https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/books/2011-03-14/bedside-manner-a-life-unread/

Bedside Manner: A Life Unread

By Lee Nichols, March 14, 2011, 10:00am, Under the Covers

When people ask me what I'm reading, my answer is embarrassing: Everything, and yet not much. I dearly love to read, and yet the great irony of my chosen profession as a writer is that I'm a painfully slow reader. It's a reality that I think makes me a pretty good proofreader, but a real burden when trying to keep up with books and magazines.

So what you see here encompasses both what I'm reading and what I'm failing to read, as well as a fairly accurate snapshot of my life interests. As a political reporter for the Chronicle, you get the politics up top. Behind that, reflections of my love of sports and exercise. About the only thing missing here is a book about beer (my other Chronicle beat), although I know there's such a tome buried under that pile.

And sadly, much of it will go likely go unfinished. I'm afraid the pile of reading material I haven't finished would stack much higher than what I have.

Take Lines in the Sand. It's a fascinating (well, if you're a political geek) look at the heinous stunt former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay pulled in 2003 when he convinced the Texas Legislature to do an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting, just so DeLay could have more Republicans in Texas' congressional delegation. If you remember, Texas Democrats in the Lege fled the state in a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful effort to break quorum and stop the shameless scheme.

UT adjunct law professor Steve Bickerstaff successfully captures the uncertainty and drama of the whole affair, and I meant to have it read before the start of the current Legislative session, as background preparation for this year's redistricting session. And yet, here we are, halfway through the session, and I'm only about halfway through the book. Well, maybe I don't need to completely finish – after all, I know the ending. Democrats got screwed, especially Austinites, as our fair city got gerrymandered all to hell. But on the upside, DeLay got sentenced to jail for shenanigans related to the redistricting.

That copy of The Texas Observer brings even more shame. I really wanted to read that cover story. Instead, I haven't even opened the issue, and I'll bet the next issue is already in my mailbox. Ditto for that National Geographic you see peeking out from under the pile.

No, instead of concerning myself with the hard issues of the day, I'm better at escapism. I'd rather read about my favorite sport, and thus have made better progress through that issue of Track & Field News. Yes, my choice of sports is just as geeky as my interest in politics. Who in the hell is a fan of track & field? My only defense is that I had a brief and highly undistinguished career on the Texas Longhorns' track team more than two decades ago, and never lost my love for it. (Plus, I'm a frequent contributor to that magazine.)

Thanks to back and leg problems, however, my running days are behind me. I swim now, and hence the other strange choice of titles on my bedstand: Fitness Swimming by Houston aquatics coach Emmett Hines. Actually, now that I think about it, this is probably the least oddball reading material of the bunch, considering we're in Austin – home of Barton Springs, Deep Eddy Pool, and a whole lot of dedicated lap-swimmers. Go pick up a copy if you're one of them. Hines improved my pathetic swimming stroke into something that, while it won't get me mistaken for Michael Phelps, is still a hell of a lot smoother and faster than it was.

And yet, even this book makes me hang my head. I was supposed to finish in December, so that I could start training in January for the Deep Eddy Mile, a really fun swimming race in August. But … well, I think by now you can guess about how far along I am.

Sigh. I mostly blame attention deficit disorder. But there's also a good deal of laziness, procrastination, TV- and sports-watching, family life, and beer drinking to blame. Dang it, that does it, I'm gonna finish Lines in the Sand! Um … right after SXSW and March Madness are over.