Proof that the Internet—and any semblance of a life—only takes away from your daily reading: in the last two weeks, I’ve raced through eight books. (It would’ve been ten if I’d bothered to finish Jim Bishop’s The Day Kennedy Was Shot and Richard Laymon’s Island. I may still get back to them. I’m obsessive-compulsive when it comes to finishing books.) Impressive? Probably not, especially when I stop to consider that two of those books were picks for Oprah’s Book Club. But before you accuse me of selling out, let me defend myself by saying that, at the time, there wasn’t anything else to read.

And since everyone likes a list, no matter what’s being listed, here’s what I read. (I hereby allow you to mock some of my choices in the comments.)

• The Aeneid by Virgil
• The Waterworks by E. L. Doctorow
• Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood
• Midwives by Chris Bohjahlian
• The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman
• The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
• Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
• While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

I also set up my own domain—and, by extension, a new blog—today, but it hasn’t been finalized yet. Hopefully, it’ll go through within the next few days.

It’s good to be back, but it’ll be temporary: I may need to check into the hospital for a few days. But we’ll see how things go.