How Many Books Can You Read at Once?

Different Titles, Different Themes

Reading is an activity that I enjoy. Books can take you places that you are not able to go to at this time, or places that are imaginary. Books can also take you to a deeper contemplating part of your soul, a way to grow as an individual. Here are some of the books that I am currently reading and why.

No Man is An Island by Thomas Merton

This book takes me deep into thinking and requires reading and re-reading of passages. It was suggested by a friend to read his works and this one requires solitude and quiet so as to ponder the writings.

Thomas Merton--A Life in Letters

I checked this book out from the library and find it an interesting way to learn of the mind of Thomas Merton through reading letters that he wrote. He was a Trappist Monk and did not travel much, except by way of his letters. I just read one where he answered a letter from a 6th grade student asking about monastic life. It was refreshing to see him converse with people from all walks of life.

The Wooden Man by Harry Connolly

This is a trilogy of fiction books by Harry Connolly. I bought into a Science Fiction book club and this was one of the featured selections (that I forgot to decline). I was going to mail it back and read the back cover. Ray Lilly is a character on the fringe of a secret magical society and a bit of a detective. Am reading the second book called 'Game of Changes'. Since I am bopping between various books, I often have to reread passages to remember the characters and the action that is going on.

Conan the Barbarian by Robert Howard

I always found the 'Conan' movies interesting and thought that I would read the original stories. These were originally published in the pulp fiction magazine called 'Weird Tales' in 1932. This book has put all the stories together in a chronological order. I started with 'The Hyborian Age', which is a background chapter. Too much background of the various fictional lands and people and not much action. Will get back to this book.

ReadMe by Neal Stephenson

Another Science Fiction book club book. I officially have not started reading this one. The book jacket description sounds interesting. This book is about 2 inches thick and not very portable.

Impact by Douglas Preston

Another science fiction book from the library. There is too much swear words in the dialog for my comfort level, so it is difficult for me to read this story of a asteroid impact on Earth.

Learning Perl

This is a technical computer book for me to learn another computer programming language. O'Reilly publisher has excellent books to learn different technologies, with many examples and practice exercises.

More Books!

I continue to look around the house and found a few more books that I am reading.

Star Trek, The Rings of Time

When I stopped at the library to pick up the Thomas Merton books, I browsed and found a fun Star Trek novel. I have been a fan of Star Trek for many years.

When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

My friend Jeff suggested that I read this book. I am overwhelmed with all the other books that I have in the reading queue.

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha

This is based on the Awesome things blog and many random thoughts of items that make you smile. I read portions of this book when I need to remember happy things and not brood over sad things. Neil's blog is on Wordpress, where my original blog is located.

I'm sure there are other books around here that I am in the middle of reading that I have not listed here. Happy reading everyone!

Here is The Start in the Middle

Where do I start?

Perhaps I should start at the beginning of my life. Maybe not. I was a baby and didn't know how to talk, read or write.

Should I start at elementary school and go forward? I don't think so. I am not one of those people with a bionic memory of everything in my life. I have bits and pieces from that era, but couldn't tell you my different teachers' names.

The best place and time to start is now. When the bits and pieces come to mind, I will share them on this blog. I happen to be unemployed and have been this way for more than 6 months. (Oh No! Not one of those lazy people!) Six months and two days ago, I became a grandmother. This was easy work for me as my daughter and son-in-law did all the hard work. Cecelia and Kevin allowed me to be with them at the birth of Leona. I didn't think I would be able to handle being there with all the blood and guts. Just because you are a Mom, doesn't automatically make you a great nurse or caregiver and I normally can't handle anything gory. Guess what? There wasn't much gore or blood and guts.

At this point in my life, I help my daughter with Leona and do some of the things with them that I didn't do when she was young because I was too busy 'working'