What I'm reading now... (July 1, 2013)

It's July. We are officially at the halfway mark and it's honestly shocking sometimes how fast time flies. I started the year with generous goals and I haven't managed to reach the halfway point. But that's alright. I've been reading good books, I had loads of stuff happening this year (parents visiting, brother visiting, two long vacations, couple of side interests) - so it's always good when you do something other than reading. Moreover, it took me a while to accept that what I really need to read now are fast books. So lately, I've been on the hunt for just such books.

After yearning for a brainless read, I got just that with the Vampire Diaries book. I talked a little about my reaction to this book here, especially in comparison to the TV show, but to sum it up, you're not missing anything by not reading this book. The TV show is certainly more intriguing and three-dimensional while the book is just shallow and vapid.

This week, I started reading Transatlantic by Colum McCann. McCann's been on my radar ever since he published Let the Great World Spin. Transatlantic straddles three historic moments - a black American slave's attempts to propagate ideas of freedom in Ireland in 1845, the first transatlantic flight by Alcock and Brown in 1919, and an American senator's search of lasting Irish peace in 1998. Transatlantic was a little hard to get into at first - but after giving it a few more pages' try yesterday, I'm eager to read more.

I'm also listening to Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, which is quite enlightening, to be honest, but it's hard to not feel depressed after listening to him talk about how much non-real food has encroached into the food industry. Pretty much everything we buy today is processed and after years of being ingrained in a certain way of eating, it can be hard for anyone to start over. 'Live like the cavemen lived' is no longer a workable advice.

What I'm excited about...

Next, I'm hoping to start reading The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Toro's new movie, Pacific Rim, has the husband all excited, and me eager to read his Strain trilogy. I've heard of these books for a long time but it's only now that I finally decided to give the books a chance.