March Reads

Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Everyone in the known world has apparently read this book by now so i figured I should give it a shot. There has been so much hype over this book amongst the common known world that I had very high expectations. I guess I walked away just thinking, "that was pretty good." I think I'm just tired of memoirs. It's like reading a dirtier version of chicken soup for the soul at points with it's heart warming moments and sentimentality (i guess that mostly makes up these kind of memoirs!); but there are also great moments and great stories of her story. I guess it got kind of tiresome because these type of spiritual memoirs just doing feel like they are going anywhere a lot of the time. It's some cutesy, cleverly worded thoughts now and again and then that's it. I appreciate some of the questions which she raised in the book and I honestly did enjoy reading it but still just walked away with a "ah, it was okay" kind of feeling about it.



The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
Very short story about a mad scientist sort who figured out a way to make himself invisible thinking it would give him an advantage over all mankind. Little did he realize that being naked all the time outside is cold and not eating so you can retain your invisibility is difficult. Being invisible doesn't turn out to be all that he thought it would be and ends up going off the deep end. Great story! Very thought provoking and entertaining. Did they ever make a movie of this???

You; The Owner's Manual - by a few Doctors

I can't remember where I first heard of this book but I saw it once again at the Bodies Exhibit at the Mosi in Tampa and looked through it and talked my mom into buying it for me while she was visiting. I have zipped through it in the last 6 days because it was so interesting. I am intrigued by how the body works and what keeps it functioning well. It was a great beginning guide to how your body works and what goes wrong with time and how you can keep your body as young as possible. The best thing about this book is that they don't really try to sell you any kind of plan or anything, it's practical information that you can use as well as a diet that fulfills this plan in the back of the book with recipes. It was a very interesting read and if you want to keep your body running for as long a time as possible, i suggest you pick it up.


The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

Kind of got in an H.G. Wells kick while we were on our trip to the Northwest. Another fascinating fantasy of a man who builds a time machine hoping that he can go into the future to find answers for humanities problems but instead finds out the horrifying truth! The future is a horrible, awful place where two kinds of species are battling it out with no hope of long term survival! This is another short story you should take the time to read, if you haven't already!




Books on tap for April:
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Seven Storey Mountain - Thomas Merton
Practicioners: Voices within the Emergent Movement - Russinger
And hopefully I will finish up reading Great Expectations! That book has given me more trouble than any book I've ever read! Is this not the hardest book to read in the universe??? It's driving me mad!