Reading, Watching

Reading
I went to the local bookstore to buy my niece a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank for Christmas. She's ten. I was a little younger than that when I read Anne Frank for the first time. I read it multiple times after that. It fueled my love of books, reading, and history. At our library's annual children's book booksale, I bought a photobook about Anne Frank. Initially I bought it for me, but then I decided to pair it with Anne Frank (and an iTunes giftcard) for my niece.

Anyway, I remembered I had the remnants of a local bookstore giftcard a friend sent me earlier this year. It wasn't enough to pay for a new hardcover, but I decided I may as well use it. My intended purchases (in addition to buying Anne Frank): Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and See a Little Light by Bob Mould. What did I buy? Kaling's book and Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

I had heard about the Catherine the Great book from my mom, but I didn't think to buy it until I saw who the author was. I never got around to reading Nicholas and Alexandria but I read (and own) Massie's Peter the Great and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. I tried to read Dreadnaught. I think I still own it, and I still want to read it.

My first thought when I saw the Catherine the Great book? Robert Massie is still alive? I'm pretty sure this is something only thought by former history majors who were obsessed with WWI and Russian and East European history. I grabbed it off the shelf as soon as I saw it. I read John Alexander's Catherine the Great while in college. I think I still own it. (I've been getting rid of books I've been hauling around for twenty-plus years, and I'm not sure if this one made the cut or not). I read it in the first Russian history class I took as an undergrad. This was the class that started my passion for Russian history. I wasn't obsessed with Catherine the Great, not at all, but I did dress as her for Halloween one year. Again, only something a Russian history nerd would think to do.

Anyway, I started Kaling's book eating lunch and I finished it a few hours later. I loved it. And it made me think that maybe I should write a book.

Don't worry, I won't. But a friend of mine keeps telling me I should. She tells me I have a distinct voice. And I tell good stories. I'm really not that interesting but I have known some interesting people. It's what happens when you spend most of your life in small towns, you meet interesting people because they are a whole lot more noticeable. Anyway, Kaling's book made me start thinking about it. And then I realized I could never be as funny as Mindy Kaling. And that was a little depressing.

Watching
At this moment I am watching (and DVRing) Raising Arizona. Thanks to all that crap from Comcast, they gave me HBO free for three months. So I am DVRing a bunch of movies I ether really like a lot or that I kept meaning to see. So far I have DVR'd A Mighty Wind, Quiz Show, West Side Story, The Kids are Alright, and Bend it Like Beckham.