Doing a bit of Reading

While Johannes has been gone I have had a lot of time to read in the evenings. Since the beginning of the year alone, I have read 17 books. The ones I have just finished are:

I love this book! I try to read it about once ever year or two. I am constantly amazed by how much more accurate it becomes every few years. Ray Bradbury is a master of Science Fiction. It was originally written as a short story in 1950, then fleshed out into a book in 1953, but it predicts things like TVs big enough to fill our walls, interactive "reality TV", devices that you can put in your ear and hear people far away talk to you (i think of the earpieces that people use with their cell phones, just bit smaller), cars that can easily speed by on freeways at 100 miles per hour,

and many others. It is also a good reminder to not get caught up in an entertainment driven lifestyle, and to keep a strong foothold in things which are lasting rather

than fleeting, and to stand up when things are going array before things get bad beyond repair.

My friend Sally gave me this book for my birthday 3 years ago, but somehow (probably due to a move) I misplaced it and never read it, until now. As the name implies it is a cautionary tale of the evils of vanity, as two friends spiral down into their own self-made demises due to pride and consumption.

I have been working my way through Tracy Chevallier's books lately. She is best known for her book "Girl with the Pearl Earring" based upon the painting by Johannes Vermeer. The first of her books that I read was called "Falling Angels" set in turn of the century London dealing with the women suffrage movement. I also recently read "The Lion and the Unicorn" based on a series of Belgian tapestries in the 17th century. This story is set in 18th century London and is based around the William Blake poem "Tyger, tyger burning bright". Right now I am only about 75 pages in to the book. Like Fahrenheit 451 it is one of my "gym books". Since I can no longer run, or even really use the elliptical machines, I just walk on the treadmill and read, so the reading goes a bit slower than if I sat down and read straight through, but it is considerably better for my backside to read and walk than just sit.

A friend of mine recently told me that Stephen King reads (or listens to on tape) about 60 books per year, so she is trying to keep up. For the last few years I have had a modest goal of 25 (2 per month plus the Book of Mormon), but I am trying to increase that number to closer to 40 for the year.

I have now read every book in my house, except a copy of "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck that a neighbor just gave me, and I probably won't read because I am not a fan. Steinbeck, Melville, and the Russians (Tolstoy, etc) are on my fairly short list of books I just plain refuse to read any more. So, I need some recommendations. If you have read anything good lately just leave me a note in the comments section of the blog; I could use some ideas.