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Reading Slothfully
I was told in elementary school that I only could read at half the speed for success in college. Oh well, one benefit of slow reading is you get to live with the characters a longer period of time. I read in a vain attempt to better understand people. At my other homes, I'm known as a spouse, pop, guy in the choir, physical chemist, computer/web dilettante and child-care provider. In theory, I'm a published author, if you consider stuff like Quenching Cross Sections for Electronic Energy Transfer Reactions Between Metastable Argon Atoms and Noble Gases and Small Molecules to count as publications. I've strewn dozens of such fascinating things to the winds.
Currently reading
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Spirit of the Border
Ramona the Brave (Ramona, #3)
The Underground Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Delilah of the Snows
Mrs. Miniver
Betsy-Tacy Treasury (P.S.)
A Christmas Carol
The Way Some People Die
Envy of Angels
Get Real (Dortmunder, #15)
Back in the dark ages, before we could afford things like a TV, my spouse and I read a lot, often reading to each other. We became quite fond of Westlake's books about the burglar, John Dortmunder. That was long ago. But, my spouse finally got to the "Ws" in her dogged determination to read all the "Mystery" books in our local library in alphabetical order according to author. As a result, she came home with a Dortmunder book. It caused me to reflect on the "good old days", which then led to my determination to revisit Dortmunder myself. It turns out my library had only one available in kindle edition. So I snagged it. Reading this book involved a bit of cognitive dissonance for me. My earlier forays into the Dortmunder books were before the days of cell phones, computers and the internet. So, suddenly, we have them all here. Not only that, but reality TV has become all the rage. I never imagined anything so stupid as reality TV back in my youth. The closest we got was Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and I was suspicious of that.
Anyway, Dortmunder and his pals are enticed into becoming involved in taping a reality TV program showing them planning and executing a burglary. They, of course, aren't that stupid, so decide to do a pretend burglary of the properties of the production company, all the while being pretty certain that they can find something else in the production company's building worth a lot more. So, in essence, their involvement helps them case the joint, so to speak.
So, we have lots of absurd goings on, both within Dortmunder's "gang" and within the reality show production company. All good fun.
 - Donald E Westlake)