Crows Over the Wheatfield--#52 finished

This is a very good book about an Art Historian who on the way home from work strikes & kills a teenager on a skate board that darts out in front of her. The author goes between her current life and the life of Van Gogh who she is researching for a book particularly the last few months of his life before he commits suicide. Claire the art historian, is also separated from her husband Richard, but because of this accident he has to return to her life. While everything is going on, their relationship is in the background redeveloping to where there is a renewal for them.

While it is a shorter book, only 278 pages, it is also complex in that several things are being touched on. I also really enjoyed that it is a realistic type book, no where did it get the sense of something just sort of being thrown out there, well maybe some of her Van Gogh research stuff but as far as characters go, very realistic. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book, I had been meaning to read it because it was on a couple of WL, but didn't know much about the book. Adam Braver is an author that I will have to try to remember and check out some of his other books as well.

I have posted it for WL on PBS and now just waiting for it to be accepted. I already have 2 other books to mail out this week so figured might as well add a 3rd.

Johnny Cash--#51 finished

This is Johnny Cash's autobiography. I saw his movie, Walk the Line and both myself & Debbie really liked it. We have been listening to a CD of his for several years now also. I have also caught some old TV footage of his Folsom Prison Blues and other concerts. I really enjoyed reading this book also, lots of insights into his life. While the movie was very good and entertaining, a movie will never come close to providing all the information a book does. Johnny Cash certainly lived an interesting life and while this book doesn't attempt to answer everything about his life, it gives the reader an idea of his remarkable life.

Things the movie didn't get into that I really liked was the different houses he owns. Also the whole timeline of how things happened seems like the movie took a few liberties there. The connections to the many people in country music and music in general also. Of course the movie basically ended in the late 1960s so some of this just couldn't be covered.

Like I said I really enjoyed this book. I have posted it on PBS. Right now there are a couple of other copies on the system but it seems like this book has been moving some so it might be getting mailed in a few months or could be longer but I expect it to move at some point.

Wrong on Race--#50 finished

Bruce Bartlett a former advisor to Reagan and the first George Bush wrote Wrong on Race to show the racist history of the Democratic Party. It is a very interesting read and introduces quite a few political characters that I had not heard of previously. I thought the book was very effective at showing the Democratic Party's history of slave owners to KKK to Jim Crow laws to plan old white supremacists through time. The book though was weak on explaining why blacks now favor the Democratic Party, when was the real break and why.

I remember one sentence to the effect of Goldwater was against the Civil Rights Act for political reasons, but really it seems that from that point onward the Republican Party had little support from black voters. Was Goldwater's position and LBJ's Great Society together enough to make Republicans also rans in attempting to get black voters. Bartlett also mentioned though that the Republicans took black voters for granted to some degree and didn't push for legislation that they favored. This contradicts his earlier credit he gave Ike for his Civil Rights bills and for several attempts at anti-lynching bills that were filibustered under FDR and earlier presidents.

So overall a good and interesting read especially with the very racist characters that played a pretty large part in our country's politics. Not so great about explaining todays issues and concerns and the whys of black voters. Also the elephant in the room is there is no mention of Barak Obama, not that there really would have been with the book being published in Jan of '08, Obama was at time being written just a candidate who was lagging behind Hillary Clinton. It is unfortunate though because I think the election of Obama changes or would certainly influence the conclusions Bartlett has at the end of the book. I guess I should look to see what else he has written lately to see if anything of this most recent election has been addressed elsewhere.

This is a WL book on PBS by only 3 people but it has been steady at 3 for quite some time. I wanted to get it read so it could get mailed while it was still on some WL. I guess I should also mention that this is my 50th book read so far this year. As I have mentioned earlier it really is shocking to me that I have finished so many books already. Again credit goes in large part to reading several(2, 3 or even 4) books at one time, instead of as in past plodding along with only 1 book at a time. I really don't know what that end number will be for this year, but I will just keep at it.

2 Things Today

Just a couple of things today.

First, I did get a run in today of 4 miles. First mile around 11:55, then 12:44 & 12:44 and finally a 12:12. So actually pretty happy with those times considering my running has only been spotty. Was only thinking about doing 2 or 3 miles but extended myself to 4 so all is good.

Second, a library near me had a book sale going on today. I ended up bringing home around 22 books for $11. Even though I know they want to sell these and make room for others, it still feels almost like stealing some of these. Not all 22 are on WL but about 1/2 are and several more only have one or two copies on the system so I should be able to move the majority at some point.

Child 44--#49 finished

A very good & interesting book. It is about a serial killer in the old USSR in the years after WWII under Stalin. How the killer acted without anyone knowing since local officials solved the cases ASAP so they would not been looked at too closely even if the wrong person was convicted. Also some good insights on just the insanity of the time for the people there, it really was a scary time and place to be.

The main character Leo went through several obstacles and setbacks in his life & investigation of these murders but also received some revelations that let the reader believe he will lead a better life. The turn at the end was it was actually Leo's brother that was committing the murders as a way to bring his brother back to him. The brothers were separated during a time when everyone was starving, Leo was kidnapped for food but ended up replacing the child the other family was trying to save. Leo was raised by this new family and became a star of the USSR in WWII and afterwards in the Secret Police.

Andrei, the brother left behind, was clumsy and could hardly see. His mother blamed him for his brother leaving them, Pavel(Leo's real name) was his mothers favorite. Eventually Andrei somehow survived the winter and received glasses so he wasn't the clumsy kid of youth. He obviously had several issues and turned to killing kids and butchering them as a way to lure his brother in. Not sure that I really believe this, but since Andrei was in a very real sense insane, I guess I can see how he might have believed this.

Like I said a good book and very interesting stuff going along with the main story line as well. It is a WL book on PBS so I should be mailing it off in the next few days as well.

Birthday, yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday, 40. It is kind of funny because I still think it is not that big of a deal but it does make you reflect a little. I think I am in the ballpark at least of 1/2 done, in other words 80 is probably pretty close to my ending age if I even get that far. So half of my life is lived. Also my thoughts were on how I don't really feel older, I still stay up too late, but get to work and function the next day. I still eat too much of stuff I shouldn't but have cut down on the fatty fast foods a lot also. I guess I don't know, I don't see where this birthday is really any different than the last few that I have had but I guess they are adding up.

We went out to eat last night to a decent little restaurant that advertised kids eat free on Tues & Wed. I kind of figured this encourages families and would also discourage those that don't want to be around families. It was a busy night at the restaurant so it took quite a while to get our orders in and wait for the food. The kids of course were okay at the beginning but got worse over time.

Once the food got there the worst happened, Angie touched something hot that Debbie had and Angie screamed for 30-45 seconds. Not too good inside a small restaurant. Thomas was making noise throughout the night, we are kind of used to his background noise but come to think of it later, the other diners probably were not. Oh well, it was a good attempt and the food was good. It will be sometime before that is attempted again and probably not at that restaurant, will need to find something a little more open maybe, who knows but more thought will have to go into it.

3.5 miles

Well I got a run in tonight. It was while Rose had VB practice. I found a park & did a few laps with quite a few other people. It was around the parking lot/drive in the park, there wasn't a path just for runners/walkers/bikers, oh well like I said there were quite a few others there also. It was an okay run, something like 13:05 first mile, 12:48 2nd mile, 11:50 3rd mile and around 12:30 for the last 1/2 mile. Nothing great but since I hadn't done anything since Saturday I will take it.