Reading too Fast

Some days on this trip, due to either rain or just laziness, I spend most of the day reading. By last week I had blasted through 4 books:

1. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

2. Anywhere but Here

3. The Starter Wife

4. My Sister's Keeper

My Sister's Keeper was my favorite of these but it is a tearjerker so keep that in mind if you're going to read it in public. I had to put my sunglasses on a couple times!

So while R. and I were shopping in San Jose last Tuesday, I went into a bookstore and decided to get a Spanish book. I figured it would force me to learn some vocab and I wouldn't be able to burn through the book in a day. Despite R's suggestion that I get a kid's book, I went crazy and bought El Alquimista, the Spanish translation of Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'.

The plan is working so far. After 3 days, I'm only on page 42. But I am actually understanding the book well and learning lots of new vocab. I know how to say sheep, herd, shearing, etc. Sometimes if I see the same word in 2 or 3 different contexts I can figure out what it is without looking it up. This exercise is way more fun than I thought it would be. I should really keep cranking on this book because in 4 days Sean will arrive and my reading time will probably go away.

I would like to conclude this post with my favorite quote from The Tipping Point. I actually wrote this down before I went and exchanged the book because it was too funny.

"Arrange to go to a relaxed gathering of actors, rock musicians, or hairdressers on the one hand, or civil engineers, electricians, or computer programmers on the other, and observe how much smoking is going on. If your experience is anything like mine, the differences should be drastic."