Read

I read a lot or should I say I go to the bathroom a lot… which is when I read…chicken and egg really, but I digress.

I think I read more than most, less than others but read I do. My Girl takes classes and buys books; I read ‘em when she’s done. My folks read, my siblings read, we are readers, I hope my kids will be as well. On occasion I hope to give some insight into works that I have read, nothing serious just quick takes who, what, why, why not .

I’ve read the stuff for school. I went through a big sci-fi stage as an adolescent every soft-back Conan ever from everyone, not just Howard. Then it was Asimov, Hubbard, Tolkien, Lovecraft, and Poe.  Bibles (Black and Regular), I even found a copy of the Koran on a job site and blew through that in a couple of days. Speaking of mad Arabs I read the Necronomicon, no conjuring just reading. H. Thompson, L’Amour, Anne Rice, I’ve even read Myers, yes that Myers…

Recently it was “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follet, epic, epic stuff, right in my wheelhouse, historic, violent, intriguing… loved it finished it and felt like a piece of my life had ended….then my girl brings home the sequel, the equally kick ass “World Without End” so I’m knee deep in that right now.  I like Bios too but generally read anything that is close by when nature calls.

I want to comment on “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt, it is a memoir. Published back in ’96, a movie was made too; it’s in my Netflix Que. McCourt takes us on a trip down memory lane to 1920’s New York City with his immigrant parents, mired in a cycle of poverty and alcohol they return to Ireland with their children in tow for a cycle of poverty and alcohol. This reads like mantequilla on a tortilla… smooth soft flowing with laughs and anguish, hunger and the fullness of simple human needs occasionally met. A must read for anyone of any background but I think it really resonates if you have every seen or experienced severe poverty of any kind. It should be read if you fall into any of the following; poor, think you are poor, were poor, thought you were poor, are an alcoholic, know an alcoholic, think your old man was an alcoholic, think all clergy are good, think all clergy are bad, think class systems don’t or didn’t exist even 60 years ago. Frank survived the slums of Limerick and made it back the place he was born while most of this story takes place in Ireland it is an American success story, from a very young age Frank and his brothers thought of nothing but America for this is truly the land of opportunity. 

I was 43.

Read it or live a little less compassionate.