A great escape

I am moody. Sometimes I'm in the mood to read books, and sometimes in the mood to not read and just be entertained by television or something other than books. I love reading, and I read something every day, but sometimes books are just too demanding. I have time to read a newspaper, but when my life is so busy, to commit to a book takes some doing. I always have a pile of books by the bed, though, and there have been times when I've had three books going. I love escaping into a book for a while. It feels like I've traveled to some distant land, or even back in time. Books are a great escape for me.

Right now I'm in a reading mood, which means I'll probably blaze through a bunch of books within a few months.

I just updated my list on this blog because I finished "State of Wonder" quite some time ago. It was a great book, BTW. It had me thinking for at least a week after I finished it, and that is the sign of a good book for me. In fact, I thought of it yesterday.

In the book there is a group of women in the Amazon who continue to have children into later years, and a scientist is there studying this, and some other things. I thought of it out of the blue yesterday because I realized how difficult it would be for us to have children into our 60s and 70s and beyond. Our bones can become brittle. Carrying a baby would be such a strain on our bodies, not to mention a delivery. (It was a great book.)

Before I had even finished that book I was aware that I would want to be reading another one right away. I love the library, but I am terrible at getting books read before they are due. Plus I just always forget when they're due and I'm not good at keeping that little slip of paper that tells me when they're due. I've never in all these years come up with a good system for keeping track of library books.

So instead I went to the thrift store. I knew those books would be older ones, but like I said, I get in moods and out of moods. There are a million books out there that were popular within the past few years that I never got to read because I didn't have time, number one, and secondly, I wasn't in the mood.

I got a bag full of books for about $6. Yes. $6. Amazing. I'm reading a little paperback book right now called "To the Wedding," by John Berger. The writing style is totally different from any other books I've read. I usually read it late at night, and maybe that is why it has been a little confusing to me. It feels like it jumps from one voice to another and I have to take a moment to figure out who is speaking.

I've read so many good books. There are a few that I want to re-read they were so good.
Some of my favorites that come to mind, and these are just a few:

The Dao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
The Devil in the White City--soooo good. by Erik Larson
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler Ross
There are so many more. What are your favorite books? Do you have a reading list this summer?

Reading again

As my plane was landing in Atlanta I realized I absolutely needed another book. I had been reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, and finished it minutes before the plane landed. First stop is always the bathroom, but I knew I couldn't spend hours on a plane headed for San Francisco with nothing to do or read.

I had lugged The Help from home all the way to Tennessee and was hoping to finish it while I was there so I could leave it. I didn't get a lot of reading time. I thought of leaving it anyway and picking up a copy once I got back, but in the end I stuffed it in my carry-on bag and devoured the last 30 pages or so from Tri-Cities to Atlanta.

I was traveling alone, so the level of boredom was high. I guess I could have just as easily paid for a movie on the flight, but I knew that would only last for two hours max, and I had another 4 hours, plus a layover in San Francisco, plus that last leg of flight to Seattle.

I enjoy novels, but my reading moods come and go. My desire to read usually coincides with the amount of time I have to dedicate to a book. Sometimes I have one book on my nightstand, and other times I've had at least four, all with bookmarks sandwiched between the pages.

I bought "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett when I landed in Atlanta. I quickly found a kiosk with books and had to make a hasty choice as I was on a short layover and had to get to my gate.

"State of Wonder" had just arrived, the girl at the checkout stand said. She didn't know anything about it, but for me it was the most appealing of the small selection. I don't read vampire books, I wasn't in the mood for a biography, and I wanted something completely different from "The Help."

I'm mid-way through it.  So far I am enjoying the characters and can relate to the women in the book. It's about a scientist who is sent to get information about the ETA of a drug being developed by another scientist in the Amazon. The last guy the company sent down to get information ended up dead.

"The Help" was not what I would call great literature, but it was definitely a fun read. It was fast, and I liked the way the story was told. The voices of each character were so clear for me. I haven't seen the movie, and I'm not so sure I want to. I've got my own image of each of those women and I don't think Hollywood can do it justice.

Last night I watched Charlie Rose with Robert Caro. I was intrigued by his information about Lyndon B. Johnson, and I plan to read his series of books. It was fascinating to listen to him talk about his research for the latest book in the series, "Passage of Power."