April: Buying

Sigh. I got all the way to the middle of the month without buying any books, then the dam of my bookish heart could hold no more.

1. The Evolution of Shadows - Jason Quinn Malott. Book group book. New book.

2. The Man Who was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton. Book group book. New book.

3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson. Book group book. I'm starting to see a pattern here. New book.

4. Crazy Heart - Thomas Cobb. When the movie came out, I was determined to find this and reread it. Done and done! It also served as my reward for being pro-active and buying book #6 on this list. Nice picture of Jeff Bridges on the cover. New book.

5. Hank Williams: The Biography - Colin Escott. Reading Crazy Heart made me much more receptive to a book about a real self-destructive country singer. I couldn't resist the picture of Hank on the front. I'm looking forward to reading this with the appropriate background music as an accompaniment. It's a little strange to see an English biographer take on such a completely American icon, but often, the Brits "get" us in subtle yet exciting ways that would elude an American biographer. New book.

6. The Complete Guide To Public Speaking - Jeff Davidson. Early in the semester, I got singled out to do a presentation on how to give a good presentation. I should never answer my phone when I'm into my third or fourth beer -- my convivial side was right out there, prominently flapping in the breeze. Furthermore, the guy who asked me had a soft, stammering voice (like Michael Jackson with a Korean accent) and I thought he was one of my students as he pleaded, "Can you help me?" And that was that. I stayed firmly in denial of what I'd done for the next several weeks then decided that I didn't want to disgrace myself, so I'd better get serious. Davidson's book gave me more information about public speaking than I'll ever need, but what I could and did use was immensely useful. New book.

Wow. The numbers are starting to mount up for 2010, but I think they'd be a lot worse if I weren't monitoring myself.