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Late 30-something, married with two kids struggling to find the balance between wife, mother, employee, runner and myself.
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    Wednesday, November 07, 2007

    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.

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    5 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    My night-side table has a drawer full of books that I have not read either. I read Into the Wild this weeked, don't know how long it's been since I finished another novel (aimed at adults.)

    Of that list, Blindness is incredible and amazing. The characters haunted me, I worried about them when I had to put the book. (Sounds insane but it's true.) The others I haven't read, although I heard some good things about Middlesex.

    10:18 AM  
    Blogger Tree said...

    Nat, Blindness came highly recommended, so I am glad you liked it. Sometimes I do not want to start a novel unless I know I will be able to finish it quickly.

    11:08 AM  
    Blogger Steph said...

    T - you know they have books on tape as MP3's now....maybe you can listen to a good book while running? However, I feel your pain....TG for public transportation. I've read two books since going back to work from mat leave. That's more than I've read in the last two years!!

    6:35 AM  
    Blogger Tree said...

    Steph - I need to do that sometime and see how it goes! When I was 7+ months pg with N, I walked 6 mi/day and would listen to books on tape then, but I have not since then. Good idea!

    7:00 AM  
    Blogger Tanaya said...

    Middlesex was pretty good and Team of Rivals was interesting, but not relaxing to read. Sometimes, I just buy a Nora Roberts or some other "bulk" entertainment book that I can read without a lot of thought.

    1:26 PM  

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