I've been lax about keeping this thing up to date lately on new readings, so this will be a catch-up post.

During jury duty I read Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen. As I expected it was hilarious in parts but very very odd. Are people in Florida really this strange? (Or at least the ones that aren't there for retirement?)

At home that week I read Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino. Subtitled Seasons in the City it's a series of short stories about Marcovaldo and the things that happen in the city around him. Not a good choice if you're looking for something plot-driven but it was a fun read.

My next jury duty and commuting book was Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown. Oddly it ended up being partially a time-travel story (though not science fiction since no method was proposed for how she ended up in 1699) but is really about the relationships between people.

I'd had A Rush of Dreamers by John Cech sitting around for several years, purchased simply because it's a fictionalized biography of Emperor Norton. It focused a lot more on the early years while he was just Joshua Norton and his slide down into semi-madness. I think William Drury's actual biography was a better read though.

Last night, I finished Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. She decided to go to various parts of the country and see if she could get buy on a near-minimum wage no-experience necessary job. The outcome of her experiment wasn't really surprising. The interesting parts of the book were the little anecdotes about each job (waitressing, cleaning, and Wal-Mart) and the lives of her temporary coworkers. The book did make me grateful for my education and better-paying job.

posted by Kristin Buxton at 4:52 PM