Twenty-one Questions, and Two Book Reviews

1. Why was my almost-three-year old kid still awake at 10:30 tonight?

2. And why is his favorite word "scrumptious"?

3. Have you noticed how we all know how to pronounce "Sotomayor" now?

4. But not "Andrea"?

5. Whose collar is tighter, the puppy or the priest?

6. Will there still be any nuns alive in America by the time the Vatican is done investigating them?

7. What will come after Twitter?

8. What shoes should I buy next?

9. Does the road to self-improvement have an end to it?

10. Does Durkheim's theory about religiosity actually apply better to masculinity?

11. Why do I have a mental block against giving my son his allowance?

12. Are my kids going to walk around shirtless all the time when they are teenagers, rubbing their abs in that way that has always annoyed me?

13. Where do all the people with neck tattoos work?

14. How bad would California have to get, economically and politically, before we would decide to move?

15. Where would we go?

16. How would I stand the winter/summer there?

17. What should I read next?

18. Where does the time go?

19. If you ran out of cereal, would it be acceptable to crumble up some chocolate chip cookies and pour milk on them and pretend it was Cookie Crisp?

20. Would you love me if I was down and out?

21. Is it passive-aggressive to write only in questions?

So I know I said I would leave the book reviewing to my sister, but I had a 48-hour trip to DC (what's up, Jennys?), well, actually Silver Spring, and that gave me time to chew through a couple of really good books. As I said in my last post on the topic, I had gotten into the habit of thinking that I am not such a big reader, but it turns out, I think, that's because I was a lawyer. Lawyers have to (pretend to) read all the time, so I found it hard to read for pleasure. But I read The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson, and it was so good that I was carrying it around reading it from room to room, in the jetway, at breaks during my meeting. Considering it was probably translated from the Swedish, its Dennis Lehane-level good. The story completely sucks you in, the characters are interesting, the writing is good. I plowed through that book (500 pages) in about 24 hours. But its violent and has some very messed up twists so if you get queasy from that sort of thing, well, you were warned.

Then I picked up Complications by Atul Gawande. I had really enjoyed his recent article in the New Yorker about healthcare reform, and liked this book. Its ostensibly about being a surgical resident but is actually about all kinds of healthcare issues. Since my job currently demands that I think about this stuff (on the good days), I appreciated all the strong data, compelling stories and subtle treatment of really difficult topics. For example, he has a chapter about going to conferences, where he's pretty forthright about the overwhelming marketing that swamps doctors at these events, but then describes why these events are enticing to doctors: it isn't the merch, it's the camaraderie of their peers. Big Pharma preys on the fact that doctors need these events to feel in touch with their peers. That oversimplifies it, but I guess that's what book reviews do. Sheesh, that's not even the best chapter. Anyway, good book. What should I read next?