From Linus on Life, an inspirational little tome about the philosphies of Linus (includes cartoons)

No problem is so big or complicated that it can't be run away from.

What I Am Reading Today

A little late. Hey, I was reading other things...

Grrr.

from Raymond Carver

And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on earth.

What is One Heart Dancing Reading?

I am reading the captions in my Caption This! contest. Boomer's beer caption is the winner so far, but YOU could be another winner!

Since we at Boomer's Booklist are sooooo erudite, I will change the prize just for Boomer's friends to $10 toward the book purchase of your choice ...

PLUS I will send you a FREE book!

Deadline is Sunday! Don't delay! Enter TODAY!

Go to www.mytangoyear.blogspot.com.

!!!!!

Yeah, I spent a few years in cheesy marketing jobs.

PS I'm also reading the edited version of my next book, The Teen-Centered Writing Club. Blech. Who wrote that thing?

What's Joe Reading?

Joe is probably reading maps. And trail signs. And looking for shuttle-hostel schedules. I've been reading is blog daily. They're on Day 8 and almost to North Carolina, leaving Georgia and Tennessee behind them.

What is Sundaymorn Reading?

Being Tuesday, I would guess she's reading classnotes. Or student papers. At home there will be a couple of novels on the kitchen counter. One or two in the bedroom. Something very contemporary and cutting edge, something I've never heard of. And then there will be something like 'the architecture of southeast asia,' research for a short story.

Today I am reading this....

http://www.feralchildren.com

You might be wondering, who is molldoll's favorite feral child?
It is the gazelle boy.

I read an entire book yesterday.

Back Roads by Tawni O'Dell. It is an Oprah's book club selection. It is a book that would be an example of why to stay away from Oprah's book club books. That said, it had a narrative that went along, I did feel compelled to finish it, but by the time I did finish it, I just felt wrong and cheated at the same time. Books about abuse and survivors of it, can turn out to be just exploitative.

Chasing Vermeer

Boomer's mom took me to the library and I bought this book: Chasing Vermeer. It's a kids book, probably for 10 year olds, but it was great fun to read. OK writing, good mystery, full of puzzles and codes clues hidden in the illustrations and coincidences ... and this great quote:

We shall pick up an existence by its frogs.

Wise men have tried other ways. They have tried to understand our state of being by grasping at its stars, or its arts, or its economics. But, if there is an underlying oneness of all thngs, it does not matter where we begin, whether with stars, or laws of supply and demand, or frogs, or Napoleon Bonaparte. One measures a circle beginning anywhere.

I have collected 294 records of showers of living things. [As in, it's raining frogs and fishes.] ...

It is the profound conviction of most of us that there never has been a shower of living things. But some of us have ... been educated by surprises out of much that we were "absolutely sure" of ...

I have never heard of any standard, in any religion, philosophy, science, or complication of household affairs that could not be made to fit any requirement. We fit standards to judgments or break any law that it please us to break. ... We have conclusions, which are the products of senility or incompetence or credulity, and then argue from them to premises, and then argue from the premises, thinking we began there.

From the book Lo! by Charles Hoy Fort

Unearthing Roots In a Jungle

Running In the Family by Michael Ondaatje is a small, rich, beautiful book. Ondaatje took a couple of trips back to the land of his early childhood. He collects family stories from interviews, journals, and public records. This is not, however, a chronological listing of major events.

I have so much to say about this book that I am having trouble saying anything at all.

There are so many wild stories and great tropical images I can't choose which to share. Here then is a picture of an aunt that I like:

My Aunt Dolly stands 5 feet tall, weighing 70 pounds.She has not stopped smoking since the age of 15 and her 80-year-old brain leaps like a spark plug bringing this year that year to life...she greets me with 'I never thought I'd see you again' and suddenly all these journeys are worth it, just to be able to hug this thin woman who throws her cane onto the table in order to embrace me.

Kathleen Must Read About Rocks

I'm not sure what the Kat's dragging in for books these days, but I'm going to bet she's reading about rocks. And maybe something political. I can't remember what classes she has so I better not guess too hard, but I'm sure there's lots of reading involved. Even if spring is showing signs in northern Minnesota I suspect she is not yet reading outside by the lake.

I Know what Sassmaster's Been Reading

And she says it's pretty good, for a love story. Find out more about Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story by Rachel Kadish.

Now, my dear friends, which one of these should I read first?