July 4, 2007 | Filed under: I Run Therefore I Am, I'm a Dork, Is She Still Talking?
Things I did not do today:
1. Get myself out of bed in time for a run in the (relative) cold of the early morning.
2. Engage in any patriotic/celebratory/firework-y activity.
3. Eat lunch.
4. Clean the house, do laundry, work, or otherwise be domestically productive.
5. Go to the movies with Tracy.
Corresponding things I did do today:
1. Went for an hour-long run that turned into a half-assed thirty-minute run because who knew it was going to be sweltering already at 10 AM???
2. Listened intently as various NPR celebrities read the Declaration of Independence. The whole darn thing, not just the preamble. Good stuff.
2a. Unintentionally wore red, white and blue. (It was a red and white tie-dyed shirt with jean shorts. No, I’m not sure why I own a tie-dyed shirt either.)
2b. Watched several episodes of Law & Order, thanks to TNT’s 24-hour marathon.
3. Munched on some snacks from Harry & David while watching Law & Order. Hey, making lunch would have interfered with their ability to carry out justice!
4. Took Adele in for an oil change and tire rotation.
4a. Killed time in Heaven Barnes & Noble.
4b. Read a month’s worth of Mimi Smartypants archives.
4c. Started a new book, bringing the total number of unread items on my shelf to a number somewhere in the 4-digits.
5. Got take-out and watched five episodes of Scrubs with Tracy. Waaaay better than any of the movies currently playing.
And now I shall tell you what to do:
1. Read Mimi Smartypants. Try it, you’ll like it. If you’re not patient enough to read all the old entries, just start today and keep reading.
2. Get thee a copy of this book. (Okay, clearly Amazon would like to make this difficult for you. Maybe try a different retailer.) I don’t read nearly as much as I should, but I like a lot of books and happily pass them along/recommend them to others unless they totally suck. (Examples of suckitude: One Hundred Years of Solitude — felt like it took 100 years to read; Anna Karenina — by the end, I wanted to throw myself off the train platform, too; We Were the Mulvaneys — your fucked up family beats my fucked up family, hands down, but there’s not even a nice little moral lesson to learn here. After WWtM, I swore off all Oprah Book Club selections, but in doing the links here I see that she selected those other two books at some point, though after I’d already read them. I rest my case.)
Ahem, sorry. Responsible Men came highly recommended …
[Me, upon learning the title: So, it's a work of fiction, then?
Him: Actually, I thought the title was redundant.
Me: You clearly don't know enough men.]
… by someone who knows the author. So far, though, it is wonderful. I’m not sure that it’s going to be A Book That Changes My Life, but it’s at least as engaging as the fluffy chick lit I read at the gym, and definitely a little deeper. The author manages to be insightful, but avoids getting too too heavy with the navel-gazing/psychoanalytical stuff, so there’s no need to save this for your next dark and stormy period of self-absorption.
My favorite passage thus far:
Not the future Caleb dreamed of, not the future he deserved. But who gets the future they deserve?
That’s going to rattle around in my brain for days.
Pick up a copy. Let us know what you think. Or leave suggestions of things you’ve read recently and liked. Forget Oprah, we can start our own book club here!
Posted by Daily Tragedies @ 10:27 pm | Make a Comment
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I LOVE Mimi Smartypants.
And I also watched the Law & Order marathon yesterday. An L&O marathon is a GOOD day.
July 5th, 2007 at 7:21 amI had no time for the Law & Order marathon yesterday, sucked in as I was to the Project Runway marathon. When will we get a new season? When, Bravo, WHEN?
July 5th, 2007 at 3:23 pmJust had to contribute that 5 episodes of Scrubs is not exaggeration nor poetic license. Oh, and one or the other of us uttered the words “I don’t think I’ve seen this episode before” at least 3 times.
Which means, dear readers, that we DON’T WATCH ENOUGH TV.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:32 pmI like that we have the same taste in books we can’t stand. Funny, things you learn about people.
July 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pmHW — Are you implying that sometimes I exaggerate here??? I’m shocked! Every word I say is 100% factually accurate. Except maybe about how many boys I date and discard. That number I might, uh, round down a little bit. Wouldn’t want to be seen as too picky.
Pia — What excellent taste! I feel bad because those are supposed to be some Really Good Books, but…ugh. Hated them!
July 5th, 2007 at 9:02 pmNo, I would never, ever cast such aspersions.
I’m implying that you are a total slacker. You know, TV-wise.
Now isn’t that better?
July 6th, 2007 at 7:42 pmHey Lady! We actually have a book club if you wanted to participate. hehe. We switch off picking the book (one a month) and then we pick a restaurant and talk about the book for like 15 minutes and then we gossip and eat.
hehe.
Good times. I just ordered London is the Best City in America because someone said it was really awesome. I just finished Good Grief by Lolly Winston - that was good…not the same chick lit that I’m used to. hehe.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:21 am