The great books: Lincoln and Marley and me
We get a lot of books here, but it has occured to me of late to categorize the most frequently received categories.
Here they are:
–Books about how your pet reveals to you the subtle truths of life itself. These include “funny” stories about pets that yawn on for tens of pages at a crack and wander eventually onto some life-affirming moment, although not until after you’ve said, geez, where is my National Enquirer; people write about their animals, but manage to keep in mind that really, it’s all about their own unbearable poignant self-awareness; and those who are convinced that Marley and Me, despite its bazillion years on the bestseller lists and upcoming movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, was not the best, most profiable word on big foolish golden dogs. Or little spunky terriers. SUBSET: Dogs in the city!
-Stunt books that consistent entirely of the mind-numbing confessions of an individuals who would be better off reading a book rather than writing one. Reading the dictionary. Living Biblically. Attaining a bizarre level of public intimacy with your spouse. I promise you, your battles with infertility are not that fascinating, even to your in-laws.
–Lincoln. And by the way, upcoming: Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, by Fred Kaplan, in November. New on the shelves: Tried By War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson. The reddeming virtue of any book about Lincoln is that the subject matter is a man who would never have engaged in a stunt book.
–Self-published books by those convinced that their childhood was unique and should be hugely personally profitable because it was great, yet it was bad, and they faced challenges, but there were fine sunshine-soaked days. Also, their mom was the greatest ever. The thing is: Each and every person on earth, except perhaps Augusten Burroughs, had the same childhood. You don’t have to write about it: Really, we’ll just take your word.
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Hey Cheryl,
If you ever want to get rid of some of those books, I’m always available! I do book reviews for the Harrodsburg Herald and at Bobbi’s Book Nook (http://bobbisbooknook.blogspot.com).
Just as gas prices start to fall slightly and we felt like there might be hope along comes Ike and causes them to spike to an all time high. Families everywhere are wondering where else they can cut back to cover the cost of fueling up the family vehicle to get back and forth to work and take care of the necessities of life. There is no money left for relaxation and family fun. The stress level continues to rise. Most areas of the country have seen a sharp rise in their electric bill as power companies pass their increased production costs on to consumers. The price of a gallon of milk is almost as precious as a gallon of gas. The cost of every consumer product has risen sharply. Americans are stretched to the limit. Jobs are being lost, foreclosures are increasing at an alarming rate. Seems even the family pets are suffering the high cost of fuel as almost daily a sad new story is on TV about shelters being forced to euthanize record number of surrendered pets from those forced out of their homes due to foreclosure or they simply can’t afford to feed them anymore. The energy crisis in our country is far reaching and needs immediate attention. Our economy is in a sorry state of affairs directly related to the high cost of fuel. We have become so dependant on foreign oil that we have neglected to fully utilize such natural sources of energy such wind power & solar power. Along with modern technology such as plug in cars, hybrid cars, v2g technology ,and regenerative braking, technology we still seem to be floundering as a nation as to devising the best plan utilize all that is available to us and lift ourselves out of this mess we are in. We need to take our closest look at which candidates put our economy and energy crisis at the forefront of their agenda. The Manhattan Project of 2009 by Jeff Wilson pretty much says it all…
http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com