Having some time to relax also meant lots of time to catch up on reading I've been meaning to do for a while now (though there's plenty more). Here's a quick run-through with my comments:
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. A great, compelling story that is so rich and enjoyable. Reminds me of how I felt reading A Prayer for Owen Meany or To Kill a Mockingbird. I can also recommend Monk Kidd's The Dance of the Dissident Daughter.
- The Soul Tells A Story: Engaging Creativity With Spirituality In The Writing Life by Vinita Hampton Wright. I couldn't enjoy this one as much, perhaps because it seemed to define spirituality a little too differently than I do, and the resulting instructions/advice just didn't feel as applicable. It also wasn't as tightly structured as I would expect a book on creative writing to be.
- Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World by Bruce Schneier. My review of Secrets and Lies is at the Summersault Weblog.
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Another really fun book that will appeal to fans of the "Narnia" and "Harry Potter" style of adventure-telling. Also coming out in December on the big screen as a motion picture starring Dakota Blue Richards and Daniel Craig - worth a see.
- The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. My review of The Assault on Reason is in my last weblog entry.
Now reading:
- Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision and Whose Freedom?: The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea, both by George Lakoff. If you read this blog with any regularity, you already know I'm a fan of his stuff.
- Codes, Ciphers, Secrets and Cryptic Communication: Making and Breaking Sercet Messages from Hieroglyphocs to the Internet by Fred B. Wrixon. Nothing gets me up in the morning like a Bifid Cipher.
- The Woman and the Ape by Peter Hoeg. Highly recommended by Anna Lisa, and I've always enjoyed books with large primates as main characters.
I'll post reviews of these as I can. Your own reviews, recommendations and comments welcome!
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it's a good thing you're finally getting to the woman and the ape, cause i had a dream last night that you were dying and i held onto you and dove into a pool or lake and pulled you around to look at the chimpanzees that lived under water. i don't know which is stranger - underwater chimps or me being able to swim like a mermaid. i think you didn't have to breathe because you were already sort of dead. maybe i was taking you to heaven?