Casting about.
I've started to wonder what to do with this here LiveJournal. As I get more involved with blogs and writing projects elsewhere, it gets harder to stay engaged with this one. Maybe I can only write about myself for so long before even I get bored with it. Or maybe I'm just spreading myself too thin. One thing I certainly want to do is keep track of the movies I see and the books I read throughout the year. Just so I can remind myself of what I've been doing with my time, reassure myself that as the weeks and months and years of my life go roaring by, I have been trying to expand my horizons...that I haven't been wasting all of my time in front of the television, jaw slackened.
I generally try to read a book a week, which is quite feasible given the hour-plus commute home each day (the commute to work is spent sleeping). So far, I'm running a bit behind, but it will even out somewhere.
1. Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane - I haven't seen the movie yet, nor have I seen Mystic River, based on another of his novels. We'll put those on the to-do list. Last year I read two others, A Drink Before the War and Darkness, Take My Hand. Lehane's Patrick Kenzie crime thrillers are entertaining, tense page-turners with a cast of colorful characters. I always appreciate books that actually make you want to read. Plus, with GBG I suspected one of the culprits halfway through the novel, which allowed me to feel smart even though the scope of the crime was beyond anything I'd expected.
2. The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell - This is, of course, a baseball book. It's the gripping nonfiction account of the 1920 pennant race between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, a contest that went right down to the final weekend but was marred by tragedy. In late August, the Yankees' Carl Mays accidentally hit the Indians' Ray Chapman in the head with a pitch and killed him (batting helmets had not yet been invented). The book deals with an emotionally charged event fairly and evenly, giving the rich back story of both Mays and Chapman. I'm a soft touch to be sure, but most people would probably get choked up while reading about the reactions of Chapman's teammates, opponents, fans, and of course his family to his untimely death. The fact that this book was first published in 1989 and is still in print speaks volumes about its quality.
3. The Long Pursuit by Roy Morris, Jr. - Plucked this one off the free table at work. It appealed to the US History buff in me; it's about Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas and their political duels. I haven't finished this one yet.
In the queue for the coming weeks are Game of Shadows (about Barry Bonds and the steroids he loved) and Mystic River, as well as What Has Science Ever Done for Us?, which is apparently some juxtaposition of science matters and the Simpsons. That one was a gift from Mikey, so its quality will determine whether he lives...or dies. Ooooooooo.
I generally try to read a book a week, which is quite feasible given the hour-plus commute home each day (the commute to work is spent sleeping). So far, I'm running a bit behind, but it will even out somewhere.
1. Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane - I haven't seen the movie yet, nor have I seen Mystic River, based on another of his novels. We'll put those on the to-do list. Last year I read two others, A Drink Before the War and Darkness, Take My Hand. Lehane's Patrick Kenzie crime thrillers are entertaining, tense page-turners with a cast of colorful characters. I always appreciate books that actually make you want to read. Plus, with GBG I suspected one of the culprits halfway through the novel, which allowed me to feel smart even though the scope of the crime was beyond anything I'd expected.
2. The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell - This is, of course, a baseball book. It's the gripping nonfiction account of the 1920 pennant race between the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, a contest that went right down to the final weekend but was marred by tragedy. In late August, the Yankees' Carl Mays accidentally hit the Indians' Ray Chapman in the head with a pitch and killed him (batting helmets had not yet been invented). The book deals with an emotionally charged event fairly and evenly, giving the rich back story of both Mays and Chapman. I'm a soft touch to be sure, but most people would probably get choked up while reading about the reactions of Chapman's teammates, opponents, fans, and of course his family to his untimely death. The fact that this book was first published in 1989 and is still in print speaks volumes about its quality.
3. The Long Pursuit by Roy Morris, Jr. - Plucked this one off the free table at work. It appealed to the US History buff in me; it's about Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas and their political duels. I haven't finished this one yet.
In the queue for the coming weeks are Game of Shadows (about Barry Bonds and the steroids he loved) and Mystic River, as well as What Has Science Ever Done for Us?, which is apparently some juxtaposition of science matters and the Simpsons. That one was a gift from Mikey, so its quality will determine whether he lives...or dies. Ooooooooo.