Slipping into Comfortable

 

I went looking for a new book to read last night.  I’ve been on a non-fiction kick for three months, with only two exceptions, so I limited my choices to that genre.

I won’t tell you the first title of the first option because of what I’m going to say about it.   I made it through the forward, acknowledgements, and introduction, then skipped ahead to see if it covered a specific event in that person’s life.  

The first line I read needed a comma really, really badly.   I skipped a few pages and the next line I saw misused a homonym.   Okay, this book was going to require some serious patience.  I set it aside for later.

The next option was Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead that tells of a battle in WWI in which the British, Russians, and French were soundly drubbed by the forces of the Ottoman Empire.   The print was smaller than I felt like tackling and after reading a couple pages, I realized I wasn’t concentrating.    This book I will read some day, just not now.

The third option was Arab Spring Winter Comes to America, The Truth about the War We’re In, by Robert Spencer.   I made it through 15 or 20 pages before I realized that this book was going to give me ulcers, hives, and permanent insomnia, and I was wishing I had enough airline miles for a ticket to the moon where I wouldn’t have to worry about all the stuff going on in the world today.

Spencer, the author, who was once a trainer for the FBI and US military in matters relating to Islamic jihad, ran afoul of the current administration by continuing to use words like “war on terror” and “jihad” and “radical Islam.”   He’s no longer a trainer.   This is a definite read someday, with the emphasis on “day.”   Not a book to read while lying in bed before going to sleep.

Then I gave up on non-fiction and opened James Lee Burke’s Wayfaring Stranger.   After reading the first page, I slipped into comfort.  Burke himself looks like a combination of Western cowboy and Louisiana Cajun, but he writes like a god.

These sentences are good examples of why I love to read Burke:

Blue [a horse] was hot-wired to the eyes.  All you had to do was lean forward in the saddle and Blue would be halfway to El Paso.

And,

…(H)oping against hope there would be a cloud that had water and not half of West Texas in it.

Damn!

Excuse me for now.   Gotta get back to Wayfaring Stranger.

Stuff that keeps me awake in the wee hours of the night, Part Four

Rounding the Horn, Being a Story of Williwaws and Windjammers, Drake, Darwin, Murdered Missionaries and Naked Natives—a Deck’s-Eye View of Cape Horn by Dallas Murphy.   I was on a trip to this part of the world when I started reading this book, and I couldn’t put it down.   My friend/roommate Kathy must have gotten very tired of my raving about this book.  The author intersperses a sailboat journey to Cape Horn with a huge helping of very readable history of Patagonia and the explorers and missionaries who ventured there, along with the native tribes who subsisted in a harsh climate and how they were affected by the Europeans.   I've read it twice now.

I am Malala. The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafazai with Christina Lamb.   There are some books, after I've finished them, that I hold in my hands for a few minutes before I set them down.   I feel the impact of the story and sorrow that the book has ended.   This is one of them, the story of the 15 year old Pashtun girl in Pakistan who advocated for education for boys and girls and was almost assassinated by the Taliban as she sat in her school bus.  Lots of history, culture, and insight into the life of Pakistanis as told by a remarkable young girl, the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.   I expect lots of dynamic things in the future from this young lady, who wants to go into politics.

And on top of the pile on my night stand are:

Things That Matter, Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics by Charles Krauthammer.   Oops, make that "...Passions, Pastimes and Politics."   Charles didn't use the series comma.  I will confess to sometimes planning my daily activities around the time Dr. Krauhammer will appear on TV to comment on the latest news.   I find him insightful, acerbic, and devilishly witty.







Mawson's Will by Lennard Bickel.   Billed as the Greatest Survival Story Ever Written, this is the story about Australian Dr. Douglas Mawson, his 1908 trek to the magnetic South Pole, and the horrendous conditions he suffered.












Shackleton's Forgotten Men, The Untold Tragedy of the Endurance Epic by Lennard Bickel.  Wile Sir Ernest Shackleton and the men of the Endurance were trying to survive in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, the men of the Aurora were fighting a similar battle on the opposite side of the continent.  These were the men who were to stash supplies for Shackleton as he attempted to cross the continent. 

Stuff that keeps me awake in the wee hours of the night, Part Three

Manson, The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn.   The old newspaper reporter who covered murder trials in me can’t resist this stuff.   Guinn details Manson’s life from childhood to perpetual prisoner, giving insight into how and why.

This Town, Two Parties and a Funeral –plus plenty of valet parking!—in America’s Gilded Captial by Mark Leibovich.   You’re a fly on the wall  as Leibovich takes you on a journey through D.C. culture, with all the things you suspected and wish you’d never learned, and why you hate politicians.   As one reviewer put it so expertly:  This is not an in-depth investigation into Washington corruption; it is, rather, a panoramic view of the culture of Washington, the fertile soil in which the corruption grows and flourishes. Presented in a lively, humorous manner, it is rather enjoyable to read. So much so that one tends to lose sight of the fact that these are people - Washington insiders, that is - who enrich themselves with money taxpayers are forced to send to the government. You get the sense that these people always have a smirk on their faces, laughing at the stupid people - everyone outside of the Beltway - who support their little aristocracy upon the Potomac ('The Club', as it's referred to). The author… doesn't draw conclusions for us, he presents the rather corrupt underbelly of Washington - politicians and their minions as they really are - and let's [sic] us decide just how bad it really is.

