the (b)log at kaystarr

i’ve been reading, oh, let’s call it five books simultaneously. in the summer i tend to pick up quick and light reads to tote on my commute and to help keep me occupied when i get to lie in the grass and veg out. this summer, though i haven’t been able to stick to my normal routine. at the beginning of my trip to germany, i bought $3 paperback copies (amazing, you can still get a new book for $3!) of alice in wonderland/through the looking glass and moll flanders at the airport. i made it through wonderland and most of looking glass during my trip, but since i’ve come back to nyc i just can’t get back into poor little alice’s world enough to finish the book… so i switched to moll flanders. side note: way long ago when i had a television i watched a british production of moll flanders on some public television channel and to this day it’s one of my favorite movies - along with anne of the thousand days and the animated version of charlotte’s web - so while i love the story of moll flanders, the text of the book itself is falling a bit flat for me. Defoe’s writing style is just too ‘old english author’ and i keep feeling like reading moll is more of a summer assignment from middle school than something i’m doing for fun. so here come a few books borrowed from the teachers lounge library, which were non-fiction social anthropology/ personal politics fare: “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And other conversations about race. A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity” and “MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country: How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change”. Just looking at the titles gets me way too in the ’summer book report’ mode, and while i’m interested in the topics, i’ll probably leave them on the bookshelf till later. what next, then? luckily i came across gps’ copy of the house of spirits in our newly shared bookshelves. i’ve been happily reading isabel allende’s book since last wednesday and plan to finish up the novel before the fourth. maybe i’ll get to read the last pages while i’m on the beach this weekend - sweet!