Sunday, April 03, 2011

On Books

I just finished reading the book 'Decision Points' by George W Bush.  I don't necessarily read a lot of non-fiction, but I'm happy I read this--it gave a lot of insight into things Dubya was criticized for during his presidency.  Now, Dubya wasn't my favorite president, but I also don't think he was the Devil incarnate as so many people believe.  (I'll save that designation for an/other president/s.)  I didn't get the feeling that Bush was making excuses with the book, but I did feel as if he tried to set the record straight on some things.  He apologized and admitted mistakes, but he also stood by decisions he made, whether they turned out the way he wanted, or not.  After reading this book, I may have to read more presidents' memoirs--it certainly makes you look at a president differently.  It should be required of all of us to read presidents' memoirs--especially of those presidents we disagreed with.  It would help us to understand some of the pressures the POTUS is under and how difficult a job it really is.  And it might stop some of the horrible things that people say.

**********

These days, I find that my 'go-to' genre of books is 'fantasy.'  However, I'm a bit disconcerted over that particular designation for what I read.  The 'Twilight' Series, Harry Potter, and 'Alice in Wonderland' are all considered 'fantasy.'  The books I read are a bit darker than those.  Not only do the books I read have more blood and gore, but the characters tend to be harsher than the villains in some of the other 'fantasy' books.  A lot of what I read has more demons and monsters--and a lot of what I read seems to have more religious-like themes, good vs evil.  I understand how what I read is considered 'fantasy,' but calling the books such makes them sound much more lightweight than what they are.  While I'm sure there are sub-divisions in the 'fantasy' category, I think the books that I read should be in a category of their own.  However, I don't know what it could possibly be called.

**********

While I haven't been reading as much as I would like, I get a chance to read every day.  Since getting my NOOK and NOOKcolor--yes, I own both--I find that I'm not buying quite as many books.  When I was only buying hard-copy books, I would get them as soon as I saw them.  These days, with my NOOKs, I put whatever books I want on my WishList and then buy as I need.  It is so much nicer to get the books as I want them, rather than stockpiling like I always have done.  No matter what, I will never live long enough to read all of the books I own--whether they are hard-copies or ebooks.

4 comments:

  1. Man, I haven't had ANY TIME to read these days. Hopefully, I will get the chance over the summer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really think that as soon as hockey season is done, I'll read more. It's just so much easier for me to do some craft while watching a game--don't need to concentrate in the same way I do with reading. Crafting kind of goes by the wayside when the weather turns warmer. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:40 AM

    Lately, I've preferred "light" reading, novels of the kind where nothing really bad happens and people don't do horrible things to each other. I've had a tough few months, and don't need to be brought down any further.

    It seems like just when I'm going to have my hands full with yard work, my favorite authors come out with good ones that I have to find time to read!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Summer is always a time to do some light reading--and I do find a lot of the summer reads good fun. Even the dark 'fantasy' books that I read don't seem to be very heavy-weight and I can read them all year round. Non-fiction, most scifi, John Grisham (to a certain extent), all seem to be winter time reads.

    ReplyDelete

Disquis

Being In a Funk

I'm still having a bit of a funk going on in my life. To be expected, I guess. But, it REALLY is affecting me to see my best friend ...