The Elephant Whisperer, My Life with the Herd in the African Wild   by Lawrence Anthony.   A devoted animal conservationist, Anthony adopted a herd of wild elephants destined to be destroyed.  A wonderful story of a man bonding with rogue elephants, protecting them, and letting them be wild.  The author died earlier this year and the herd of elephants made a long journey to his home to pay their respects.  This book cemented my desire to visit Africa and I made reservations shortly after finishing it.

Stuff that keeps me awake in the wee hours of the night, Part One

Terrific books I've read recently that kept me up far too late:

The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts.  A horse headed for the slaughterhouse is purchased by Harry de Leyer and the rest is magic.  A wonderful true story about a Cinderella horse, to put a cliche on it.

Under Fire, the Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi, by Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz.  Burton is an expert on security, terrorists and their organizations.  He is a former State Department counterterrorism deputy chief ad DS agent.    Katz is an expert on Middle East terrorism, counterterrorism, and special operations.  An astonishing reconstruction of the events of Sept. 11, 2012, as well as background in the region.   Very readable and informative, though you will be heartily tired of acronyms and semi-colons by the end.

Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.   The story of how and why Jesus was killed.   Lots of research here which puts the whole story into historical perspective.   This is a history book, not a religious book, and by the end I had a better understanding of the man known as Jesus and the political forces that demanded his execution.   This book is every bit as readable and educational as the authors’ Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy.

Big Treasures in Small Packages

When I returned home from two weeks in Halibut Cove, a cardboard box with a familiar logo was waiting for me on the end of the kitchen counter: amazon.com.

Any box from amazon.com is a highly anticipated arrival, but this one was especially so. Nevertheless, it was only after several hours that I got around to opening it. In the meantime, I was involved with an attempt to capture an injured swan at a frozen Tern Lake, a swan whose flock had flown south earlier in the day. (See previous posts.)

Finally, I opened the box and withdrew another, more slender box.

A pull tab was the key to opening this box, a tab with the words” Once upon a time…” printed on it. Already I liked this product a lot. Someone loved this product enough to care about its packaging.

And carefully nestled within that box, was my new amazon Kindle.

I unpacked all the accoutrements—the charging cord, the driver’s manual, the neoprene sleeve I’d also ordered. I plugged in the charging cord and went back to unpacking the Halibut Cove stuff.

Late at night I carried the Kindle works upstairs to the loft, and dumped them on my desk. That’s where they stayed for almost 24 hours. I still had to see about the rescue of the swan that can’t fly, and some other things to do, so the Kindle wasn’t a top priority.

Finally, Saturday evening I sat in front of my computer, fully expecting to have to download books through my computer's slower-than-evolution 1x DSL line. I’d already browsed amazon’s Kindle store, and made a list of the books I wanted to buy. I had also checked their Whispernet coverage, the means by which Kindle downloads books “in less than a minute.”

Sure enough, my little spot on earth wasn’t included in the coverage, according to the online map. I could go to Anchorage and get the fastest downloading capability, or drive a few miles towards Cooper Landing and get the slower download feed.

I read the instruction at the bottom of the six-inch screen: “Slide and release the power switch to wake.” I did. All kinds of cool information popped up—including the familiar “bars” indicating reception quality. OMG! There were five solid bars. Could it be?

Quickly I searched the instructions for how to buy my first book. I ordered Michael Connolly’s “Nine Dragons.” I noted the start time: 5:52 p.m., and went back to reading the driver’s manual. It read that when the title of the book appeared on the “Home” page, the book had finished downloading.

Holy ratziolli! The title was already there. A couple hours later I had sixteen books on my new Kindle, and had been working my way through the more than 350,000 titles available. The Kindle, amazon says, is capable of holding up to 1500 books, with more archived online. In the meantime, I’d gathered up all my books by my favorite authors, trying to make sure I wasn’t duplicating titles.

I took the Kindle to bed with me and started reading. I found it much easier to hold than a hardback or paperback book, as it can be done with one hand. It weighs about the same as an average length paperback, and has convenient switches on each side for “next page.”

The screen itself is light gray with black text, and easy on the eyes. Before I realized it, I was in Chapter Two of “The Scarpetta Factor.” I made myself stop, because these are the books I intend to read when I go to Mexico next weekend. Purchasing the Kindle for travel was the whole point. The printed books I hauled to Halibut Cove weighed more than my clothing, and probably half the weight of the two week supply of food.

Impressions so far—great for travel. I don’t think I’d want my reference books on it, although it does come with “The New Oxford American Dictionary” already on it. The Kindle also has the capability of downloading documents from my computer, which might come in handy. There are some drawbacks (you have to loan your whole Kindle if you want to loan your best bud a book), and I'm still getting used to what I think is a sometimes slow navigation, but that might improve as I become more "instructed."

All in all, I think I really like it. And I LOVE the packaging. The packaging itself is a work of art, and shows that someone really, really cares.

(Note: I don’t usually do product endorsements here, but this is different. This post is for my fellow travelers, the ones whose suitcases are half full of books, and still trying to stay under domestic luggage weight limits.)