Cheryl Truman on books

We’re still breaking Cheryl’s book drought, here. Said drought commenced about a month ago when I got the death flu (get your flu shots!) and continued when my right knee tried to crumble, so all I can figure is: When your body commences to disintegrating, your mind goes other places. And in fact, with the bad knee, I discovered that there was an extra hour-and-a-half in the day, because I no longer spent so much time exercising. When you’ve exercised every day for two years, adding extra hours back into the mix makes the days seem extraordinarily long. But it was more time I was piddling around, seeing if I could guilt somebody else to empty the dishwasher and change the litter boxes.

It was not reading time, and never the kind of reading time when you are transported from the room, by a book.

So here: more kind reader suggestions on breaking the drought. And if you also have suggestions on a good vacuum to break the matted pet hair at my house so that I can once again lie on the carpet with a good book, chime on in there as well.

And, to the kind reader who suggests Ngaio Marsh, I’ve always meant to read Marsh — first alerted to her work by the late, and dearly missed, Common Reader book catalog. Any title suggestions?

From Gwen Hall:

“I too had the ‘book blahs’ until I read Spelling Love With An X by Clare Dunsford. Be prepared to laugh and cry. Bet this one won’t collect cat hair…you’ll have to pass it to a good friend, like I did.

Gwen Hall

From Jennie Hill:

As a former librarian I read a lot more than the average person. I am so tired that it seems every character in new books as been dealt either a father that is in jail, missing, or on drugs and the mothers have dumped the children or else is a prostitute or drunk. Can’t they have average families?

I enjoy reading mysteries but read a great variety of books, such as Amish, Christian, and plain romance.
I find myself going back to some of favorite authors instead of many of the new ones.

One of most recent reads that was above average was Riven, a Christian fiction, by Jerry B. Jenkins. You may enjoy reading it. A bit different.

Keep reading as we librarians say. . Whatever you need to know, there is a book out there that will help you find the answers.”

From Brenda Seiferth:

Slow Dancing on Dinosaur Bones by Lana Witt

About Grace by Anthony Doerr

or - re-read The Thorn Birds or re-read all the Silas House novels, such as Clay’s Quilt

From Janice Harris:
I read about a dozen books a month, and still keep finding good stuff I haven’t discovered before. Are you familiar with John Twelve Hawks? I bought his The Traveler at a used book sale and liked it so well I ordered the sequel, The Dark River. Now I have to wait for him to write the last book of the trilogy! It’s time travel fantasy, so I don’t know if that’s your thing.

I had not read any of Ngaio Marsh’s mysteries and just recently read Black as He’s Painted. I’ll be looking for more of her books.”

From Jenean McBrearty:

“If you’re being honest about book blahs, they are probably a sign:
1. you’re now a grown-up and ready to think for yourself;
2. you’ve been reading too much politically correct drivel; and
3. you need to change your genre;
4. you need to switch to history books.

May I suggest Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution by Michael J. Behe. It’s probably the best scientific book I’ve read on the subject. The thesis is that the human body is comprised of systems that are irreducible complexities: eyesight, blood coagulation, etc. that could not have evolved. That is, every component, chemical, etc, had to be present at the same time in order for it to work. He then explains scientifically why this must be so, and demonstrates how the sweeping claims of the evolutionists never pierce the black box of
conjecture.

You might also want to delve into Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity After World War II by Sahr Conway-Lanz.I reviewed this book for Choice Magazine and it is by far the best I’ve read on the subjects. His thesis is that, eventually, America needs a military, and must make a choice between the enemy and our troops’ lives. Given the realities of the world geopolitically, the best we can do is minimize collateral damage because we cannot turn back the hands of time. His argument is persuasive.

And my book - Helmut Wolf is a short novel (one 1/2 hour reading time) about the dilemmas of terrorism.

…People who are intelligent soon tire of the pablum being pedaled today. Welcome to the club.”