Summer Reading Challenge: Why Am I Not Reading?

So here it is late on June 11th, the weekend's over, and I still haven't managed to finish a book yet this month.

A few weeks ago, I decided to participate in The Summer Reading Challenge and while I only committed to reading 2 books a month, I then created a list of 25 books to read! Math isn't my strongest skill, but I realize that's a more than a year's worth at 2/month. Yesterday, because a gift card to The Big Book Store That Sells Overpriced Coffee and Crap was burning a hole in my pocket, I ventured out to browse the mega-shelves at the mega-store. Here is what I returned home with:

* My Life in France, Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. Besides the lure of a couple interesting reviews, I couldn't resist this book after looking at the front & back cover. Back cover blurb from the intro: "This is a book about some of the things I have loved most in life: my husband; la belle France; and the many pleasure of cooking and eating...." The front cover: a charming picture of Julia and Paul Child wearing large red construction paper hearts on their chests, gazing into each others' eyes. The picture just seems so typical of Julia Child.

* Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson. Was unaware of this book until publication of Gilead and the recent squawking over the NYT's 25 list.

* Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott. After reading Operating Instructions several years ago, I went on an Anne Lamott binge, checking out from the library everything by her, but I don't think I ever finished this one. In any case, hope to read it all now that it has a home on my bookshelf.

* In what was probably my most misguided purchase of the day (No wait! That would have been the Thomas the Tank Engine book for my nephew's birthday present, but hopefully it was balanced by the 2 Dr Suess books, one a pretty cool pop-up.) My most misguided: I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe. I haven't finished a Wolfe book in 2 decades. What was I thinking? 700+ pages. Physically, I already detest the book -- the paper both feels and smells odd, and with the ridiculous cutout on the front cover, I think I'll tear it off before I make it through the first chapter. I may need to give this to my husband; he claims to like Wolfe, but I don't think he made it very far into Man In Full before abandoning it. Still, I'm curious how a 75-year-old man can write convincingly a 18-year-old female protagonist. Maybe I'll at least give this the old college try.....

* The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. This is my Reading Group's selection this month. I read the first 3 chapters while sipping one of those over-priced coffees and only stopped when I realized I had to be somewhere in a 1/2 hour. Otherwise, I think I may have remained reading until they closed the store.

So, I certainly have plenty of choices for reading. Now to just find the time....