How time flies by...

It seems like it was yesterday that I blogged about cha cha classes. It was yesterday that I came back exhausted from my cha cha class. And it was only yesterday that I was celebrating another weekend. Apparently.
I just finished reading 'Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre'. I loved it. It describes the development of a few puzzling concepts in science which were incredible when first proposed and is a treat for lovers of scientific history.
The one thing I absolutely love in a book is its ability to present itself as a conversation rather than a lecture and invoke some kind of thought process in my head. The two classic examples, and amongst the ones I often use as a benchmark for judging books I read are Organic Chemistry by Boyd and Inorganic Chemistry by J D Lee. These names might force you to label me as a maggu and I hotly dispute that, but let us keep that as a separate thread. These books are benchmarks because these are among the first few books I really loved reading.
Both these books have, in my opinion, set standards that have made me reject a lot of books. Sometimes, serious fiction might not suit the conversational style, but it often has. I loved reading Great Expectations and I still remember the feeling of being told a story when I read it. Then there are novels where you have to read and figure out the story. Almost invariably, I stop halfway through them - if at all I reach there.
I started reading Mother by Maxim Gorky. Serious literature. I picked it up, read the summary and liked two things - it was about a culture I know little about, so reading it would be like exploring a new place and Gorky is a name that has always intrigued me. He is reputed and I had read none of his books. A third of my way through the book, I gave up. It was way too taxing for me.
I have started reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Having read Fooled by Randomness and mildly agreeing with Taleb's argument, I do not find Gladwell's arguments very convincing. He does have a point when he talks about how we like or dislike a book in the first few sentences we read from it. Snap judgements they are. But they are as likely to be right as to be wrong - Halfway through Blink, for instance, I am not enthused to complete it. Definitely not when it competes with sleeping and cha cha for the very little free time I get. Contrast that with 'Weighing the soul' , which I used to read even at midnight out of curiosity.
I am thinking of watching X-Men 4 but I am not sure what to expect. Ladies go there with the allure of Jackman, but whats there in it for men except some fast paced action?