a little light reading and heavy music

Sometimes when I go to the library I look for a "grown-up" book knowing that my dad will inevitably ask me during our next phone conversation, "Have you read any good books lately?" I still read my fair share of mind candy but try to throw something of literary merit or historical value in on occasion. I thought I should pass along a few gems on my recent reading list:

I am currently reading Jane Austen: A Life by Clare Tomlin. The book is well written although she does throw her own personal views in and isn't subtle about it (maybe that's a good thing). This is considered one of the better Austen biographies but it has inspired me to read Jane Austen's Letters, a collection of her own writings.

I recently went through a Henry the VIII kick. I read 8 or 9 books about Henry the VIII and his wives with the best being Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir. I have determined my knowledge of European history is seriously lacking (although for what I'm not quick sure). I highly recommend this book; there's no need to embellish reality when it's already so complex and well, juicy.

Other recent favorites include: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (I'm still a little haunted by some of the images this book creates), Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, and I Am America by Steven Colbert (I think this might fall into the mind candy category but it was a fun read).

I am also in the process of populating my MP3 player with exercise appropriate music. I didn't realize how hard it would be to find songs with the right beats per minute (I assumed fast song=good for exercise). Apparently there is a real science to the whole exercise music thing. So if you have a good exercise song, pass it along via the comments section or through email...it might encourage me to jump on the treadmill again after I get over this head cold turned flue-like symptoms thing.