My Reading List for 02/12/10

Alright, I finished reading The Beetle the night before last. It was okay-- nothing to rave about. Now, I'm in the process of reading some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Selected Tales and Sketches. (It's pretty safe for me to say that Hawthorne is one of, if not my all-time, favorite authors.) The stories we're reading this week for Am. Lit. are: "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe," "Alice Doane's Appeal," "The Gray Champion," "Wakefield," "The Notch of the White Mountains," "The Ambitious Guest," "The May-Pole of Merry Mount," and "Ethan Brand." A little later on, we'll be reading Hawthorne's signature work-- The Scarlet Letter. Yippee!

BTW, in totally non-sequitur news, tonight is opening ceremonies for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, which will air on NBC. (I suppose that if reading were an olympic sport, I'd probably be a gold medalist. Big-time LOL!) I've rather enjoyed watching the winter games ever since the '94 Lillehammer, Norway, olympics and the women's figure skating drama that ensued. Speaking of which, Nancy Kerrigan is currently in the midst of a harrowing family drama. As for Undisputed Drama Queen Tonya Harding, well, that girl needs to seriously consider adopting the Mary J. Blige philosophy. This year's roster of athletes is a unique (in a largely positive way!) and talented bunch of guys and gals. In terms of "women to watch in '10," my bets are on Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, short-track speedskater Allison Baver, and skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace. As far as the guys go, it's all about snowboarder Shaun "Flying Tomato" White-- who will undoubtedly prove adept as well as entertaining-- biathlete (cross-country skiing and target shooting) Tim Burke, short-track speedskater and Dancing with the Stars champ Apolo Anton Ohno, and figure skater Johnny Weir, who designs his own costumes and is sort of Lambert-esque (read: adorable and awesome). I'm also anticipating the performances of skating pair Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig. In addition to all the amazing U.S. talent, the international athletes, such as: figure skater Kim Yu-Na (South Korea), hockey player Sidney Crosby (Canada), biathlete (and Tim Burke's girlfriend!) Andrea Henkel (Germany), Alpine skiier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong (Ghana), and curler Wang Bingyu (China), are equally impressive. So, that'll be my President's Day Weekend 2010-- reading voraciously and brushing up on my Olympics trivia!