What are you reading?

the movie was great!

the sparks novel i read was about a guy from australia finding his way in north carolina as i recall. something about letters. there was a mailbox on the beach where people would put letters for anyone to read. it was an interesting story.
i like to read one of each of the very popular writers to see what the fuss is about, but i can't bring myself to invade mrs b's danielle steele collection.
i have started a geraldine brooks novel, only to realize it is remarkably similar to another of hers that i didn't care for.

 

Good, but not a barn burner. Perhaps a favorite of @tochatihu ?

 

I picked up Once Upon a Stump again, by Bill Thompson, interviews with Powell River (and vicinity) pioneers. Boy do we have it easy; that's all I can think.

Quote, from Mary Masales story:

He used to walk -- there used to be a trail -- from where we lived, in Southview (no longer exists), to work and home again. And he'd no sooner get home than he'd have to turn around and go back again. Oh, God! If the people of today had to do half of what the old-timers used to do, they wouldn't do it. The just wouldn't do it. But [in the early days] you had to make a living somehow. But we all survived. Dad lived to be a good age, and Mom lived to be a good age.

I've really got to get back into reading, spend too much time "online".

 

i've read a number of stories of how difficult things were in the past. of course, we're inoculated to the past from childhood and only see our own experiences.
that's why many cultures have worked hard at making sure the next generation understood their history.

 

Yep, the young'uns for the most part don't realize how easy they have it.

My father and his brother were "kicked out" of the house at ages 14 and 16 -- not because they were bad kids, but because the family could not support them, along with the other three kids. They made their way as itinerant farmworkers for a bit until they got "lucky" and got jobs as "whistle punks" at a logging camp.

Of course, my dad was born in 1906, things were different -- he also caught polio and managed to survive, although he did walk with a slight limp. He never held any grudge against his parents and stayed in-touch with them throughout. Indeed, when they were old and infirm, he took them into our house. My Swedish quickly got much better.

If anyone cares what a whistlepunk is:

Why is our newsletter called the Jerk Wire? - Whistle Punks

 

The Alchemist

 

read that a few years ago, very strange for all of the hype

 

was given to me many years ago with hype. very strange

 

(*sigh....*)

I may as well.....



I got the audio version because, like others and UNLIKE still others, JD narrated this book hisself - AND if I am accurately informed he got an Audie for it.
Not a particular fan of the author, BUT.......I always try to give people like him a chance to....'change my mind.'