51. Books read since last we met

Winter reading project going well.  Here's what I've been reading:

4. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I went out to Barnes and Noble a couple times in order to read this book without buying it. I made it halfway through and decided I wanted to own the book and nearly bought it but then decided to ask for it for Christmas. I will finish it later. I was surprised by how good the book is - the last running/magazine-to-book book I read was crap.
5. The Road to Virginia City: The Diary of James Knox Polk Miller ed. by Andrew Rolle. Unfortunately for writers of fiction, there is nothing more interesting than non-fiction. Unfortunately for writers of non-fiction (including my own eventual biographer, the poor bastard), there is nothing more interesting than first-person narratives. This book is the most interesting book ever. The kid was 19, an orphan, worked for his uncle in Clyde, New York, and one day took $3,500 and ran away to the West. On August 20, 1864, he wrote, "After supper Brown and myself rode to town.  En route Brown, while performing an Equestrian feat, was thrown from his horse, severely damaged."  A+++ best book ever!

(Here I was interrupted slightly by an attempt to read a book containing the sentence, "Tom stood quietly by, regarding me with the eyes of someone falling down a hill made of powdered limestone."  Is that supposed to mean something? The book remains unread and likely will remain so into perpetuity.)

6. Mountain Medicine (Original Title: The Big It and Other Stories) by A.B. Guthrie. Well. This is a collection of short stories, which is all fine and dandy until you get to the one about a dog and a mean, mean man. There's nothing to be had from this except sadness. What is the point? I am done with the West for a while.
7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. DONE with the West so we're down in Jackson, Miss. This book is on the MSU Summer Reading list so it's not a deviation from the plan, don't you think that.  Stayed up late reading it the first night I had it, a good sign.

I may or may not have joined a book club of ladies, which means that in the coming weeks I may or may not read a book by that Krakauer fellow, and a graphic novel. Also I've found that godawful Benjamin Franklin beast but I'm not going to read it. This reading project is supposed to be fun, not Benjamin Franklin.

This is my favorite short story. Read this while listening to this.