Go to bed early and read before sleep.
Inquiring bookworm-apartment-curators everywhere want to know - what's on your bedside table?
In this week's "reading before sleep," I finished up The Monsters of Templeton, an incredible first offering of Lauren Groff. It won't be published until next year - I managed an advance copy from B&N - but it'll be worth the wait. Such an engaging story, set in a fictionalized Cooperstown, NY. It's deserving of a full review, which I haven't written yet, but which will be up on QB (my book blog) within the week, I hope.
When I finished Templeton, I had emptied my bookshelves for the living room rearrange, so my books were stacked on the floor and I couldn't easily take my pick. So, I've been perusing a couple of nonfiction favorites, which I'm now realizing are going to look pretty esoteric...
The Existential Pleasures of Engineering probably has very limited appeal, but it's a lovely 1976 celebration of the intrinsic value of engineering as a social contribution as well as a spiritually fulfilling pursuit - something that was sometimes hard to appreciate in the aftermath of the "better living through science" era. Things don't change so much in thirty years, and it's good to be reminded of the better reasons I have for doing what I do. The sense of fellowship with my antecedents is even better.
Markings is one of those books that always seems to hold a few more mysteries than you can detect. It's the strange part-diary, part-memoir, part-book of quotations left behind by Dag Hammarskjold before his unexpected death in 1961. Being "translated" by W.H. Auden (who, no, didn't speak Swedish) makes it all the more fascinating. His loneliness and brilliance are absolutely palpable; his acceptance of destiny and the burdens of power, humbling in the extreme. Perusing this in the silence and low light of the late evening is powerful, and only for select moods.
Last night I started in on Devil in the White City and I'm hooked already.
So, please, tell me...what are you Reading Before Sleep?
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
ReplyDeletehttp://www.elizabethgilbert.com/eatpraylove.htm
My reading choices aren't as impressive as yours -- in my AT-prescribed before-bed reading time, I'm currently reading a novel, "Bel Canto" by Ann Pratchett. Also in the partially-read stage is Al Gore's The Assault on Reason, and "Fire and Ice: the United States, Canada, and the myth of converging values" by Michael Adams. The latter two aren't "before bed" reading, though.
ReplyDeleteAs of late, Joe Friel's Your First Triathlon. Figured I'd get a jump on the July 2008 Philadelphia Women's Triathlon...
ReplyDeleteOh, that's funny, I'm reading an Anne Pratchett book at the moment too. And an organizing/purge book called "IT's all too much" by Peter Walsh. I think I'm still reading "Paris, 1916" by Margaret Mitchell (I think that's the author) but the husband has snatched it up, so I'm not sure! I Just finished 'Tis by Frank McCourt. It was great. The son and I also just finished "The Hobbit."
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteSadia - I'm impressed!
Beth - I only wish my reading habits were always so rarified. But Bel Canto is on my list too.
Alana - You know, I can't find a reference to that Paris book, and I've never heard of it (that I know)... is that Margaret Mitchell of Gone with the Wind, or the politician?
I'm reading Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I'm strange and enjoy learning stuff before bed. :)
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