Back in the Swing

I hope I may be back in the swing of things and out of a slight funk brought on my a minor personal drama and some major friend drama, coupled with work craziness and employee issues.

Nathan goes to the school library once a week to check out a book. He very responsibly keeps it in his backpack when he is not reading it. I enjoy opening his backpacks on Wednesday to see what he has borrowed. It can be a little insight into his interests. But like many things with my energetic son, I wonder if he simply picks up the first book he finds somewhat interesting rather than taking his time to peruse his choices, knowing he is limited to only one book at a time. Nathan is all about being fast and being first.

His tastes have run toward the military this year - munitions, artillary, swords. This past Wednesday, it was with some interest, but also dread, that I opened his backpack to see a book about cakes. Decorating cakes, really.

Ah. Yes. So, arms and sweets. Those are the interests of my son.

In a Rut

I am in a rut. I have not read a novel in more weeks - or possibly months - than in my entire life. The evenings are a race to feed the kids, make lunches and J's milk for the next day, give J a bath, maybe fold one load of laundry, ensure N's homework is complete and correct, review sight words with N, monitor N's piano practice, play with J and N, put kids to sleep - and that is an evening without soccer practice or the need to stop by and pick up some milk. The same thing every working mom in the U.S. is doing, basically. However, this does not enable me to read as much as I would like. I know there will be a time in my life - and not in the distant future - when I will be able to feed my hobby.

I have several on my bedside table:
Blindness - Jose Saramago
Madonnas of Leningrad - Debra Dean
March: A Novel - Geraldine Brooks
Middlesex: A Novel - Jeffery Eugenides
Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
Bel Canto - Ann Patchet

And this is just the ones I can remember. I have a habit of running across a good novel, buying it, then setting it aside until I am in the mood for it. With my time crunch, I have become a fan of short stories. I need to find more collections of short stories. I can concentrate for 20 pages or so and find some sort of resolution.