So Many Books, So Little Time!

Yesterday, I took my car in for its scheduled maintenance. The car place is located in the vicinity of the book store, so I took the opportunity to see if there were any books I couldn't live without.

Now that I have glasses, I can see. Much to my despair, in recent years I have read less and less, and spent more time on stupid things, like "The Bachelorette." I didn't realize it until I went to the eye doctor, but it was not because my attention span was diminishing, or because I was getting dumber, although both those things might be true. It was because I couldn't see. Thank you, Eye Doctor.

First of all, because I am new to this whole blogging thing, I decided to look for something that might help me with the technical stuff. I found a couple of books on blogging, but they were aimed at people who wanted to blog for a living. I was only vaguely aware that people did that! These books gave advice on things like what your blog should be about. I don't need that kinda advice. I'm just gonna write about what's on my mind, and I figure my readers (all ten of them) can read what interests them, and skip over the rest.

What I needed to know about is how to make it so the words don't run into the pictures, and the pictures don't overlap -- things like that. And I needed it explained in a way that a third grader would understand. So I found Creating Web Pages with HTML Simplified. It has lots of pictures and cartoony-stuff. That should get me started (but don't look for professional-looking blog entries anytime soon. I'm a slow learner).

Mission accomplished. Time to leave the bookstore.

Except, while I was there, I might as well go look for books by Martin Buber. While I was listening to those lectures, I had identified that as something I would like to explore further, so time to put my money where my mouth was.

I already had his I And Thou book, but I found several others, of which I grabbed The Way of Man; Ten Rungs and On Judaism. OK, that's three books; I'd better get out of the store.

Walking past the philosophy books, Introducing Existentialism caught my eye. It's one of those fun, cartoony books. I don't know about you, but visual images help me grasp difficult subject matter, and hold it in my brain better. So this would be good to have in my library. Four books.

But I didn't even make it out of that aisle, because another book flew off the shelf and hit me in the head. It was The Religious Case Against Belief by James P. Carse. This author is amazing. Every one of his books has blown my mind, and I had no idea he had written another one. Of course, I had to get this one, and put it at the top of my reading list. (You'll be hearing more about this soon, unless this is one of the kinds of things you like to skip over in my blog). Five books. Time to check out.

But wait! I had been waiting for Dean Karnazes's new book to come out, and I knew it was going to be sometime this month. He is the guy who recently ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, and that is how I first heard about him. A few months ago, I read his first book, which made me realize that the North Face Endurance 50 is probably not even close to the hardest thing he's ever done, but it would still be a good read, so of course, I have to get it. So off to the running books.

Yup, it was there ~ 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days - And How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!

That's six new books.

It's not as if I am hurting for books to read. I'm not even halfway through with John Adams by David McCullough, plus at least a half dozen other books that are on hold because I can't remember where I put some of them.

So I left the bookstore ecstatic and eager to start plowing through these books. I had to go teach a piano lesson, and get some work done at the office, but after that, I raced home, fixed some dinner, and nestled in for a long, cozy evening of reading.

And what did I do first? I watched "Wife Swap."

Don't worry, it was only a temporary lapse. As soon as that stupidness was over, I read. I've now absorbed the first 100 pages of Carse, and the first dozen pages of Karnazes, and if you come back in a few days, I might be able to tell you more about that.