Maiden Voyage

There isn’t much that comes up on Google for “unemployed people blogging about reading.” Plenty under “blogging about books”: review blogs, writing sites, one site about books and cats. But I didn’t see much about reading, not that I looked hard.

However blogs for the unemployed abound. One (subtitled “Advice at the Intersection of Work and Life”) recommends focusing on an ambition and executing it. Alas, I don’t think this means going to the gym, cleaning out filing cabinets, or making one more vat of homemade soup.

In truth, I thought of writing this blog before the above recommendation. I was on the 14A bus from Trader Joe’s—prior to having done my extensive Web research. I was thinking about how I had whined to my husband, Dennis, about how, as usual, three of my reserve books had come in at once at the library. Space is a commodity even at the New York Public Library, and I can’t take the checkout person’s look of disapproval when I don’t take out all my reserves at once, which means reading all three in the allotted three weeks. Dennis suggested, given my current lack of agenda, that I pick them up, smile at the checkout person, and read all day. And something in the arrangement of the Kashi GoLean and Joe’s O’s cereal must have sparked inspiration. For there, next to the oatmeal, I thought, writing about reading, what a good idea!

I have time. Lots of it. It’s been a month and a half since I stopped working. The holidays provided some distraction, but now it’s just days of waiting. Waiting to hear about job opportunities, waiting to hear about theater prospects, waiting for e-mails from friends and colleagues, waiting for my hair to grow.

Oh, there’s plenty I could—should—do, but come on, until I get really desperate, I’m not going to sew new pillows or get a jump on my taxes. I’d rather just read, and write. And since planetbookgroupie.com abandoned its blog, I thought we could adopt each other as satellite pals, giving me “an ambition” and planetbookgroupie some content.

So herewith I launch a blog about reading. I’m not sure what that means. But I guess I’ll find out.

What I’m reading right now: Mosquito by Roma Tearne

Waiting for me at the library, under the supervision of the checkout woman: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

The Museum of Innocence by Orhun Pamuk