2015: math learning and reading

These were years of intense math study and not much thinking about anything else (other than I got my degree in language teaching). I'm not very advanced in math but I feel I've learned a lot and I've developed an interest that wasn't always there. Recently I've started reading again like I used to (mostly fiction) and I've taken a few MOOCs as well -the one I'm currently taking is on learning how to learn. So I feel quite active mentally again.

I'm reading my first Umberto Eco book, El cementerio de Praga (Prague cemetery) and I'm really enjoying it. I don't always remember what's gone on very well because there's so many people involved but I enjoy it while I read it. The main character makes me chuckle with all his bigotry (which I feel is just a tease from Eco, it's all so exaggerated). One other thing I like about it is that there's one "big" mystery that encompasses all the book but there's a lot of action during the book so I want to get to the end to have the mystery revealed but while I get there it's very interesting.

I'm also reading "The Siege" by Helen Dunmore and I've actually stopped for a while because it got to be a bit too painful. It's about a family during the Leningrad siege and we're well into the winter now so food is scarce and it's very cold and there are bombings and fire. The characters are very human to me and maybe that's why I can't go on reading it for now as they're suffering so much.