Escaping the reading doldrums

I in one of those reading doldrums where nothing is working. I started New Stories From the South 2007, but found that short stories weren't clicking. I also tried P.J. O'Rourke's book on Adam Smith, and while it was funny, it just wasn't hitting the reading spot. These were both library books, and for me at least, the bar is not set very high for taking these home.

With new books, I tend to be certain about a desire to read them in the next few months. As it happens it might be years, but purchasing a new book requires an urgent element for me to buy it. Used books are the chance buys, the books that are probably worth it, but may end up going back to the store. With library books I need only the tiniest hint of a desire to read the book to take it home. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I am happy to do this, as often enough I find a gem. The downside is, I often end up with a pile of books I don't want to read, at that time at least.

Anyway, I found my groove with Thunderstruck, the follow up to Devil in White City, and Paradoxia, a autobiography of sorts by rocker-poet Lydia Lunch. So far it makes Motley Crue's The Dirt look it was written by clean living Ian McKaye. It includes a strange theory as to why the Coke bottle shape has changed over time.