My current reads

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier. This book is perfect for me right now. I love that it is non-fiction but it is not science. I need a break from science, which this is. The book is about a man's travels throughout Siberia. As most Slavophiles/Russian language learners, I am fascinated by Siberia. I didn't think I would necessarily be super intrigued by a book all about Siberia, but I picked up this fabulous read at the Last Bookstore in DTLA and was instantly interested after reading the first page. I really like  Frazier's writing style, which may be because it is what I would describe as raw, simple non-fiction. Kind of like science reading. Maybe it is because I relate to him – any one interested in Siberia enough to write a long book about it is going to be easy to relate to for me. In any case, he writes the way I think that I would write, if I traveled Siberia and wrote about it.

“Beef in Siberian stores is gristly, tough, and expensive. Siberian dairy products, however, are cheap and good. The butter and ice cream of Siberia are the best I've tasted anywhere.”

“Geologists have always liked Siberia, especially in the eastern part, where a lot is going on with the earth.”

I. Frazier also has two books about traveling throughout the Great Plains, USA. A fan of human-deprived lands, I suppose.

I am reading another book as well.

Erogenous Zones: An Anthology of Sex Abroad by Lucretia Stewart. This is also an absolutely excellent non-fiction piece which is also not about science. This beautifully assembled anthology takes romance/sex out of various books/travel logs written by mostly white male Westerners and organizes them by continent. So, you have famous authors describing sex and romance abroad, really, is all. There are a few women writers, and a few queer ones as well. All in all, a lovely collection and of course, very interesting. 

This whole "not being in school" thing allows for all sorts of fun and worthwhile reads.