“Major Pettigrew,” take 2

Howdy, friends.

I rarely give up on a book — I’ll drag my way through even crappy books, just because I’m afraid I’ll miss something. But I started reading Helen Simonson’s “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” last year (review here), and just never got that into it. So I returned it to the library and paid my enormous fee (as usual) for having a wildly overdue book.

But it came around again on the guitar, and so here I am, reading this book again. It’s for my book club, and I have 200 pages to go, and fewer than 24 hours. I don’t think I’ll get it finished, but I’m glad I picked it back up. It took a little bit to get into it, but it’s worth it.

And I’m sad (excited?) to say my self-imposed library ban is over. I was really hoping to mow through all like 100 books on my nightstand, in a pile on the floor, and in a basket by my dresser, and actually declutter my life while getting things read and avoiding additional late fees.

But then my friend sent me this link.

Swoon.

I immediately requested any of the top 20 books in fiction from the 2011 list that I hadn’t read before. So far, four of them — all 14-day loans — have come in from the library. I feel like an addict back on drugs.

Oh, it feels good.

I kind  of dig the frenzy of trying to get things read. My dad always tells me I like to have 10 pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag at all times, and I think that’s pretty accurate.

Hoarding library books is just another way I do that.

And I finally finished the whole Stieg Larsson trilogy, and now I have this weird obsession with reading more books like that — and I don’t usually go for intrigue in my reading. I don’t know if I just love Lisbeth Salander’s character that much or I loved that it involved journalists or that I read it and suddenly wished I had a life as a computer hacker, but I loved it all.

Thankfully, the huge spreadsheets I linked to above include tabs of a bunch of genres. So I think I can find somewhere to start. Because what I really need is a new genre to get sucked into.

I’ll be back with some running talk soon. Things are looking up.

Happy running.