Adventures in Reading Outside of the House

I began the day, the outside of the house part of the day, at the dentist's office yesterday morning for an 8 a.m. appointment. I brought a book, Francine Prose's Five Weeks in the Country. By the end of the visit, after 29 pages, I decided that I was already dreading having to finish the book--the grown up characters in the book are SO odious. I reminded myself--you don't have to read any further. And so, back to the library it goes!I ended the day, the outside of the house part of the day, at the dermatologist's office to get a basal cell skin cancer removed. I arrived late in the afternoon, and it wasn't a surprise that they were running a bit late. Happily, I had a book, Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad. What a delightful book! How did I miss its publication back in 2005?Well, a lot was going on in my life in 2005, much of it difficult (hurricanes, house damage, mother-in-law's broken hip and death by medical industrial complex). I was glad to have that book with me, because the…