case I need another one. Periodically I consider paring down my books to absolute favorites, i.e. less than a hundred, but then I laugh. I could live without them, but I won’t if I don’t have to.
4. A Hobby. Nevertheless, at times I feel that I need a hobby besides reading and writing. (Knitting doesn’t count because it’s just something you do in front of the TV.) Any ideas?
Mostly About Books 