Same Old Shannon : Currently

You know how some people have those little sidebars on their blogs where they list what they are currently reading, watching, listening to, etc.? If I had one of those, I would never keep up with it. It would still say I was reading Twilight, which was like a year ago and which I am so over. (Side note: I saw New Moon conversation heart candies at Target. I don't even want to know what those say, nor do I want to know the person who would buy them.)

But I digress. My point is, I'm not going to get a sidebar that will constantly be outdated. But I thought I would share, just this once, what I'm currently doing with regards to entertainment media.

Currently Reading
Let me start by saying that I have been fully Kindle-ized. Love that thing, mostly because I can just hit a few buttons and own a whole new book in seconds, through the airwaves, on an account I have already set up with my credit card information (or, currently, with a $100 Amazon gift card that I got from my in-laws for my birthday).

The first book I read on the Kindle was Day After Night by Anita Diamont. Anita Diamont is the author of The Red Tent, which I did not read despite half the people I know listing it as their favorite book. I just can't get into anything Biblical. Anyway, Day After Night is about European Jewish refugees who are detained in a British camp when they try to emigrate to Palestine after WWII. I was not totally familiar with the historical context, which required some Wikipedia-ing on my part. But overall it was a satisfying story with a good end.

Next I craved something light, and made the mistake of getting Nanny Returns, which is the sequel to The Nanny Diaries. The reason I say "mistake" is that this book was not, in fact, all that light. The first book looked at the outlandish world of wealthy, uninvolved parents, but it was mostly funny and ridiculous. In the sequel, though, we see the toll that is taken on children whose parents delegate all parental responsibilty to nannies. And that is just sad. I did like the book in the end, though, and cared enough about the storylines to keep picking it up.

Currently I have two new books on my Kindle. The first is Let the Great World Spin, which is a series of stories about unrelated characters in 1970s NYC who come together somehow in the end. It is somehow centered around this guy who walked on a cable between the two World Trade Center towers. I'm on the second person's story right now, and so far it's okay. The author is a very good writer, which makes it a pleasure to read, but I guess it's a hard sell on me because I'm not usually a fan of the whole "bunch of intertwined stories" genre.

The other book I bought, which I haven't started, is The Happiness Project. It's the story of this woman who looks at all these different theories on what makes you happy and then tries them out for a year. It's the whole "regular person who thinks of a clever angle to test out on her real life and then writes about it" idea that's en vogue right now. You know, like Eat, Pray, Love? (Which, incidentally, I hated, because the whole time I was all, "Who cares about you and your life?") So, to sum up, I just bought two new books, both of which are from genres I don't really care for. Which either means that I'm brave and venturing into new territory, or that I make poor choices.

Currently Viewing
My last Netflix was Away We Go. I seriously don't know what I thought about it. I found it enjoyable enough to watch that I didn't turn it off (or even consider turning it off), but it just lacked any kind of spark for me. I didn't come away with it having learned anything or having had any new thoughts provoked in me, nor was I greatly entertained. Like a lot of independent films, it's filled with those long, awkward silences that would have ended up on the cutting room floor in a Hollywood blockbuster. And I hate that I'm not open-minded enough to tolerate those, but overall I just find them boring and feel like the plot needs to be moved along a little faster.

I now have Grey Gardens, which I haven't watched yet.

Currently Listening To
I like to make playlists for each new season. For winter I wanted mostly upbeat songs that would get me through the long, dark days of being trapped indoors. So I made this completely random playlist:

All You Need is Love. I took this off a 4-song CD that my dad bought for me at Starbucks, which was to raise money for charity. I really don't know who is even performing it.
Haven't Met You Yet, Michael Buble. Okay, I know this song is cheesy. And liking Michael Buble makes me a 50-year-old secretary from New Jersey. But it's just such a fun, upbeat song, and plus it reminds me of the theme song to every sitcom you watched in the 80s.
Human, The Killers. As in, "Are we human, or are we dancer?" The lyrics to this song are a total WTF, especially because it's not, "Are we human, or are we dancers," it's just the singular "dancer." And the rest of the lines don't seem to follow any sort of logical, coherent train of thought either. (I also feel this way about the song American Pie, by the way.) But it's pretty and fun, and it makes a very good spin song. (Not that I'm riding a stationary bike in my house or whatever, but, you know, at the gym.)
Smile, Uncle Kracker. Just a happy, feel-good song that reminds me of the summer months. And also, "You're cooler than the flip-side of my pillow," is an awesome line.

The rest of the songs are just random, happy songs from various decades, which are the type of songs that you turn up when you hear them on the radio. They are: