So...Wha' Chyall Reading?

Me, I've been reading lots of street signs and addresses. I had a 2 1/2 day gig delivering phone books in Venice. It sounds a little more glamorous than it was. Really.

Thanks for joining, now tell me what you're reading. If you feel like it, you can tell me what you think of it, too. Or not.

My favorite book so far for 2008....

If you like the sound of words in your head, or thinking about things that are the same and not the same, this is the book for you.
Another great thing about this book is that the synonyms and antonyms are instant. It is also a great way to learn new words and remember old favorites. I will have to warn that sometimes there are no antonyms listed for certain words, quixotic for example, now it seems like it would not be too hard to list some antonyms for this little charmer of a word. Also sometimes it seems like they are really reaching with some of the synonyms. Those criticisms aside, it is a lovely book. If you don't have access to a copy feel free to visit it at
http://instantsynonymsandantonyms.blogspot.com

Those were the salad days....

for a couple years I managed a shoe department at a Steinmart in Lincoln, NE. This job had alot of benefits. Because I worked for the shoe company that rented the space from Steinmart, I had no supervision. It was a boring job, the store was slow(it ended up closing down), but as long as no one complained about me or my lovely staff of high school girls, I was able to often use my time quite creatively. Perhaps you are asking yourself.."OK, what does that have to do with books and the reading of them?" Well, I am getting to that. What that meant for me most days was that I stood at my shoe department counter, and I read. some times I read a book a day. I read a book called The Devil and Sonny Liston,(a book that I will review here on Boomer's Booklist) which rekindled my love of Ali, so then I read every Ali biography the Lincoln public library had. I read a book on girl's high school basketball on a Crow reservation. I read several books on Elvis Presley, I was mostly into non-fiction then. I read so much stuff, I can't even remember all the stuff I read. All I know if for 2 years I was making $10 an hour to read. That was pretty sweet.

Twardowski

I'm looking for a folk tale I read years ago about a character named Twardowski or something like that. It was supposed to be a folk tale from Poland. I loved the story, and would like to read it again. Any help in finding it would be appreciated.

I found lots of stuff on Pan Twardowski and the devil online so I think that was his name except Pan Twardowski was a character in literature. I see no reference to Twardowski and folk tales online.

Twardowski in the story was a trickster like Jack. The story I'm looking for was about Twardowski falling into hell and being forced to work for the devil. The devil put iron shoes on Twardowski so he could not escape. Judas was in a special place in hell, and Twardowski was ordered to beat Judas with an iron rod. If he failed to beat Judas, the devil was going to beat Twardowski. The story ended when Twardowski showed mercy to Judas, and Judas used his long finger nails to rip through the iron shoes that held Twardowski in hell.

I would love to read this story again. Has anyone ever heard of this story or know where I can find it?

Boomer's Booklist Expands to Include the Things Her Friends Read

I have an idea. How about if some of my friends write a little something about what they're reading? I just sent out some invitations to people I know read. I won't be offended if you'd rather not be a writer for this blog; you can still comment. And don't forget, Sassmaster already does this on her blog. Just follow the listed link to find her reviewss. If you think you'd like to contribute, let me know and I'll send you an invite. If you have accepted an invitation, you now can invite whomever you would like.

What Was That Again?

I'm reading/studying Somatics by Thomas Hannah. This morning I covered the section on aging and the loss (or not) of mental capacities. In some ways the basic message is the same: "Use it or lose it." The thing I found interesting was that a couple of long term studies indicate some people continue to gain in mental capacity as they age.

I know very well that I'm not nearly as smart as I used to be. I also know very well that I have not been "using" what I did have these many years. Is it too late to redirect this trend? And what, pray tell, would be the best method in which to work this brain of mine?

Love, War, Despair, Redemption and the Wild Beauty of Life

It is rare that I read a book more than once, but my third book of 2008 was just such a happy accident. Halfway through the first page I realized that the characters seemed awfully familiar. Jarring the memories loose, I remembered A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin in a stack of library books in the room across from the bathroom in Hermosa. This places the time of reading at sometime before I got seriously into rock climbing and before I went to Rome. These are both topics that figure heavily in the story, but knowledge of them is hardly necessary to become completely possessed by the book. I remember it as a marathon read; I pulled all-nighters because I had to know what happened next.

This time I took nearly a month to read it. It's a great story worth savoring. While Helprin’s language is exquisite, his images vivid and gorgeous, the thing I appreciate so much about the book is its vitality. Being a war story, of course there is much death and destruction and everyone who survives suffers tremendous losses and is left deeply scarred. Yet love and lust for life continue. It’s beautiful. Really. I don't know if everybody should read it, but somebody should so I can talk about it with them.

The Many Faces of a Great Novel

I Sent a Fan Letter to Mark Helprin Once,

but it came back to me. I guess the way to reach an author is not through their publisher. Duh. What was I thinking? It's the only fan letter I ever wrote. I wrote it because I love Mark Helprin. Reading his book Winter's Tale was such a gift, I wanted to thank him. I probably picked it up on impulse in a used book store, needing something in the evenings while working on the road. I remember less about the story line than the experience of reading it. The book was beautiful, fanciful, and rich with wintry images. Cold seeped through every page, which was good, because it was brutally hot while I was reading it. We were digging fireline near Lake Koocanusa, MT on steep slopes, and camping near the lake in a shadeless area. We would swim every night. It stayed light until after 9 and there was little chance of sleeping before dark. In my memory it was a magical time, it was the right combination of the book, the lake, and probable near sunstroke.

I only bring this all up to help explain why, when walking by the used bookstore while taking the shortcut through the strip mall from my parents' condo to the library, I felt compelled to buy the 50 cent copy of A Soldier of the Great War which was sitting on the table outside, practically blocking my path. If you'd been around when I was going through the painful process of unloading 90% of my library in South Dakota, or during one of my tirades against books longer than 200 pages, you might wonder why I felt it so necessary to purchase this 700+ page book.

Mark Helprin wrote it. I love him.

I'm all about the bunnies

and I blame the Abeln sisters for that, although they're not responsible for this:

The 2nd book in 2008 that I read was Tales From Watership Down by Richard Adams. I liked it. It's a collection of stories and general rabbit lore involving characters from the incredible novel, Watership Down . Having just read that this past summer, i thouroughly enjoyed the stories. I'm not sure how they would read without that background.