Books I Have Not Finished
I assume there are two or three basic types of readers. I haven’t done any research into this, but there’s probably the serial reader, who only reads one book at a time. And then there’s the parallel reader, who may have any number of books on the go simultaneously.
I’m the latter case, and things are particularly muddy at the moment. I write this blog post as much for me as anyone, to clarify in my head which books I’m currently working on:
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins – Well written, but rather dense and dogmatic. Dawkins is currently on the bench, cooling off.
- Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger – Just started this one. This feels like one of those “I know this stuff, but it’s an entertaining read and nice to have one’s assumptions confirmed” books.
- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan – There are few novelists that I admire more than McEwan. He’s such a fine stylist. I just started this one as well, because I didn’t want to haul Weinberger’s hard cover book to Vancouver and back.
- The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin – This is the current audiobook I’m ‘reading’. I really enjoyed Martin’s recent autobiography, which I also consumed in audio. Martin reads both books on audio, and he is by far the finest reader of one’s own works that I’ve heard.
- How to Live Off-grid by Nick Rosen – Somebody sent me this book. I probably won’t read it cover to cover, because I don’t actually want to live off the grid, but I’ve dipped into it a couple of times and it has some charming anecdotes about alternative ways to live.
