Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Screen time

Elsewhere

My friend Young Greg asked me to write a guest post about our new Wii for his blog. Here’s a little excerpt:

I don’t care to know how many hours I’ve lost over the years to Zelda. My husband also has a long history with Nintendo. I’ve never seen anyone with Tetris skills to match his. The man’s a block-stacking genius.

Early in our marriage, we wiled away the hours playing video games. And then, as they do, things changed again.

We had a baby.

Head on over to Game Over to read the rest. And tell Young Greg I sent you.

. . . . . the end . . . . .

Reading

The Books of 2006

I think I can safely say that I won’t be reading any more books this year. I thought I’d read 52 books this year, but it turns out that all this time I’ve been counting one of the books that I’d abandoned. So I’ve only read 51. And I’m OK with that.

Next year, I’d like to read more slowly, more carefully. I’ve been reading too quickly to absorb anything. So my goal for 2007 is to read fewer books.

  1. “The Big Nap” by Ayelet Waldman. Jan. 10
  2. “Playdate with Death” by Ayelet Waldman. Jan. 10-12
  3. “Death Gets a Timeout” by Ayelet Waldman. Jan. 13-?
  4. “The Cradle Robbers” by Ayelet Waldman. Jan. ?-18
  5. “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson. Jan 18-26
  6. “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson. Jan 30-Feb. 4
  7. “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen. Feb. 6-17
  8. “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene. Feb 25-March 1
  9. “Travels with Charley” by John Steinbeck. March 7-27

    “The Fortress of Solitude” by Jonathan Lethem. started March 27, abandoned March 30

  10. “Peace Like a River” by Leif Engler. March 30-April 2
  11. “Charming Billy” by Alice McDermott. April 3-4
  12. “The Language of Baklava” by Diana Abu-Jabar. no dates listed
  13. “While I Was Gone” by Sue Miller. April 7-11
  14. “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. April 15-18
  15. “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones. April 18-?
  16. “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell. no dates listed
  17. “March” by Geraldine Brooks. no dates listed
  18. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. ?-May 10
  19. “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion. May 10-16
  20. “Atonement” by Ian McEwan. May 16-?
  21. “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. June 7-10
  22. “Devil in the Details” by Jennifer Traig. June 13-?
  23. “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. July 5-6
  24. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. July 8-9
  25. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey. July 13-15
  26. “Tishomingo Blues” by Elmore Leonard. July 17-18
  27. “Marley & Me” by John Grogan. July 18-19
  28. “Monkeys, Go Home!” adapted by Mel Cebulash. July 23
  29. “Carry On, Jeeves” by P.G. Wodehouse. July 25-?
  30. “Watership Down” by Richard Adams. near Aug. 7-11

    “McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales“

  31. “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. Aug. 29-30
  32. “Fer-de-Lance” by Rex Stout.
    no dates listed
  33. “The Mother Hunt” by Rex Stout. Sept. 9-12
  34. “Black Orchids” by Rex Stout. Sept. 12-13
  35. “Might As Well Be Dead” by Rex Stout. Sept. 14-16
  36. “Saints at the River” by Ron Rash. Sept. 18-19

    “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana” by Umberto Eco. started Oct. 10

    “Drowning in Gruel by George Singleton. started Oct. 15

  37. “Manhunt: The 12-Day Search for Lincoln’s Killer” by James L. Swanson. Oct. 22-Nov. 8
  38. “The King of Lies” by John Hart. Nov. 6-10
  39. “Stripped” by Bryan Freeman. Nov. 10-12
  40. “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. Nov. 11-?
  41. “The Keep” by Jennifer Egan. Nov. 16-17

    “Now is the Hour” by Tom Spanbauer

  42. “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists” by Gideon Defoe. Nov. 20-21

    “Until I Find You” by John Irving. started Nov. 22

  43. “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab” by Gideon Defoe. Nov. 26
  44. “What Now, King Lear?” by Alistair Boyle. Nov. 26-Dec. 3
  45. “The Inheritance of Loss” by Kiran Desai. Dec. 3-5
  46. “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. Dec. 5-6
  47. “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards. Dec. 6-7
  48. “The Mermaid Chair” by Sue Monk Kidd. Dec. 7-8
  49. “The Human Factor” by Pete Greene. Dec. 8-11
  50. “Some Buried Caesar” by Rex Stout. Dec. 14-30

    “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters” by Gordon Dahlquist. started Dec. 15

  51. “The BFG” by Roald Dahl. Dec. 28

. . . . . the end . . . . .