Monday, May 11, 2015

More Baths Less Talking by Nick Hornby

Yes, it's very strange to write a book review on a book that's full of book reviews, but Nick does so much more than just review books here. I should take a note from his style. More than just a review, he talks about where he is when he's reading, how he relates to the subject matter, what he thinks of the people who will read his reviews. It's stylistically, a fun read. I was hoping it would inspire me to add more titles to my "to read" list, but most of the books in this collection of reviews are non-fiction and I'm trying to get back into fiction for a bit what with summer coming up. 

Nick starts each column (this is a collection of columns) with a list of the books he bought that month and what he actually read. It amazes me he has so much time to read! There is just no way I could read four books in one month anymore, if I ever was able. The beautiful 10-15 minutes a night I get to read before bed are usually clouded by my droopy eyes as I fight to stay awake. It's the thing I miss the most right now in the young stages of parenthood. 

For Mother's Day yesterday, my family let me go to the bookstore and buy a book which I'm planning on reading next. I walked through the shelves trying not to look to hard for what to buy. I didn't want to find too many choices and get too excited about books that will just sit around for who knows how long until I have time to get to them. Don't get me wrong, I'm okay with trading in my reading time for the time I spend reading to the kids. Developing their passion for reading right now is more important than indulging in my own, and buying new books for them to enjoy is just as satisfying as finding something for myself. So, I ended up leaving the bookstore with one book for me, The Interestings, and two book for Olivia - the sequel to Cat in the Hat and a book about a young, female, engineer. 

Going back to More Baths though. It was an okay read overall. It's one of a series of collected columns from Hornby so I might have enjoyed a different book more, but this is the first one I came upon. I like him though as a writer so it was interesting to get inside his head through the books he's reading.