It's Monday, and I'm So Sorry About Your Baby's Name

Hello internet, welcome to my slump. I have read only two books in the last several  weeks, which is bad for blogging and also bad for my soul. One was an advanced copy of The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs by Matthew Dicks, which I received from NetGalley. I will post my review of that in September, once the book is released. The second was The Rocks by Peter Nichols, which was an easy, interesting read that somehow took me forever to finish.

I can’t really say why this is happening, other than the fact that I am busy with the end of the university quarter. And my kids are around, being bored. But it’s embarrassing to be in a reading slump when the President of the United States is publishing his somewhat-long reading list for all to see. It’s hard to say, “Woe is me, I’m so busy, and my kids are bugging me!” when the President has six books, adding up to 2771 pages, that he plans to get through by September. His busy-ness trumps mine, and I’m sure his kids are annoying, too.

This week I hope to read Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph by Kristina Rizga. It is a nonfiction account of a high school in San Francisco. I also, at long last, plan to read the new Kate Atkinson book, A God In Ruins. (I was so excited when it came out, but now I’ve heard mixed reviews...). Both of these books are on the long side, and my grades are due next Monday. So I’m feeling a bit pessimistic about meeting my goals.

I’ve had a few questions about whether or not I’m planning to read the “new” Harper Lee novel, Go Set a Watchman. The answer, for now at least, is no. I do think that the conditions under which this book came to public light are sketchy. I am, however, eagerly for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me, to arrive from the library (the President is reading it, too!). I’d rather read a contemporary, thought-provoking account of race in America than to read about an iconic white character finding out that her relatives are bigots.  I’m number 1000 on the library list for the Coates book, however, so I might not get to it until 2017. Maybe my slump will be un-slumped by then.

As a side note, I’m guessing that all of those Generation X mothers who named their precious sons Atticus are having an awkward moment.