Some Quotes

It's been a while since I did some surfing for quotes. I ran across one the other day when researching something else that got me back on this track. So, let's get started.

Let me start with the one I found first. It tickled my imagination- and my reality. There are billions of people in the world that don't know I exist. That should make me feel humble. Instead it forces me to go looking for them.

I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them.
-Susan Sontag

This edgy, fun, late comedian pointed out that reality and illusion can keep us sane.

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them. -- Mitch Hedberg

What would a series of quotes be without good old Billy S. Jest is a way of adding a spoonful of sugar to what we don't want to hear.

In jest, there is truth. Shakespeare

Apropos of the recent Masters Golf Tournament, Bob Hope knew the importance of paying attention to the foursome behind you.

If I'm on the [golf] course and lightning starts, I get inside fast. If God wants to play through, let him.
-Bob Hope

Groucho is always good for an insight at how to be successful.

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
― Groucho Marx

And where there's Marx, there is also Lennon.

That's part of our policy, is not to be taken seriously, because I think our opposition, whoever they may be, in all their manifest forms, don't know how to handle humor.
-John Lennon

Finally, my personal motto on days like this.

[A] quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.
― A.A. Milne

My Reading List

Just kind of sitting around looking at nothing in particular as I was updating the old blog here. I looked over at the book list through this week. So far this year I am at 56 books, a little more than in the past, perhaps even in record territory. I am sure that part of that is because of my semi-retirement, a full month away in Alabama, and just generally working on the books. It is amazing how many excellent books are published each year.

One thing that struck me, though, was the split in the year between fiction and non-fiction. I have generally read more non-fiction than fiction over the years. There is so much of so great an interest in the world that I can hardly keep up. (Understatement!) But I also love fiction, the top-notch books that expand one's world through the imagination and writing of excellent writers. I also enjoy a good mystery, crime procedural and science fiction. If they are just plain entertainment- that's okay, although there is often a great deal of insight into the human condition in any good novel.

In any case I noticed that this year has an overwhelming difference between the two halves of the year so far. From January through June I read 12 novels of the 33 books read.

Since July 1, though, there are only 4 of the 23 that are novels- and I read those in the past month or six weeks. One thing I did notice overall is that I have been trying to pick up on some older and even classic novels like the Sound and the Fury, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I had promised myself that I would try to get to read some of these that I never read before. I have found that an excellent idea.

The list does not include any of the books I have been mining for the series on my Dad's time in World War II. I am not reading those cover-to-cover, but as I said, mining them for information. Some of them are truly deep mines!

I guess, then, that at least one of my goals for my move into retirement is working- I am reading more than ever. And there are so many more out there to go. It is a wondrous, never-ending stream of excitement, insight, life, and challenge!

Miscellaneous

1) Futbol!
Go Argentina! No reason other than to keep Latin America strong.

1b) George Vecsey's book Eight World Cups is a fun read and a good way to get initiated into the futbol culture. You will also find out how corrupt FIFA has been.

2) All-Star Game!
Fun begins today in Minneapolis. I'll be there on Tuesday- another bucket-list-type of event.
Go American League!

3) LeBron who?

4) I missed this on 7/1. We've been Midwesterners for 30 years! I don't miss much from the East Coast except the closeness of the ocean. Other than that, give me the more open horizons. (I guess the oceans are a really open horizon!)
On Wisconsin! Go Minnesota!

5) Bart Ehrman has a book to refute those (very few) writers who have tried to say that Jesus actually never existed in any way, shape or form. It is an interesting book, considering the subject is really kind of "Ho-hum!" in theological circles. Never thought that Jesus DIDN"T exist.

6) If you are already three years behind on your reading, why would you even stop in the library and only get out more books to push the old ones further back? I guess I am addicted to reading. One book is too many and a thousand never enough.

7) I am trying to kick up my exercise a notch or two this month. I am attempting to do some exercise every day in July. (One month at a time!) So far I have been 11 for 11. This includes biking outdoors, biking indoors, a group cycle class, a group Indo-row class, a Yoga session, a hike and a 3.5 mile walk. If you get the chance to find an Indo-row class- do it!

8) Surprise! The most difficult of all the above activities? Yoga. It just never stops. Quite a good workout. And it's good for the soul, too.

9) A two-week break from music performances. But then four in one week. It is a melodic summer!

Read These

Again I say:

So many books;
So little time.

But when I read truly remarkable books, I want to share. Two of these recently have been:

• A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash and
• The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf.

The first is in the mountains of western North Carolina, a remarkable story of faith lived and faith betrayed.

The second is on the plains of Colorado with a whole different set of images of land and inflection of language.

They both are books of their landscape while bringing us to perhaps see our own in new and deeper ways.

I find it amazing when the author is able to write in such a way as to allow me to hear the characters in their accent and not mine. They come alive in all their best- and worst.

As a writer, I can only marvel at the word- and world-making ability of these unique writers.

Reflecting on Reading

The Goldfinch (1654), by Carel Fabritius

Some books are beyond description. They start out with reality and simplicity. They are clearly a slice of life that you can appreciate. Then as you go along you realize you have been trapped, pulled into a web of wonder and fear, hope and desolation. In short, words have done their job.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is this year's Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction (as well as shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle and the Amazon Book of the Year.) It centers around a terrorist bombing, a young boy caught in the middle of it and a painting of a captured goldfinch, the painting here. It follows the boy, Theo Decker, over the next 12 years in a series of events and stories that keep you engaged and entranced. That is all I will say about the contents. If you are planning on reading it- do not, repeat DO NOT read the Wikipedia article on it.

It is, though, a book that celebrates the place of art in life and even in society. It is a celebration of the power of all kinds of artistic endeavors from the centerpiece painting to working with antique furniture and finally, the power of words. Books. Literature.

As a reader I was bowled over by the ease of the book but the incredible depth that each page brought to light. I would read past a phrase that was simple and yet wove a sense of place and person. I was carried along on waves of words crashing over me. Never a tsunami, but more like the consistent and refreshing presence of the tide at the shore. But then it would get roiled by the events, but never submerge you.

As a writer I was in awe- deep, unending awe of her imagination that came up with this incredible story and its never-ending detail, the ability to make it readable and her understanding of the human condition. That of course is a pretty good summary of all great literature. Donna Tartt does not come in second to any of the greats before her.

As an addiction counselor I was even more amazed by her ability to put into words the mind of an addict. She takes us into the harrowing place where life is at its rawest. You may not understand the actions of addicts any more clearly than before, but you will see the incredible way that alcoholics and addicts make sense to themselves.

This is a book of hope and life in the midst of what often looks hopeless and meaningless. It is about the power of art to bring redemption even when you don't know that this is what you are looking for.

It is a big book- 700+ pages. It is an even bigger book of ideas and character and writing. It is remarkable!

Scary? Huh?

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-Mark Twain