Reading Through a Power Failure

Due to a district-wide, half-hour power outage on Saturday afternoon I have been unable to access the Internet from home since then. This, of course, makes blogging somewhat difficult. So on Sunday, I read Alison Bechdel's surprisingly well-written graphic novel Fun Home in one go, consciously listened to music, re-arranged furniture and cleaned out my closet. Pretty much the stuff  I used to do before the Net came around. And, wow, I quite enjoyed it. I was really surprised at how high the pile of books I have been meaning to read for a long time has gotten. [Apropos reading: I had one last week in Neukölln. For more  info on how it went and a photo of me slumped over my manuscript,  feel free to check out my other blog.] On top of that pile lies songwriter Patti Smith's autobiography Just Kids which was given to me as a Christmas present by my dad. I'm really looking forward to this and will start reading it as soon as I finished We Need to Talk About Kevin, which, as I learned after I started, won the British Orange Prize - an award especially designed for female fiction writers. And like every year in January, I have resolved to read more books this year than last in 2011 as well. If you'd like to join me in my pledge, add a Read the Printed Word button to your blog or join The 50 Books Challenge.