I both love the idea of reading great books and I enjoy reading great books. Oh, the other problem is that I read very slowly. The Lord of the Rings = 18 months. Crime and Punishement = 9 months. The Count of Monte Cristo = 4 months. Get the picture? And that's fiction.
Non-Fiction! Mercy! Here are the books I'm currently reading and some of them I've been reading for more than 3 years now. I really enjoy them, but there isn't a driving plot or characters to seize or mystery to solve or multiple layers to dissect. In order of when I first started them (note that one of them is fiction):
- Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara by Jorge G Castañeda
- The Silmarillion by J R R Tolkien
- An Autobiography by Mohandas K Gandhi
- Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky
- The Cross of Christ by John Stott
- Story by Robert McKee
So this morning, instead of editing some home movies all day (I did it for 30 minutes and quit) and instead of curling up with one of these six treasures, I decided to read a whole book in one day. I picked Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland*. I had read his Life after God and loved it. I lay down at around 8 AM and finished it around 5:30 with small breaks in between to play with Blaise. I was blown away. What a charging book about spirituality! I had to get off the couch and go to the bedroom when I finished so I could weep a little in private at the ending (until a little man began tugging at my pants). What beauty! Blaise and I stared at the rain outside for 10 minutes. I let the book just soak in. I can't wait to get into another one of Coupland's books.
*Douglas Coupland is a Canadian author who lives in Vancouver. He coined the phrase "Generation X."
7 comments:
I love a man who weeps.
I tried reading books...but they take too darn long to read!! Some of the books like are about history. Those I don't mind but haven't read one for ages. I need to get back to reading 360°C Leader. I'm feeling a little discouraged and it might help put me back in focus as to how to not be discouraged when what you are working on...isn't working because of some attitudes at work. Maybe its Big Stick time!! :-)
PS: We received the DVD but haven't watched it yet. Looking forward to being able to just sit down and watch it. Maybe I should do it tonight...
I love reading and can read very fast. Lord of the rings only takes me a few hours a book. (if I don't have people interrupting me). But I'm not good for reading the things I should and want to. I am slowly reading through The Desire of Ages. I love it when I'm reading it. It just takes me a while to pick it up again.
We also got the DVD. Jeff really liked it. He says he would have shown it at the church as a fundraiser for you, but since it has some swearing (one guy). He dicided he could not. But we are telling people about it.
I'm a voracious reader, but I have to make a concerted effort to read a novel or something else fictional every 3 months or so. Otherwise, it's magazines (Economist, Wired, MIT Technology Review, Ready Made, Make, Good Magazine), books on design, energy, renewables, economics and finance. The trouble is, I always have 6 or 7 things on the go at once. This often leads to false starts; I think I've started "The World is Flat" about 4 times, and I must start it yet again. :(
There is something to be said about being a good author. Most book out there aren't written well. Most of those books (excluding romance novels and trashy crime stuff) are textbooks (history/science) or religious books - both have a forced audience. Christians (and other religions too I imagine) feel compelled to read something religious, but most of the books are so badly written that finishing one of those books practically bruises your eyeballs. I think an great alternative is to read quality stuff and draw whatever truth there is from that.
This goes for movies too. Overtly Christian movies are like hypodermic needles in the face.
I usually don't have the time of day for most novels, but since college, I haven't been disappointed by fiction yet. Mind you reading 10 fiction books in 6 1/2 years isn't a great metre.
"360°C Leader" and "The World is Flat" eh? I've started Moby Dick seven times. Always ran out of gas in the hotel room where Ishmael meets that scary guy.
maybe I should read rather than peruse all these blogs.
currently I'm trying to read "Learning to Cheat," "Guide to Actionscript," "Three Weeks with my Brother," and my D200 manual,
I found "Life After God" on the book shelf and started it...really like his style of writing! Nothing like a good book...thanks for the tip!
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