Friday, April 16, 2010

What are you reading?

Right now, I'm devouring, for the sixth or seventh time, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I've been noticing how many similarities there are to her short-story collection, Interpreter of Maladies. It reminds me of how often writers will use short stories as kind of a warm-up for a novel--exploring different characters and themes that are built on later. I also just finished (also for the sixth or seventh time--noticing a theme here?) Cat's Eye, a novel by one of my very favorite writers, Margaret Atwood. All of this sounds great, but the truth is that many weeks, all I manage to read is the New York Times Magazine. Maybe a few of Somerset Maugham's short stories. That's about it. I'll blame it on my toddler son for now. Sure, the kid goes to bed at 8:00, but by the time I myself climb between the sheets, I can usually only keep my eyes open for about twenty minutes. The long-ago days when I read Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov are gone forever--or at least until I'm not toting a 25 pound toddler on my hip all day.

1 comment:

laboyden said...

I just finished Will Grayson, Will Graysonby John Green and David Levithan. Right now I'm starting The Kingdom Keepers. By Ridley Pearson.