Reading on the Road: "Is it the Fourth?"

Well, no, TJ, and thanks for reminding.

These past weeks have just been one long road to Suckville over here, so I didn't even try to pack light this weekend. I no longer care about whether my plane is going to make weight or how irritated my seatmates will feel. I'm taking two hardcovers (review) and my Kindle (so I can finish some half-begun books like Courtney Sullivan's MAINE and Bella Pollen's THE SUMMER OF THE BEAR) because I just don't have the energy to decide. If previous holiday weekends are to set the tone, I'll probably have plenty of time to get to each as I am slow-roasting in my parents' backyard. (For best results, turn every half-hour.)

I'm also packing my copy of 2666, because it looks like single-book book club is really going to happen this summer. I plan to propose in the first order that we give the club a catchy name, like The Future Or Bust. That's probably the point at which I am voted out of single-book book club. Que sera, sera. 


What are you reading this weekend?

If it's all good for Thomas Jefferson...

Do you write in your books? Re. this New York Times article on marginalia, I think in some ways it's already a lost art (before the advance of e-readers, I mean). I fell out of the habit of writing in my books in college when resale value was important to me but have been wandering back, somewhat.

The trouble is, once I start writing in them, I don't necessarily want to lend out those copies because the notes can feel too personal, even if they are way too cryptic to be understood. If Jefferson (PS Happy President's Day!) knew we were scanning all of his notes for insight into his personality, he may himself have felt overexposed.