The need for promiscuity

Let me start by saying that this is a facetious title.  It could just as easily have been called the need for balance or the need for variety.  Generally, I try to mix it up a bit as I read.  Rather than read five crime thrillers in a row, I’ll try to read one thriller followed by a science fiction novel then something historical…etc.  You get the picture.

Next up in my queue is Joan Didion’s book Blue Nights.  This past summer I read The Year of Magical Thinking which chronicles both her husband’s and her daughter’s deaths.  Although masterfully written, it was…a bit of a downer.  Pondering death, as inevitable as it is, is never a cheery proposition.  Yet, because of it’s inevitability it is perhaps better to ponder in advance, to consider how one might react by reflecting on others’ experiences than to wait for the expected surprise.  Once I finished I gave it a couple of days of reflection and then followed it up with Bossypants by Tina Fey.  It was summer after all.

This time I’m planning ahead and have already reserved Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? which was reviewed on NPR at the beginning of the month. The picture on the back cover of the book endears the author to me so completely that I had to add it to my list. As soon as I finished reading the review I started perusing her blog and twitter feed for more self-effacing humorous bits.  Her writing is delightful and she often hits the nail on the hand in a dry, offhand way.   It will be some much needed sugar after the bittersweet medicine of Blue Nights.