The return of the prodigal laptop.

My laptop is back home after what one hopes was a relaxing week at the laptop repair spa. It is lovely to have it back, although I must say I didn't completely miss it--I have gotten in the very bad habit of popping on to it way too frequently to check email and flip through websites and, in general, waste time. I work in my living room, so what I used to do was leave it on standby all day when I wasn't working, and just bring it back up every time the whim struck me. The nice technicians at the repair shop, however, have informed me that putting my "older laptop" into standby that often is actually very bad for it, and I would be better off turning it on and off if I'd like to continue squeezing at least another year of productivity out of it. So I have made the resolution to try and do my work in more concentrated bursts, and then just turn the computer off  and do other things. I am hoping this is better for the computer and better for me.

In my extra reading time this past week I chanced across something called The Bibliophile's Devotional: 365 Days of Literary Classics, by Hallie Ephron. I'll admit that what I really found interesting about this one was the author blurb: "Hallie Ephron, Ph.D., is a critically acclaimed writer. Her latest novel is Never Tell a Lie...She is the author of 1001 Books for Every Mood...her book on mystery was an Edgar Award finalist. She teaches at writing workshops throughout the country and is also an award-winning book review columnist for the Boston Globe."

Now that's an author blurb I totally covet. How do I get to be all those things (without the work of becoming a Ph.D., of course)? The book itself is just what it says it is: a listing of days, with a book classic listed for each day, complete with title, author, summary, and quotes. The book for today, April 15 (happy tax day, everyone) is Andre Dubus III's novel House of Sand and Fog (in which a house is mistakenly seized for back taxes). I'll admit I also looked up the book for my birthday, and I checked to make sure that Ray Bradbury's autumnal classic Something Wicked This Way Comes was listed somewhere in October (it was). It's a neat book, and might make a good gift for any dedicated readers you know.

Comments

[Miranda]

I officially want this book! I got 'The Intellectual's Devotional' for Christmas a couple of years ago, but didn't manage to actually read the one little page or so of it every day. I probably wouldn't with this one, either, but it would be a fun almost-reference book to have.

[Citizen Reader]

Miranda,
You know, I don't even think it's fun to read it every day. I've just had it laying around and while I wait for the computer to boot or something on the stove to boil over, I just flip through a few pages at random. It's really just a great source for classic books that you probably always meant to read but never got around to, or, if you're a librarian, it's a really nice reminder about classics others might like. I just read the entry for Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children," which I can promise you I'm never going to read (I've tried and just can't do it), but at least now I have a little better idea of what it's about.

Hm, "The Intellectual's Devotional." Sounds kind of interesting. Did you like it?

[bybee]

I wonder if she's somehow related to Nora Ephron.