I refuse to get on my elliptical machine unless I have something good to watch while I torture myself exercise. It is just so gosh-darn boring any other way.
When I couldn't get my ipad to stream a video earlier this week, I went to plan B. Plan B is to read a book while riding my recumbent bike, since reading while standing on the elliptical–a stationary-yet-moving piece of equipment–requires more coordination than I possess. I love, love, love to read so I was excited to have an excuse not to get on the elliptical (I usually force myself to use the elliptical instead of the bike because I get a much better–read SWEATY–workout). Sitting and peddling on a bike while enjoying a good story is not such a great workout, but it is so much more enjoyable.
There was a minor problem, however.
This is the book that I have been reading lately.
And by lately, I mean approximately for the last month. Or even longer, if you go back about 7 years to the last time I tried to read Life of Pi. And now I digress.
I'm not a quitter. I hate to start something and not finish it. I can only remember giving up on one other book, ever. It was around 25 years ago, Mr. Terrific bought me Stephen King's It, because It was over 1000 pages long. I read books quickly, and if I'm reading a really good book I start wishing that the book were longer. Mr. Terrific thought he was doing me a favor by buying me a really long book.
Except I didn't like the book. After about 600 pages, I decided that I had read enough about children being terrorized by a clown.
Which is more than I can tell you about Life of Pi. The last time I attempted to read this book, I read over 100 pages and I can not tell you what I read. I gave up, even though it was on the best seller list, even though a friend of mine (whose opinion I totally respect and trust) told me it was a fabulous book. I mean, 100 pages was a serious effort, right? And for me to not even be able to remember what I read–I feel bad saying this–I felt like I was just wasting my time, and all because I was being stubborn and didn't want to quit.
But quit I did, I was happy to stop reading it and never gave it another thought…until the movie that was based on the book won a few Oscars at this year's academy awards. I didn't see the movie, but I started thinking to myself, hmmmm…maybe I should give that book another go.
So about a month ago, I started reading Life of Pi AGAIN. And since the only time of day that I can really find time to read is when I get into bed–and since I am on the verge of total exhaustion at that late hour–if there is nothing to spark my interest (read: if something is boring), I fall asleep really quickly.
I don't have a lot to show for the last month or so that I have been attempting to read this book. Every night, my eyes immediately just start rolling around inside of my head, anywhere from one word to a few paragraphs into it, which leaves me stuck on page 23. That's right. 23 pages, in an entire month. I would usually expect to read 3 or 4 books in a month. But I'm stuck. And I do mean stuck.
This is the page that I have been stuck on for the last week or so. I get into bed, open the book to the page that I have dog-eared (don't judge me) to mark my place, and I ponder why pi=3.14159265 (I can't help it, my math-geekiness always expands it and yes I am jealous of everyone who has memorized more of these randomly-distributed digits than I have), visions of circles and their ratios of circumference to diameter cloud my thinking and then I realize that this tiny little equation is the only thing I have read in this book that I can relate to!!!
And then I close the book and turn out the light and lie there thinking that reading before bed is no fun.
Okay, back to the non-streaming ipad and working out on the bike instead of the elliptical…
So the last thing I want to read while working out is Life of Pi, especially when I could be reading something I enjoy. I decided I would just go ahead and read something else while I exercised.
This is where Baseball Makes Everything Better comes in.
The Bird. If you are a baseball fan, and you grew up in the '70's, surely you remember him? I unabashedly admit that I really, really love the game of baseball and I always have…and I bought this book because even though I have always been a die-hard Red Sox fan there is no way that any baseball fan who ever saw Mark Fidrych pitch could not help but like him, and I certainly liked him. He was so much fun to watch, and he played like he was having a blast: talking to himself, running around to congratulate his teammates, getting down on his hands and knees to smooth the dirt on the pitcher's mound.
I bought this book a few months ago, and I gave it to Mr. Terrific because I thought he would enjoy reading it, but I am the one who is enjoying it. I'm enjoying it so much that I have decided I will not ever waste one more second on any book that I'm not enjoying…and I'm probably going to have to remind myself to come back and read this blogpost if I ever get it in my head again that I really should give Life of Pi another try!