Update

So, if #16 on the list below is actually supposed to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, then cross that one off the list. I started it yesterday at the laundromat and have since been reading it to the exclusion of pretty much any other useful activities, other than attending a colloquium yesterday, buying groceries, making curry and a mango lassi for dinner last night, talking to family on the phone, baking bran muffins for breakfast, and showering.

It's true that it's engaging and exciting and funny (I laughed out loud in places), but what I actually think I might not have been prepared for was how easy it is--which is pretty silly of me, since it's a children's book after all. But with its largish type, nice wide margins, and short, readily-devourable chapters, it slides down so easily that reading it is pretty much the only thing I've felt like doing.

Not that the alternatives are very attractive--grading papers, researching for a term paper, doing French homework--and it's cold and pale outside (I've been reading under my electric blanket and covers). Still, I should probably at least get some of that out of the way before I start the second of the three books Heather sent home with me, even if I do only have one day of classes next week and then not until Tuesday. One must keep up appearances, if nothing else.