I fear he is right. I have started four of them and rejected three already. The Joe Gunther mystery is too sordid and confusing and depressing. I said I was giving up on mysteries but I succumbed to temptation when I saw it was available. The Susan Vreeland book begins with a Holocaust story and I fear will be too emotionally draining. Modiano's Pedigree: A Memoir is a reread for me but this time through seemed disconnected and uninteresting. I was looking for background of the French resistance and it was not as I remembered it.
The Abbe Glasborg biography which I purchased is worth reading but centers on the post WWII years which is not what I was looking for. However, I will finish it. He was a remarkable man and a real hero.
To my surprise, Bird by Bird is capturing my interest the most so far. I didn't think I was a Anne Lamott fan. I didn't know that her father was also an author. (later--gave up on Lamott too--just not into learning how to write. Doing a blog is not that stress provoking!)
And Maud Martha by the renowned Gwendolyn Brooks --I haven't dug into it yet. But I will give it a try. (later--I read it and loved it--so one winner for me out of five possibilities!)
I need a good book on hand at all times. I finished The Splendid and The Vile (Churchill's first year of WW II) and enjoyed it immensely. That can make it difficult to pick up another book immediately afterwards. I tried to follow up by reading a biography of Charles De Gaulle but 500 pages plus on my Kindle app was more detail than I wanted. I soldiered through much of the book often comparing chapters to the easier to read and shorter summaries on Wikipedia.
I also thoroughly appreciated our friend Dan Pals' book Ten Theories of Religion and that sent me to download William James' The Variety of Religious Experience. But I decided that Dan was better at explaining James than James was himself. Again, I struggled through most of the book. I am glad I don't have to take a quiz on its content however!
Almost forgot--I did just finish and thoroughly enjoy Around the World in Eighty Days. That was probably a 99 cent download on my iphone. It amused me to be reading a classic from so many years ago in that contemporary fashion.
I am thankful for Goodreads where I record books I have read and want to read. Our Princeton Library allows you to have a "For Later" list and then lets you know when books are available to be put on hold. We are no longer doing curbside pickup but going inside to get requested books. I should begin to browse the shelves again soon. I peruse Early Bird books offers online daily where I can get Kindle downloads very inexpensively. Better World Books often has out of print books for less than $4. So I have plenty of sources for books.
We will be eager to see Jim's RH Charles biography in print. Oxford University Press has accepted it for publication but it will probably be 2023 before it is in print. Jim is doing some final editing and getting permission for photos and quotes from archived materials.
Books are such a big part of our lives. I hope, as we age, that our eyesight continues to bless us with the joy of reading.
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