Books, etc.

Hey, A,

Yesterday my excuse for not going to the gym was the fact that it was my first day back at work. As in: that was accomplishment enough for the 3rd day of January; I deserved to go home and rest. Today my excuse was not getting to leave school until after 3:30. Clearly, the gym would have been swarming with those newly installed members whose New Year's resolutions gave me a serious pain in the ass last year when I was already a regular. One day soon, one day this week I hope, I will stop making excuses. I still have several days left to get 2 or 3 workouts in this week. Right? Right!

Bummer on being assigned a "tear-jerker." One of the reasons I have never joined a book club is that I'm far too passive aggressive; I hate being told to do anything. The other is I'm a book snob. And proud of it. So you can imagine how I’d react to being asked to read Nicolas Sparks. Although I finally gave in and read it, it will always be a favorite quote when the doctor-author I worked with in Boston called The Bridges of Madison County "masturbation fodder for Midwestern housewives." No Kristen Hannah for me….But I did just start reading a new Elizabeth Berg book. You know I really like her and her writing, and I have always found her easy to read. Her newest book, The Last Time I Saw You, does not disappoint. Each chapter is told by a different classmate getting ready for a 40th high school reunion. I've gotten a hundred pages in two days of reading...and I can't wait for the reunion! I’m hoping they get there tonight.

Reading more is on one of my lists, too, though I loathe to call them resolutions. I find it easier to say reading is one of the things I’d like to do more of this year. I seem always to read 20 books in the summer and only 1 or 2 others the rest of the year, and that’s just foolish. Or lazy. Maybe both. So I say skip the tear jerker. Get a better book and read, my friend. I dare say reading is a better place to put our energies and interests in other peoples’ lives than smack dab in the middle of our respective siblings’ dramas and craziness.

On that note I will sign off so I get a few things done before getting back to the reunion. I’d love to talk about your summer visit; let’s put it on our list of things to talk about when we next talk.

Hope your week is going well.
Love you!
B