8. Tell Me: What are you Currently Reading?

Hmmm.... I suppose there is nothing that says this has to be a book neccessarily.  I do happen to be reading a book though, albeit ever so slowly.  I usually read it on my Kindle at work during my lunch break.  The book is one reviewed here by Carlyn, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  Interestingly I put it on my book list as a book I wanted to read but I never got to it.  Carlyn actually read and reviewed it without realizing at the time that it was on my list.  I had read some rather good reviews of The Book Thief a while before the movie rumors even came out.  I'm a huge fiction fan and the story line seemed so interesting and different.  Even though I am moving through the book slowly it has grabbed me and I will finish it.  At first it was a tad slow for me and the writing was a bit disjointed and choppy.  The author's style has smoothed out though and the story is progressing in a manner that lets me get lost in it for the 20 or so minutes I get to read it during my lunch break.

I am habitually streaky with my reading over long stretches.  I've read as many as 60-75 books in a year and as few as 4-5.  Recently I've been on one of my slow stretches.  The good weather generally spurs me on though, and the fact that the summer tends to have a lot less going on in regards to sports sets me up for a good stretch of getting back into books.  I love baseball, a summer time sport, more than any other sport, but the baseball season is 162 games long.  The length of the season means my interest throughout the year has an ebb and flow to it that allows me to read with a game on in the background sort of paying half attention to it until the games really begin to matter in the dog days of August.   

 picture of Jadeveon Clowney the projected number 1 overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans. (even though I'm predicting Khalil Mack of Buffalo University to go to the Texans with the first pick)

The thing that I am currently reading a lot of is the forum posts at the Scout.com website, where I have been a member of the San Diego Chargers forum since it's inception in 2002.  The NFL (American Football) first year player draft begins tomorrow and is a three day afair.  As such a good deal of my time that past month has been chatting with the forum members I have grown to know over the years.  I like to do research into the players who might interest my team on draft day and pursue virtually every detail of what "could happen" ad naseum.  While some people my question my sanity for the endeavor, the true sports enthusiast who lives and breathes the sports of their choosing are right there with me day after day going over the same scenarios, trying to account for every plausable outcome.  Inevitabley half the time my team (the Chargers) end(s) up picking someone none of us discussed in the first round, which technically is the most analyzied and should theoretically be the easiest to target.  I always create a full first round prediction and give all my Chargers selections.  If you're so inclined to see my first round picks and selections for my beloved Chargers...you can find it here: 
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=102&f=1918&t=12841500&p=1 So is the endeavor fruitless?  Yes, probably!  It doesn't stop me from pursing it every year come draft time though. >.<

The book I intend to read next is House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski.  House of Leaves was given to me by my sister as a Christmas present.  It's a scary story (not sure if horror story is the right categorization of the book) about a man who buys a new house for his family whose demensions inside are greater than the outside dimensions.  The main protagonist, Will Navidson explores more and more of the house's twists and turns.  The book to my knowledge is not available on Kindle because the writing is such that the reader must turn the book upside down and read from different directions and points to read the story through it's natural progression.  The concept is interesting, but it's upon the recomendation of the story line itself that I was grateful to my sister for buying it for me this past Christmas.  I definitely need to read it before I see her again most likely come the Winter holiday season.  That is so long as I expect her to buy me any more books in the years to come. >.<

If our blog readers would like to list some of the things they are currently reading it would be fun for me to look into your suggestions and see if any other books pop out and appeal to me. =)