I've been reading a lot of books about economics lately. The Coming Generational Storm, "Manias, Panics and Crashes," One Market Under God, The Fragile Middle Class, The Consumer's Republic...

It's hard to tell what people do with their time actually aside from work and shop. I suppose what I like about these books is that they explain so much of what we do with our time. It's only when you're a student that you won't be caught up in the endless cycle of getting and giving up money.

One of my pet peeves with contemporary fiction is that the characters don't think about ordinary things. They have no credit card bills. They don't worry about how to feed their families. They don't stick with boring jobs because they have kids. They get divorced only for meaningful reasons rather than because they're fighting over the bills.

Which is maybe part of the American unwillingness to deal with class. Fictional characters live in a classless workless world.

Anyways, I think I'm about done with this economics jag for now. I've read everything good I can find, unless anybody has any suggestions?