The Reading Life...

I'm a reader. I love to read just about anything I come across. Every night I take time to read, just for pleasure. Not to learn, not to better my skills. Just to enjoy a good book.

Right now I am reading Everything That Rises Must Converge, one of three selections by Flannery O'Conner. This is a collection of tragic short stories, most dealing with eroding family relationships, race relations in the "new" South, and other equally compelling themes. I also recently read several thrillers by Charlotte Armstrong and have still more waiting their turn in my stack on the bedside table. I read God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, my first crack at Kurt Vonnegut, and enjoyed it. Then I began Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, which is written as a series of titled journal entries by "Jonah," who is attempting to write a book about what different Americans were doing the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I put that one down for a while.

This past year I also read Michael Crichton's Prey. I like the fact that he is a scientist-turned-writer. Makes his science-fiction (including Jurassic Park, Congo, The Andromeda Strain) seem all the more plausible and believable.

I read The Street Lawyer again. Great read. Also Skipping Christmas, an unexpected one from John Grisham. I read two books about bones: Stephen King's Bag of Bones, which I read half-way, then lost in our move, then found a year later in a box and finished. A bit long, I think; the second half much better than the first. The other is The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. This is the story of a 14-year-old girl who is murdered by a neighbor. Amazingly, it is not gruesome or even sad, really. It's touching, loving, and even humorous. Hard to explain, really, you'll just have to read it.

My very favorite book of the year (by far) was The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. What can I say about this book? The story is about two boys growing up in Afghanistan, but that only touches on what you will encounter in this book. This is one of those books that you hope will never end, and when it does, it stays with you long after you finish reading. It is one of those books that you want to read again, even if you never read a book twice. Many others were affected as I was by this remarkable story. You can read their reviews here. Whatever you do, please find, buy, or borrow a copy and read this book. I can hardly wait for Dr. Hosseini's next book, to be published later this year.

I had a neighbor back in California who said reading was a "waste of time."

What??!!

He might as well have said learning is a waste of time or BREATHING is a waste of time. I could only surmise that he couldn't read, and his remark was his feeble attempt to rationalize away his illiteracy. I can't even imagine a life without books.