Citizen Smarty Pants

So I just finished my first book of the year, just making my one book a month goal. Phew. Luckily, the book, Citizen Vince, was such an enjoyable and quick read. My favorite type of book is not a particular genre but is anything that is a little smart and a little entertaining. Not to say I don't read books that are not "smart" or not entertaining, I certainly do. But when I can find that combo I am at my happiest. Citizen Vince is historical fiction set in 1980 (yes, over twenty years makes it nice and historical, scary) a few days before the Carter Reagan election. Jess Walter captures the spirit of that time so well and does a beautiful job of rendering the whole psyche of the country through some unlikely characters. At the center of those character is Vince Camden a New York thug dropped in small town America through the Witness Relocation program. Through Vince Walter explores identity, American values and morals. He asked the question of who we are as Americans, what makes us vote for a candidate who may not necessarily want baby sitting our kids. I think what I took away most from the book was, we still can't get away from the romanticism of a cowboy in charge, interest rates were 20% percent in 1980 (we may have it bad now with the dollar taking a beating but 20%!!! Oh MY GOD), and heroes should not have to kill the bad guys (kind of a spoiler). I highly recommend it!

Neurological Mysticism and New York Thugs

Every year I have a goal to read a minimum of one book a month. Since I have been keeping track I have only stayed at that bare minimum once. Typically I am between 16 and 25. Last year I think I was at 18; slow year but I was a little busy. So this year I have no excuse, no major event to plan and I am not even volunteering much so I am ashamed to say that it is January 25 and I haven't even finished one book yet. I have however started three, so the likelihood that I will finish at least one of those is high, I hope. I started with an old Louise Erdrich book I had laying around the house, the only book of hers I haven't read. Oh I tried to get into it but this one, Tales of Burning Love, had none of the interesting conflict that characterized her earlier work and just a lot of tedious unrequited love. Yawn they're bad for eachother they can't stay away from eachother YAWN. So faced with going to the gym with no ipod (missing headphones) and no book, I grabbed a book out of CornyT's back seat, Why God Won't Go Away. He couldn't believe I actually wanted to read one of the texts for the class he taught (special topic religion and science) and we both figured I would dump it when something better came along. To our surprise I love it. The book has educated me on the anatomy and physiology of the brain and makes a cogent argument for the neurological capacity for spirituality. The authors also argue that the need for archetypal stories is biologically driven and necessary for our survival. Interesting stuff and I am about half way through. However, I am setting it aside for the moment to read Citizen Vince. I reserved it from the library when I was desperate for a read and now I feel obligated to finish it so the brain book is on hold for the moment. Luckily, I am loving it so far. Only 25 pages in but I am so taken with the fresh voice and the compelling plot. I love it when I find a book that is entertaining and smart- the ultimate combination.

In the swing of things

Well we all back to work and a little bitter about being pulled out of our cabin paradise of long naps, long walks, and lots of leisure time but reality isn't all that bad I guess. Work is incredibly busy for me right now. We are one month out before our big release that has been about 6 months in the making and I have a big document to complete in about a week. To make things more complicated we are going to Connecticut this weekend to Nephew 2s barmitzvah and are celebrating a belated Christmas. Getting any work done there will be a little hard but I have a long battery on the laptop and plane rides are boring anyway. Who wants to read a book on a plane anyway:).
So, anyway I digress, in the spirit of New Year's here is my list of resolutions:
* Blog more
* Find more ways to express my creativity
* Volunteer more
* Send work for publication
* Manage Grady's allergies