The Return

It's been so long since I'd posted here that I'd actually forgotten I even had this blog.  My last entry here was in September of 2009.  That month saw the advent of sheer medical chaos as my husband Bill entered the last months of his life.  He was in the hospital in September, October, November, December, February, then a final time in May.  During those months my reading habits shifted to primarily short, light, funny reads and I am deeply grateful to authors like Cindy Miles, Allie MacKay, and Katie MacAllister (to name just a few) who through their books held my hand in many a dark hospital room and reminded me daily that life continues.  In the months following Bill's death I didn't read at all, though I often found myself sitting and holding books numbly and wondering what I was doing.

These days I'm back to reading all kinds of things.  My current reads are: Susan Cain's "Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking", Frank Kinslow's "The Secret of Quantum Living", Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe" (book club read), and David Tripp's "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands."  Now I'm off to do a little reading so I'll have something to write about!

Almost forgot...

The challenge that originally inspired this blog deserve a status update.  Here is what I planned to read during 2010.

2010 10/10 Challenge


* Book not yet owned

1) Series/ favorite authors (reread many!)

2) Travel Essays

Round Ireland With A Fridge (Read it, loved it, loaned it...and it hasn't come home!)

My Mercedes is Not for Sale (Have started and stopped twice, but WILL finish it.)

A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler

A Walk in the Woods (Laughed til I cried...loaned it to a friend who laughed so hard had the whole gym staring.  Do not read while on the treadmill!)

* The Great Railway Bazaar – Paul Theroux

What Am I Doing Here? – Chatwin

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living At Large in The World - Gelman

An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan – Elliot

Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World - Iyer (Much of this book made me sad.)


3) Classics (previously unread)

Remembrance of Things Past

The Canterbury Tales (original language)

Giovanni’s Room

The Decameron

The Tenant of Windfell Hall – A. Bronte


4) Poets (previously unread)

Charles Kingsley

Rainer Maria Rilke

* Coney Island of the Mind – Ferlinghetti

20 Love Poems & a Song of Despair – Neruda (These were a nice surprise.)

* Complete Poems 1927-1979 – Bishop

If Not, Winter: Fragments - Sappho (I adored the bits and pieces and crave more.)

* The Dream Songs – Berryman

* Love is a Dog from Hell – Bukowski

* Collected Poems of Langston Hughes

* Maya Angelou: Poems


5) History

The Histories - Herodotus

Almost History: Close Calls, Plan B’s, and Twists of Fate in Americas History

The Gifts of the Jews

Great Feuds in History Ten Struggles that Shaped the World

Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life

A Crack in Edge of the World: America & the Great California Quake of 1906

The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of its Greatest Inventors

Salt: A World history

Voyage of the Damned

Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different



6) Book Club Books (Drawing a blank on what they were...I'll get back to you.)


7) Random Books from my Unread Shelf

Beasts of No Nation


8) Authors from other countries

The Song of the World

Kaddish for a Child Not Born

The Space Between Us



9) Christian/Religion

Pilgrim’s Progress

Where God Was Born: A Journey By Land to the Roots of Religion

When God Was a Woman

Eternity in Their Hearts

Toward Old Testament Ethics


10) Children/Young Adult

13 Little Blue Envelopes – M. Johnson (Absolutely loved this book!)

All in all not a great job with the challenge though despite everything I ready roughly 100 books during 2010.  I can live with that.  I've done much better this year though many of my reads have been return visits to much loved books as I sought the comfort of familiar words.