I can't seem to finish anything. In May and June I've started, but not finished:

• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: One of E's favorite's; we saw an excellent theatrical production in Columbia Heights in 2003; I really want to read it; I really liked the first 100 pages; I put it down and didn't pick it up again. Maybe it's more of a winter book. You know, Russia and all.
• Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver: Well-written essays about topics that I care about (environmentalism, etc.); but somehow these essays just bored me. Go figure.
• Emma's War by Deborah Scroggins: This promises to be a really interesting book (true story of a British aid worker who married a Sudanese warlord) but I had to pass it on to someone else for book club. I'll pick it up again when I get back to Bamako.
• Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre: One of the few English-language books at Bamako's bookstore, Terre des Mots; I got it for E for his birthday; I've heard good things about it; I'm just not drawn in by the adolescent narrator's voice. (In the past I have been, with books like Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone, and Lynda Barry's Cruddy.)
• Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson: Short stories! Just the thing to jump-start my reading again. I've read two and they are interesting and enjoyable. I hope to finish in the next week and I'll let you know what I thought.

I've also been reading some photography books:

• Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson
• Portfolios That Sell by Selina Oppenheim
• the National Geographic Photography Field Guide: People and Portraits

Though I haven't finished reading them all, I would recommend these three very different books. I was skeptical about the first one (Understanding Exposure), thinking I knew what there was to know about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, but this book showed me how much I don't know, and has lots of great examples that clearly illustrate the consequences of different exposure choices. The second (Portfolios That Sell) is a strictly business-oriented book for photographers, explaining how to identify your niche, choose your portfolio pieces, shoot more to round out your portfolio, reposition yourself, etc. The last one (Nat'l Geo field guide) I picked up as a bit of inspiration when I was in Penn Camera earlier this week, since I seem to be shooting a lot more people lately.