A la bibliothèque

Six months later, having been over-immersed in work drama (and work itself), I'm rising for air. My latest distractions:

• Nicholas Nickleby - Dickens' third serial novel. I'm in the process of reading the entire compendium of his works. It's something I've wanted to do since falling in love with A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver! (the movie and then the play, and now the novel).
• Worldchanging - The text I'm using in the fall to teach EarthSmart, a freshman seminar course on sustainability. It's the self-proclaimed "environmental handbook for the iPod generation". I have to agree - it's quite engaging and something that is easily picked up, plopped down in the hemp hammock while you nibble on a locally grown peach and ponder the purchase of your plug-in hybrid, dabble with your blog on your Mac... and picked up again.
• The Modern Mind - The philosophical equivalent of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States of America. Peter Watson expertly and prosaically guides us through the complex evolution of human ideologies, discoveries, & political experiments of the last century. I felt like I really got to know some of the personalities, and wished it continued through 2008. I want to know how America got so stupid so fast. (Fine - I'll be a liberal apologist... On second thought, screw you for wanting me to say "I'm sorry" in the first place.)
• The Nintendo Wii - It really is as cool as the empty store shelves would have you believe it is. I'm still in awe over how sensitive the controller is, and miffed that my virtual bowling game is no better (and has the same wobble to the right) than my real-life one. At least I can't bowl into the wrong lane, although I think it would be funny sometimes to be allowed to "wreck" the virtual players' games.

What are your divertissements?