Citizen Reader

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading in the name of freelance book indexing.  It's a job I love, although it does not come attached to benefits, specifically health insurance, which is (I would guess) what really keeps most Americans attending their horrible day jobs. 

But, lack of access to affordable health care notwithstanding, indexing is a great job.  I did a lot of it yesterday while wearing my bathrobe.  I'm not saying that just to perpetuate a freelance stereotype; my bathrobe's in better shape than a lot of my regular clothes, so I wear it a lot around the house.  Of course, indexing also primarily involves reading, and we all know how I feel about that.  But the last few days I've had a lot of it to do, meaning I've been reading about major league baseball in the 1950s (specifically how the economics of broadcast revenue affected the finances of the American and National Leagues), the snowboarder Shaun White, and union advocate Cesar Chavez.*

That was a rather weird mix, I'll admit, and it rather tuckered me out for recreational reading.  So I don't have much to report today; in the midst of eye strain I did watch a bit of television the night before last, when PBS played an American Experience episode about Eleanor Roosevelt.  I watched the first half but once Franklin cheated on her with Lucy Mercer, I couldn't watch any more.  Does anybody else wish they could slap the shit out of FDR on Eleanor's behalf?  I do.  Either way, I'm thinking I might get a biography of Eleanor to read.  Suggestions?

*In three different books, mercifully. 

THIS JUST IN: When I have eye strain, I also browse the Internet quite a bit.  Many thanks to Tripp over at Books Are My Only Friends for his excellent post about Fareed Zakaria's book The Post-American World, which I also haven't had time to read, and the link to a picture of Barack Obama carrying a book (picture provided at right).  I dislike all politicians as a matter of habit but I'll give the man this: he carries a book like a reader, holding his page.  Beautiful.