Off the Shelf

I am not a one book girl: never have been, never will be. I'm not happy with my reading life unless I have multiple books at once scattered throughout the house, stacked precariously beside the bed, or piled atop one another at my desk. So what's been keeping me up at night lately? 

Yeah...not really exaggerating about the books keeping me awake. Sure, true crime books aren't for everyone, and many people have expressed to me that they find the genre distasteful. If you do, I can appreciate that; however, I've always been fascinated with true stories that delve into the human psyche. Hard to swim in deeper depths of the mind than with this type of tale. But it's not the only one:

(Okay, fine, there's a distinct theme here.) This particular book combines the study of traumatic brain injury with the thoughts and confessions of various serial killers. A young man, Tony, who suffered a TBI began writing to serial killers as his hobby, only for many of them to write back with detailed confessions and revelations about cold cases. Watching Tony learn to control his own thoughts through his interactions with some of the most despicable men in the world is an intriguing study in how the mind can be both broken and rebuilt.

Some absolute purist readers may consider me a sell-out because I do, indeed, have an eReader. But to me, a book is a book is a book, and one benefit of my Nook is the deeply discounted selection of stories I find.

Some great literature-centered nonfiction, a biography on the next figure to grace the $20 bill, and a Neil Gaiman collection: I bought all four in one night for less than $10 total. I've been dipping into all of them in little sips, luxuriating in finding the one on which I'll next focus my attention. Don't think that I disregard fiction, though...

This is the first year I've actually taught The Great Gatsby, and until I began re-reading it, I forgot what a tremendous story it is. Not only do I get to share the story and talk about it with students, but I getting paid to sit and read this glorious book. Ain't life grand?! If you're willing to journey through a story (or twelve), yes, yes it is. Happy reading, friends.