One sitting, one book

I had a rather nice, spontaneous reading experience this weekend. By Friday I was brain-dead from the week, and work, and so while idly thumbing through the sale rack at the campus bookstore, I found an interesting-looking Swedish detective novel, Firewall by Henning Mankell. After making a nice dinner on Sunday, I just picked it up, and started reading. I meant to go out and see a movie, but the novel -- a well-written, thoughtful, police procedural -- was so absorbing that I read until one in the morning, by which time I finished it.

I've realized lately that I certainly spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm going to read, rather than actually reading. So it was nice just to read with any pre-meditation or planning, and simply to enjoy the absorption of reading a new book. Sometimes I think that books are freshest and most interesting when you first pick them up, randomly, and you follow what catches the eye, the ear, and your curiosity.