the gym, and my reading list.
so, i went to the gym yesterday. it was pretty fun, even though i screwed up my ankle because i got overambitious and jogged 3 miles in what were not really running shoes, so i guess i'll do the elliptical tonight, or an abs class or something. i sort of felt like george costanza on the treadmill though, because everything that could go wrong did go wrong. for example, they have these fancy TV things on the treadmills, and when you plug in your headphones, it logs you into the system and you can watch anything you want on your own personal treadmill TV. smart, right? except that the headphone port is so far away from where my head is while i'm jogging that the headphones cord was under a little bit of pressure, and i kept accidentally hooking it with my thumb while i was running and pulling the headphone jack out of the TV thing, which logged me out of the system. so then, i had to slow down the treadmill to walking speed, plug the headphones back in, choose a channel, adjust the volume, etc. then, in the excitement of all that, just as i was starting to run again, my gym towel fell off of the little towel rack thing, went under my feet, and flew off the back of the treadmill. so i had to stop the treadmill entirely and walk halfway across the gym to pick up my towel. this whole thing happened TWICE.
also, as i mentioned in a comment on chibs' blog earlier this week, i've read a ton of books lately (thanks to my nearly 3-hour round trip daily commute) and i've hated almost all of them. recently finished books that I hated include: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, Anthem by Ayn Rand, Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth, Rabbit, Run by John Updike. what's going on? Philip Roth and John Updike both came highly recommended, and i actually quit reading Sabbath's Theater halfway through, which is odd behavior for me. but, i am about to finish White Teeth by Zadie Smith, which i really like. it's similar in scope to One Hundred Years of Solitude in that it's the story of two flawed patriarchs and their families. i think it's an excellent book.
i started a great book today called The Folly of Empire: What George W Bush Could Learn From Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson and, while it's totally blowing my mind, i'll hold off until tomorrow to talk about it just to make sure i have something to talk about tomorrow.
so, has anybody read books they loved lately? books they hated? anybody go to a gym? come on, guys. just comment. please.
posted by stefanie @ 10:50 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
WELL! Since you've asked... I too have a princely commute each day so fly through books these days.
Currently am reading a book called 'Chaos' by James Gleick-- a layman's explanation. It's pretty interesting except when they talk about actual numbers.
Top books that I've read here are: Stuart Browne's Dangerous Parking
Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones
Much belatedly, Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale
I also really enjoyed Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy about WWI, although I kind of tired of it by the end.
I will look at my bookshelf tonight and report with more tomorrow.
The gym that I used to workout at had a similar thing with the headphones on their elliptical machine. It didn't involve logging in or anything, but i continually would hit the cord with my pumping arms and my headphones would fly off my head and nearly hit people around me till I would stop and replant them. :)
As for books, if you haven't read Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner that's a good one.
Another interesting non-fiction book is Sperm Wars by Robin Baker. Not all of it is awesome but it is overall illuminating if not repetitive. The setup of the book is even interesting though.
If you can listen to an audiobook, I recommend gettting Choke by Chuck Palahniuk b/c he actually reads the thing, not just some actor. I think it's extremely interesting the way he reads it as he stresses things I might not have stressed when just reading if off paper.
If you are looking for a funny, light-hearted, satirical time, if you haven't read the first three books of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams, you're really missing out.
Stef, I really like your blog. Keep it up!
I don't go to the gym. I usually run on a trail near my apartment that runs through the woods. It's wonderful most of the time, but when it snows and the snow melts, it turns into a big mud pit. Oh well.
As for books, ah, how delicious. I concur with Carin about Barry Glassner's "Culture of Fear". It's one of the best non-fictions I have read in a long time. Every person in this country should read that book. I also just finished Jared Diamond's new book "Collapse". He was the author of "Guns, Germs, and Steel", which I think is an excellent theory on human progress. Collapse was not as good, but it did give an indication as to how we might change the way we live or end up careening out of control in an environmental disaster.
I was working at the Public Library the other night and saw the Folly of Empire book you referred to and wrote it down on my short list of things to read. Let me know how it turns out.
I am also reading Ken Kesey's "Sometimes A Great Notion," which so far is fantastic. I'll report back more later.
well, i haven't read any ev psych lately, just because i've been reading so many bush-hater books and too much non-fiction makes jack a dull boy. but of course, i'm still occasionally re-reading how the mind works and the language instinct (pinker) as well as mother nature (hrdy).
dan, i'm glad you recommended guns, germs, and steel because it's one of those books that always seems to fall to the bottom of my reading list. also, the folly of empire just keeps getting better. today's post will be about that book, actually.
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