Skip to main content

Confession is good for the soul...

I have mentioned before that I love to read.

I am not particularly choosy about books - if it can keep my interest, I will read it. And I am not really into taking books apart for how noir the detective story is, how accurate the history is, or how the various fantasy creatures control elements in their world. I am willing to suspend my perceptions of reality, time, space, natural physical needs like food or bathroom trips, etc. When I read a book, I become so into the book that I am unable often to think of anything else, hear things asked of me, or other usual things like hygiene or food.

Dick Francis does this for me.

He's total book candy. He writes about horses and horse racing, things I know nothing about except what I've read in his books - so I actually know a surprising amount. Like the fact that you can't detect unusual amounts of adrenaline in horses - at least not in normal drug testing they don't check for that.

I've said that I don't dissect these kinds of books. That's no fun. Pedantry is something that intellectuals engage in to satisfy their own need to be superior. I have no such need. I don't even know if Mr. Francis is a good author to the world - he must be fairly decent - he keeps getting published. He's written a million books and I hope he writes a million more.

James Michener, on the other hand, is not book candy.

He writes books that are like Ben Hur - hours (or weeks of reading) long and very thorough and satisfying. You don't pick up a Michener novel casually - you become a part of it. It's almost a textbook - encyclopedic and instructional - yet entertaining and engaging. Much of what he writes is from his thorough research into the subject areas/people he writes about. I find his stuff very satisfying also, and when I put down one of his books I feel as if I had been somewhere...

I used to read others quite a bit - Stephen King freaks me out; Tom Clancy appeals to my manly side... Others are like old friends - Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance series, etc.

Just a random thought for the day...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ephesus

Paul got around. Ephesus is right on the Aegean Sea, on the coast of present-day Turkey. Yesterday he was in Galatia, which was much more towards the middle of Turkey. And when he actually wrote these letters, he was in Rome... So the man could travel. He probably walked. Today's item of interest comes from chapter one in Ephesians. Verses 18 and 19 are particularly interesting: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power This is not the first time Paul talks about an inheritance. In Galatians he talks about the inheritance that comes of being part of the Abrahamic Covenant. He notes that we are joint-heirs through and with Christ. In Ephesians, he uses the word "adoption" - that we are adopted as the Children of Jesus Chris...
7 comments
Read more

Engaged

Three Dog Night got it wrong.  One is not the loneliest number. They were more accurate when they said Two can be as bad as one.  I really wonder how people can survive Without being fully engaged. How they live through each day Without the intimacy I so very much crave... Maybe I am unusual in my desire  To have this intimacy, To want to feel that soul So close to my own Sharing light and warmth, Sharing love and passion, Sharing life. Alas! Alas! Alas! For when I do seek to share It is often only to be rebuffed Denied Or used up, Sucked dry, And left an empty husk.  I want SO MUCH to share And all I have is the cold, digital world Of typing out a blog.
12 comments
Read more

The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing. I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent. So I read this article this morning: h...
Post a Comment
Read more