I have read a couple of books during the last couple of weeks of Olympics mania. Nothing too heavy-going because I had to read during the events. This, however, is something I've always done-watched TV and read at the same time. I love both activities and they always seemed to dovetail very neatly for me. My husband and kids don't like it, however, because I'm frequently saying things like-"who's that? wait, what's going on? what did he say? I don't understand-how does that fit in with (fill in the blank)?" That's got to be better than swearing that I never saw something because I actually slept through most of it-which is what I did most of the time when our kids were little. And now, of course, with the miracles of fast forwarding and rewinding, I can keep up-although that makes my daughter want to kill me.

Anyway, here's one of the things I read during beach volleyball, or maybe dressage, or was it sabre fencing? Murder is Academic A Cambridge Mystery by Christine Poulson. This is her first book and I enjoyed it. I mentioned in an earlier post that I love English mysteries-this one has an added benefit-it's an English mystery set in an English university. It's an OK read, the plot was a little thin but I did enjoy the setting and the people were well described. I'd give Poulson one more chance if I find her.

I have done almost nothing for the last three weeks except watch the Olympics-and we still have hours recorded that will have to be watched! Not only do we record daytime coverage but also the 8 hours of nighttime coverage.
If you add up the hours in the day and figure you have to devote a few to sleeping it's easy to see why our Olympics can last 4-5 weeks while other poor souls only have a couple of weeks.

I am up to date on Michael Phelps (with fond memories of Spitz) and the gymnastics events. The team sports don't actually interest me although I have seen a lot of them because my husband watches EVERYTHING even if he fast forwards through some. The Olympics seems (seem? I need my daughter to edit that for me) to do best when it's the best of the best individuals even though there may be a team backing them up-as in gymnastics. Although I have to admit to boredom during the rifle events and the sabre fencing. And while I am in awe of the women's beach volleyball, I am equally appalled at the requirements for their uniforms. I gather it is one of the events where the stands are always filled (this has been a problem with the Beijing Olympics). No wonder-everyone likes to watch strong, graceful, talented, NAKED women.

P.S. My sister in law speaks Chinese and says the correct pronunciation of Beijing is with a hard "j". As in Jingle Bells, not as in shut.

I had no idea, when I sat down to write, that I was going to write about the olympics but there you have it!