So Many Books, Such an Incredible Amount of Time

September is only 10 days young, but I am happy to report that I have already finished two books. Two lovely, innane books have been devoured and enjoyed, and I am 100 odd pages into the third. This, my cinnamon walnut swirls, is very good. During my college career, I don't think I ever really read this fast with the same amount of fervor and happiness, as most of my speed reading then was done out of sheer necessity (except of course, when I read Dubliners in one sitting, which was both necessary and absolutely, smashingly enjoyable). In fact, I am tempted to say that if I had read this quickly and happily during college, I would have graduated at least magna cum laude, and not just cum laude, a designation which looks so lonely and small on my big diploma (however, if I had graduated magna cum laude, I would probably have some high-paying, high stress job where I had to work on Saturday mornings or something equally as horrible, or even worse, I could be being forced to trudge my way through Finnegan's Wake for some sort of graduate-type learning, so overall, maybe my sometimes slow and less enthusiastic college reading was a positive thing).

But my raison de posting is this: Do marriages crumble over this sort of thing? My husband is reading Goethe, while I am reading my second Nick Hornby of the month. He reads Platonov in Russian, I am reading a bunch of books that were in the top ten in Entertainment Weekly's year end round-ups and sometimes they are in British English, which for now, is a challenging language for me (seriously, watching two seasons of The Office taught me that those across the pond are not as easy to understand as we probably think). I feel guilty for having so much fun with them, and stupid for not reading Platonov as well, even though not many of his things have been translated into any form of English, and I can't just pick up Russian overnight, you see.

Thus I have been forced to realize that life should be furnished with its own syllabi, so that you know what you are supposed to be reading and why, and what you are supposed to get from it. Just another way to make sense of the chaos.

I made $32 in tips last week, which should buy six books at Moe's as long as nothing I want is hardcover or signed or anything. Maybe I should buy something intelligent. I probably will. Or I could spend $16 at Moe's and $16 at Amoeba Records and get that Shout Out Louds cd I've been talking about for so long. Hmmm...

And, in closing, my petite madelaines, it is this sort of chaos that is the most wonderful and sublime (although, if you really think about it, nearly all chaos breeds a hope for the future, so, technically, it's all good in the hood.)