book ADHD

It's been a few weeks of book ADHD. The weather is beautiful, my tomato seeds sprouted, the rest of the garden is calling, my hours at work have increased. And at night when I climb into bed with a book? Lately I just want to sleep.

That said, I've picked up and put down Tony Horwitz's Baghdad without a Map about three times. His fascinating travelogue goes from Cairo, to Yemen and up through the gulf to Kuwait, or at least that's how far I've gotten. A Jewish American man, following his breadwinner wife around the middle east is a situation that people Horwitz interacts with find equally confusing and hilarious. His writing style meanders, and sometimes flashes back and forward, which is a little confusing sometimes. Even so, I'm desperate to find more time to spend with this book because not only am I finding that I really enjoy travelogues, but this book was written in the early 90s, before 9/11, before the axis of evil, before pirates, before we knew how to pronounce Qatar, back when the gulf region was still exotic and romantic. A travelogue of the middle east without the word “embedded” is just wonderful thing.

The book ADHD abounds. This is also the third time I've picked up Sergei Lukyanenko's Twilight Watch, the third book in his Daywatch series. The book is great, really, it is. But I seem to be in the mood for something darker these days. I'm blaming my book ADHD on the weather.

I did recently purchase Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints & Madmen, and China Mieville's The Scar, and both of those hold special places in my heart as super dark. And they are calling to me. Perhaps the cure for book ADHD is to pick up the book that so seductively whispers your name?