Update: Resolution to Read More

Loyal readers of FFB will remember my New Years resolution to read a book a week--a longstanding goal of mine. The goal is not necessarily to read "quality" books--its really just to spend my "down" time doing something other than watching tv or mindlessly surfing the Internets. So, an update: I am on track, averaging a book a week, if you count Shakespeare plays as "books," which I do. (Even though the plays are in the Riverside Shakespeare, which is one big "book.")

Last week I was helped along by jury duty on Thursday, which meant hours of waiting around in the Jurors Lounge--uninterrupted, for the most part, reading time. (I didn't get selected for a jury, btw.) I plowed through Michael Connelly's Trunk Music, one of his L.A. Harry Bosch detective novels. Actually, I've been reading a fair amount of crime or detective fiction--that Connelly book, George Pelecanos (Hell to Pay), Laura Lippman (In a Strange City), J.B. Stanley (A Fatal Appraisal).

I also recently read a book on Operation Jedburgh, the clandestine aspects of the D-Day invasion, and Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son, which is a fictional/fantasy account of the life of Joseph Smith (Card is an observant Mormon).

So, as you can see, I'm not necessarily "improving my mind" in my reading choices. But I am enjoying the books. I haven't been reading as much non-fiction as I had planned, but the approach that works best for me is to read what I'm interested in, at any given time. So if I just "go with the flow," I read more than if I try to read a book because it's on the schedule, if you know what I mean.