Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Books

I've been reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, which was loaned to us, since...well over a month now. It's slow going for me, mostly because it's non-fiction; I have to read non-fiction books at a slow, methodical pace if there is any hope of it soaking into my brain (I HATED all the reading that came with college). It's interesting though, and I've chuckled at some of the mentions of Illinois...it has me wondering what other Presidential authors I should check out as well - I've read Faith of My Fathers by John McCain (which was a quicker read than the Obama book). I noticed at that Amazon link The Audacity of Hope is available on audio...maybe I should see if our library system has it...I wonder if I'd be able to pay attention or if I would zone out?

I have a mind for fiction, apparently.

I've also been listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I've read all seven Harry Potter books, and this is my first time through listening to them (we listened to the first on the way to Texas last summer, and the second on our trip to Quincy last fall). E1 finished the seventh book last month, and E2 is currently reading the third book, and keeps asking questions about this book when she's in the van with me. She's seen the movie, so she has an idea of what happens, but having read the first two books she also knows there is A LOT more going on in the books. I fear that I need to hold off on listening to the next book until she's caught up...or at least has seen that movie. She LOVES listening to the books, especially on gymnastics nights when we listen round-trip. E3 is a fan too. Of course, I defy any of you to listen to the magic of Jim Dale reading a Harry Potter book to NOT enjoy it. He's truly brilliant.

The last thing I've been reading is The Digital Photography Book . I set out to get a For Dummies book about digital SLR photography, but the bookstore was out of them. I pulled three books off the shelf to see if they were something I'd like and this one definitely was. The other two spent a lot of time covering how to choose a digital camera, whereas this one is all about photography. Author Scott Kelby strives to approach his readers from the 'pals on a photo shoot' perspective, which to me seems much less overwhelming than many books. It helps that he is unashamed of his dorky sense of humor too.

It's unusual for me not to have a fiction book in progress, but I think the Harry Potter book is filling that need right now. I'm considering pulling some of the junior fiction off the shelf and revisiting books from my childhood. Maybe I'll start with From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

5 comments:

Robo said...

If you like fiction so much you should start listening when I'm talking to you. You know you'll get all you can handle.

Glenda said...

"I have a mind for fiction, apparently." -- Same here! I do read a good bit of nonfiction, but it's slow going because I have to read slow in order to keep my brain focused on what I'm reading.

I do okay with audio books only if I listen while I'm stitching or otherwise puttering around. If Barack Obama does the audio book himself, I bet it would be a good listen.

Yes, Jim Dale is THE BEST audio book reader I've heard thus far. We've been listening and relistening to the HP books pretty consistently for a couple years now, and they never get old. I finally realized last year that I had no interest in rereading the books because the audio books are so enjoyable to listen to.

Did you end up reading the Myron Bolitar series? I appreciate you passing that recommendation along from Rob, because I've loved that series. We only found one of the books on audio, but Rodney enjoyed it.

Anonymous said...

Glenda....I LOVE the Myron series! I happened to stumble upon Harlan Coban and he can't write books fast enough for me.

Nancy's sister-in-law,
Christine

Glenda said...

Christine, I like most of his stuff too, but the Myron series is my favorite -- Myron's a gem of a main character, and Win is interesting too (in a scary way).

If you like who-dunnits, my hubby turned me on to the author Lee Childs and his Jack Reacher series. I'm only on book 1 (Killing Floor) and it's pretty interesting, but it's quite gory in parts. If you've ever read the Lincoln Rhyme series (The Bone Collector and other books), which can be pretty gory, I'm finding this particular Jack Reacher book to be at least as gory, if not a little more so. Not so much that I'm turned off the book, but when I read at bedtime I just skim the parts that give me the heebies. I'm hoping the other books in the series are less gory!

Anonymous said...

Glenda - Myron is great! I love his sarcasm. I agree about Win too. There's just something about him. I haven't heard of Lee Childs, but I'll have to check him out. I just finished reading the first 7 books of James Patterson's number series. There's pretty a good who-dunnit series too.

Christine