To read, perchance to dream

I hardly watch the idiot box these days. (The only time I am glued to the set is on Monday nights, as my regular readers will know by now). Sometimes on Sundays I follow some sporting event (last weekend it was the Buick Invitational tournament, where Arjun Atwal frittered away a chance to enter the playoffs; next weekend it shall be the Super Bowl).

When I come home, reading a book (and cooking) relaxes me. Most nights, I usually read till I fall asleep. Within arms reach I can see a few books as I type this post. This material can be broken into some distinct categories:

a) Books already read (for casual reading on the days I don't feel like paying too much attention to detail). Right now the books in this category are ...

• The Collected Short Stories of Jeffrey Archer
• Asterix the Legionary (by Gosciny and Uderzo)
• Partners in Crime (Agatha Christie)
• Cricinfo - The Magazine (edited by Sambit Bal)

b) Books that I am currently reading (once again, the genre I read depends upon my mood; and yes, I have read a little bit of all of them).

• Foul Lines (Jack McCallum and L. Jon Wertheim)
• The King Must Die (Mary Renault)
• The Best American Mystery Stories-2005 (edited by Joyce Carol Oates)
• Two Lives (Vikram Seth)

c) Books that I shall read

• The Bull from the Sea (Mary Renault)
• The Last of the Wine (Mary Renault)
• The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
• Scaramouche (Rafael Sabatini)
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert M. Pirsig)

So what am I in the mood for tonight? I think it shall be Foul Lines, "an explosive, fast-paced satire that will do for today's NBA what North Dalls Forty did for the NFL a generation ago".