I've been a slightly less than proficient blogger these past days, and for that I do apologize.Hopefully, I have a valid set of excuses...the least of which isn't my reading list.
I have (and I truly mean this literally) a stack up to my kneecaps of books that are just demanding my attention.
Shall I list them?
Oh, alright...just because you asked!
"The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History" - Stephen Jay Gould
"War" - Gwynne Dyer (I'm right in the middle of this book and I'm finding it very well written and very interesting. Mr. Dyer doesn't seem to be overly fond of war, nor does he argue against it; instead, he offers an intriguing history of why war exists today in the manner that it does.)
"Night Watch" - Sergei Lukyanenko
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" - Jared Diamond (I read one of his other books, "Collapse", and it was riveting. He has an ability to take a subject and paint it in such a manner that even the layperson can relate to and understand the concepts and principles in an informed and intelligent manner.)
"The Kingdom of the Cults" - Walter Martin
"Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths" - Karen Armstrong
"Time Lord" - Clark Blaise (This looks very intriguing! All about a Candian who came up with the concept of universal time zones back in 1884.)
"The Perfect Heresy" - Stephen O'Shea
"Dinosaur in a Haystack" - Stephen Jay Gould
"Steal This Book" - Abbie Hoffman (I read this when I was about 16. I probably shouldn't have. I suspect it's worth reading again just because I am twice that age now!)
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" - Bill Bryson (Bill Bryson. What can one say. He's funny, entertaining, intelligent, substantial and informed. He writes great books.)
"Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology" - Kenneth L. Feder
"The Head of God: The Lost Treasures of the Templars" - Keith Laidler
"House of Stairs" - William Sleator (This is another book I read when I was in my mid-teens. I remember it as being rather 'anti-teen'. While the premise is not really plausible, it seemed terribly disturbing given how I felt about adults at the time!)
"On the Take: Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years" - Stevie Cameron (Who doesn't love a little Canadian muckraking now and then!)
Most of these books I borrowed from my dad.
He has a huge and varied collection of books; I rather suspect that he would like me to read them all in one go!
When I visit, we sit and talk for hours over several cups of (very) strong coffee and watch the Chickadees
and Stellar Jays at his bird feeder vying for the peanut butter he's scraped into the cut away bottom of a milk container.As the afternoon/evening winds on, and the more topics we discuss, the bigger the stack of reference books grows in front of me.
In the end, I generally have 20 or more books to choose from and I must restrain myself.
My car can only sustain so much extra weight, and hardcover books are very heavy.
These kind of afternoons are good.
The last time I was there, the snow was drifting down past the kitchen window; I could hear the church bells ringing from a few blocks away, all clouded and dense sounding because of the heavy snow dampening the air.
My dad turned the front burner of the stove on and stood warming his hands as we discussed modern political agendas and viewed pictures of the skulls of caribou, moose and deer whose antlers clashed together in an unrelenting tangle until death.
Whatever our discusion, there are books to be had. I think we each find comfort in the conversation and the fact that we have our books to back us up and fortify us.
So that's where I am.
My stack of books calls.
23 comments:
And your stack of books is so large, that it extends as far as my kitchen table..... I am terrified to put anything near your father's copy of Ockham's Razor, lest I get the smallest drop of coffee on its pages, so the kitchen table is now OFF LIMITS to any foodstuffs.
I suppose it would be easier to just move the book, wouldn't it.....
PS Ask Ian about Bill Bryson, if he hasn't told you already. :)
I haven't read that many books in my life. I have such a hard time picking them out. I'm afraid I won't like it and it'll turn out to be a waste of money. Maybe I'll look into one of the ones you have listed. They sound interesting, at least!
A great stack, my dear. Gould is always worthy reading. Gwynne Dyer was one of my journalistic heroes for some time. I didn't always agree with him, but that's what column writing is all about. He spoke in Courtenay a few years ago and I went out for it and actually got to chat for quite a while with a person 'icon' (God, I hate that overused word but somehow it seemed appropriate). Anyway, talk to you soon and may 2007 be blessed for you.
Ian
Oh what a wonderful stack!
I'm going to have to make a virtual stack of all the ones
I've yet to read so I don't miss
out!
Our Chickadees in Williams Lake
are so tame,they're pracically pets. I have no clue why they're so
trusting but I enjoy the cute little buggers.
Chick-a-dee-dee-dee
I'm in the exact smae kind of place right now. Over Christmas and my birthday, I was generously given many gifts that were made up, at least in part, of books. I, too, have a varied reading list ahead of me in the next few weeks, but you know what? I love it!
Wow. You never cease to amaze me. You are a true bookworm.
Interesting choices. I just ranted on my blog about bookstores sucking these days, but if your Dad has his own stash, well...
Looks like your on the general tangent of roots and origins...Any particular, reason, or is that just how you start off the year?
Cheers and Happy New Year...
you ARE stacked, my dear!
and the book selection is nice too.
Tai, I read the Abbie Hoffman book about a million years ago. I loved it. I am still trying to get to the books I received for Christmas. I might have to play hooky for a few days.
You have an interesting list of books. I can't read fiction anymore, for some strange reason.
Josie
I read Nightwatch a couple of months ago. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I enjoyed it.
Totally with you on the reading. I've ordered a ton of books from half.com and I'm slowing working my way through them. Love it!!
well..there is worse places you could be...right ? happy new year to you :)
Interesting selection you have there! You must post your reactions once you've gone through them, I'm interested to learn what you think of each of them. And that's a great image of the Chickadee - I just love those little guys!!
I've always said that if I ever won a huge lottery jackpot I'd buy a bookstore and just start reading. I just finished the Bryson book. It was very good, although now I'm afraid of meteors, comets and volcanoes.
Hi Tai
My father is the same way, always stacks of books everywhere, and 9 of them being read at once. They say we become like our parents, and in this way, it's not something I mind at all. My only complaint is "so many books, so little time"...
I just finished another book of Gwynne Dyer's called "With Every Mistake" which was a compilation of his columns from the last five years mostly on international political themes (and the things that went wrong with them). Really interesting material. He's a good journalist.
And as you know (having just returned them to you) I reread both Abbie Hoffman's book (yeah, let's start a commune, man!) and also Sleator's House of Stairs, which was one of those disturbing books I refer to as "formative" in how how I regard the idea of government secret-weapon conspiracy theories.
Seems our reading has papallels lately. But I've also got a stack next to my bed of books that are Completely Different. I'll probably have to make a post of my own reading list at some point. :)
You know, I probably meant to say "parallels" there. :)tqna
Report back on the Jerusalem book. I am particularly interested in that.
Wow a wonderful stack of books. Mine is a stack from Christmas Gifts people got me. I've already absorbed the two post secret books. Those are great because you can always go back and see something missed the first time or two around.
I'd love to share books with my parents, but they would throw holy water at me if they read just one or two of my favorites.
Of everything that I had no say over when my dad died, the one thing I INSISTED upon was that his books be shipped to me. I may never have the chance to read all of them ~ the man had a full library! ~ but the joy of the opportunity to do so is enough.
Your lack of blogging is clearly for a good cause. :) Enjoy your reading and may it not be just a phase!
Love that beautiful finch there x
I have a perpetual heap of books. I haven't read any of those, but they sound really good...I want to hear how they turn out!
I am fascinated by the range of what you read, Tai. A quote I came acorss recently, by some Roman or other, I believe, applies to you:
"In order to be universally interesting, you must be universally interested."
Happy reading, hun.
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