Recent Reading

I've decided to make a record of my reading.  I know that I like to know what books others find engaging, just in case I every need an idea for a book to read.

I will forewarn you that my reading is rather random.  Our library has this great section the call "Explore More"
"Explore .." is all new books (hence no smoker smell) and they are paper back editions of books that have had good reviews (hence no pulp fiction)  I never know what will be on that shelf, but it is a little bit like browsing a small book store.  Occasionally I find a book not to my taste, inspite of it's initial appeal, but I don't have to keep reading it.

Recently from the "Explore More" collection I read "The Blue Zone" - by Dan Buettner about extreme longevity and the practices that seem to contribute to it.  OK I'm never going to do some of those things - and am not sure that I want to live to be 105, but I am starting to drink more water and eat more nuts and get a little bit more exercise.

The second book from "Explore More" is titled "Islands Apart" by Ken McAlpine.   It is the musing of a man who spent a week camping on each of the channel islands of the coast of California.  Alternating chapters are about trying to find and understand how people find that kind of peace in other places.  He spent time in a monastery, a homeless lunch shelter, a monument to soldiers dying in war,with street performers, and at a preschool.   Some charm to his descriptions of the solitude of the islands and perhaps more insight into how people cope with the conflicts of life in other settings. His concluding sentence is, "the world comes in every hue and we are fortunate to dwell in them all."

I often will find an author that I like and try to read everything the library has that they have written.  I have loved reading Malcom Gladwell, Tracy Kidder, Michael Pollan, Tony Hillerman, Orson Scott Card, Ellis Peters....  Recently David brought home a couple of Card books that we haven't previously read.

"Ender in Exile"  fills in the gaps in the Ender series.  Card has become a better writer over the years.  The characters are better revealed than in the earlier novels.  I love that he has taken a series and retold it from the vantage point of some of the other characters.  Ender is the focal point of this book.  I can't think that there were any great new story lines, just some connections and exposition to exisitng characters.  We see the beginning of the his quest to find a place for the hive.

David also brought home another Card title, "Stonefather."  a charming story set again in a world where people have gifts and talents that are foreign to our world.  A world where your affinity with water or stone rules how and where and with whom you live.  The main character seems to not fit in the world into which he was born and only finds his hidden talent when he leaves home and finds himself in a new setting where his talent comes to light and to good use.  So many of Cards stories are tales of children with impressive talents.  I wonder if he is exploring this theme because of his own development as a writer or recognizes that perhaps all of us have talents, gifts and abilities we do not ever realize we have.  Perhaps there is no "ordinary"

I'd love to hear what you are reading.

Now that I have finished my stack, I can get my library privileges restored and get another load of books.  I wonder what is on the "Explore More" shelves today.