A Reading Update

I never did finish the Orhan Pamuk essays (click here for that hopeful post); am I crazy to still plan on reading his latest novel, The Museum of Innocence? Anyway, that's still a long way off.

Am reading at a snail's pace these days. I've been toting around The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak, another author I've been lukewarm about in the past, for over a month now. But unlike the Pamuk book, I'm really enjoying this one! The only problem is I can't manage to read more than two or three pages a night. Thankfully, the chapters are about that long!

I should mention that since the semester started, I've read about fifteen young adult novels ... Trying to keep up with my students! The most notable: I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

Shelfari

It's funny the way certain things 'find' you at certain times. I've been mulling over how to keep track of what I read for years; for some reason I feel compelled to document what I read. I've tried keeping a list, both of books I want to read and books I've read, but that somehow struck me as too OCD; my lists were lacking something anyway, since I also wanted to write a line or two about my reaction to what I'd read.

Yesterday, I wrote about my decision to start a reading list feature on this blog. Today, a friend introduced me to Shelfari, a "social network for people who love books." (Ironically, this has come along just as I'm considering opting out of Facebook and other online social networks. But that's another story.) The feature I like best, though, is the widget it allows me to install on my blog. (See the bookshelf to the right?)

Bear with me as I keep both the reading list and my bookshelf up for a few days; I'm trying both on for size and will then decide which one stays. Am interested in your opinions, too, so leave me a comment!