very simple

I picked up a few more books at the store today, as follows:

• Brick Lane, by Monica Ali: I keep seeing this in the store and thinking, "that looks interesting, maybe I’ll pick it up one of these days," so I did.

• A Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunningham: I hadn’t actually heard of this before I started hearing about the movie version with Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts, and Robin Wright Penn, but I was intrigued enough by the movie’s press to want to read the book before seeing it. The only unfortunate thing is that with the movie coming out, they’ve changed the cover of the book to something from the movie. So now I’m stuck walking around giving the impression that I’m some sort of Colin Farrell junkie.

• What Liberal Media? by Eric Alterman: One of my favorite pastimes is listening to and reading about the media’s dissection of itself. I started reading FAIR‘s EXTRA in college, and I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person who had a continuous subscription to Brill’s Content before it went bankrupt. Not to mention that I actually keep my alarm set for 7 am on Saturday’s just so I don’t miss NPR’s On the Media. So I thought this would be something I’d enjoy reading, particularly since I always enjoy Altercation.

I’m currently also struggling to read Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. Don’t get me wrong – it’s fantastic, but the hardcover version of it is just so physically heavy that it’s become what I like to call "destination reading" – I only pick it up when I know I’ve got a few hours to kill in the park or something, but I can’t be dragging it back and forth to work every day, so it’s going to take me a while to get through. Plus, even if I was willing to carry it everywhere, I’ve been finding that it doesn’t read as well when I’m only reading 2-3 pages at a time (the walk to and from the subway actually takes longer than the ride for me) – I need long stretches of time to fully enjoy the color provided.

Tags: books