Do I dare disturb the silent dust over here at The Book Den in order to put a new post on the shelves?Actually, I've already explained earlier today to the visitors of Vital Signs Blog why I haven't made it over here in a long time.
But then I hinted that I might show up once in awhile after all.
So, here goes -- I'll dust the tomes, run the vacuum, open the windows, and put a brand new post in the shop window. I'll even select a cleaner, crisper template to show off the place.
And then I'll put up a new post that will match the same theme; namely, by "cleaning up" the pile of books I've read since that last entry way back in January.
Let's start then with January. In addition to those I had already written about (Check with Chip on Stem Cell Research by Chip Maxwell, Ozzie by Ozzie Nelson and the Dostoevsky material), I also enjoyed Lowell Thomas' Pageant of Life, H. Rider Haggard's Cleopatra and Fr. Val Peter's Seven Secular Challenges Facing 21st Century Catholics. The star of those books was certainly Fr. Peter's and I'll post here a more detailed review in a couple of days.
From February into April I re-read a couple dozen of my favorite mysteries , some poetry and several GK Chesterton articles and stories. I also managed to fit in a re-reading of Owen Wister's The Virginian, Ann Coulter's Guilty, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and a re-reading of C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.
With May comes lawn and garden work (plus other summer pleasures) and so my reading tends to be scaled back a bit. Plus this year my Mom has needed quite a bit of attention. That's cool -- she's worth a lot more than a book! Still May did allow a reading of Nevil Shute's Landfall and a re-reading of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
For June it was The Faith by Chuck Colson and and Harold Fickett, You Know Me, Al by Ring Lardner, The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara and and a re-reading of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I followed that up in July with my 4th time round with Tolkien's trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King).
Still to come in July is Bardelys the Magnificent by Rafael Sabatini which I have to get read by Friday night's Notting Hill Napoleons' meeting. Yipes.
So there we are. The clean up is over and The Book Den is officially re-opened.
