Reading matter

I've been suffering a bit from sleeplessness recently, and have taken to reading to pass the time, even more than I normally do. Having worked my way through a bunch of recent purchases, I was at a bit of a loose end for reading material. That's when I spotted the Harry Potter books on one of my shelves. I took them down and re-read the first and the second, and was half way through the third when I got sidetracked, thanks to G's mention of Stieg Larsson. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo kept me going for a couple of days, and I managed to find The Girl who played with Fire to follow that with. (Both books were excellent, incidentally, so a big Thank You to G for the recommendation.)

That's when I went back to Harry Potter 3 and finished that, then the next one. That was as far as I'd got in terms of buying the books when they first came out, but I was so involved by this stage that I simply had to take a trip to a book shop for the fifth volume (... and The Order of the Phoenix). That's now been added to the pile of the recently-devoured. Now there's no escaping it: I just have to head for a book shop and continue the saga. I must say I've been pleasantly surprised now that I've gone back to this phenomenon. The third (... and the Prisoner of Azkaban) still strikes me as the weakest (the winding-up is far too convoluted for my liking), but the rest really is good stuff.

Apart from reading, and even a few productive hours of work, today's main business was watching the Bahrain Grand Prix. Conditions couldn't possibly have been more different from the earlier races -- dry and hot, with only one retirement -- and I'd have to be honest and say that the lack of rain and such-like resulted in a bit of a boring procession. All credit to jenson Button for a pretty brilliant overtake on Lewis Hamilton at the start of the second lap. This move proved crucial, especially when combined with spot-on strategy calls from Ross Brawn. So three out of four for Jenson, and another great day for Brawn Racing. Some consolation for Ferrari too: Kimi finished sixth and scored the team's first points of the season, saving the ignominy of starting 2009 with their worst start ever.