Sleeping with one eye OPEN

 

With me, it’s either black or white. There is no gray.  In book lingo, that translates into either I love, love, love what I’m currently reading, or I wouldn’t even stoop to use this volume as a doorstop.

This time it’s a homerun hit right out of the happy reading ballpark.

11/22/63 is Stephen King’s back-in-time historical thriller.  I’m not a big Stephen Kind fan because he’s too, well, scary for me.

But history, yep, I’m hooked.

The premise of  the book:

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed.

What if you could change it back?

On the surface, one would think what a wonderful idea the preventing of  a national tragedy.

But once our hero, Jake, begins dabbling in “fixing” what’s wrong with the past, will it create even worse unforeseen consequences?

Does Jake accomplish his mission and prevent the JFK assassination?  Does he spend the remainder of his life in prison?  Does he ever return to the present or spend his life in idyllic, small town Texas with his emotionally damaged girlfriend Sadie?

This award-winning bestseller packs 849 pages of intrigue and when I finished it, I still wanted more.

Mid-Life Crisis

I’m going through a mid -life reading crisis.

It seems that nothing holds my interest after the first 100 pages.

They might all be  worthy, but I’m not the least bit interested in 50 Shades of Grey, the latest vampire saga, the newest Barack Obama biography, a western, a romance, a book on how to up my IQ or rearrange my closets.

At 56 have I done and seen it all?

Have I become jaded?

Am I a book snob?

Must I immerse myself in William Faulkner or Thackeray?

Has my world become so inundated with ebooks, magazines, Facebook, Twitter, to the point that carrying a book home of any genre has become obsolete in my happy little corner of the world? And am I only 1 in millions  suffering this malady? Is the demise of the library at hand?

In a word:  no.

Once upon a time, I thought I had all the time in the world and if I began a book, I was determined I would read every word.

Now I realize there is only so much time and so many books so I want to choose carefully.

The book Goin’ Someplace Special by McKissack is worthy.

Um, yes, it’s a children’s book.

I can identify with Goin’ Someplace Special.

As a too-skinny, stringy haired, myopic adolescent misfit, the library was my refuge.  It was a safe requiem from some very bad mojo on the horizon.

Go take a look at this book, and pass it’s message on to your children’s children.

Hey, it’s much cheaper than a bright red convertible, and will last longer, too.

Guess who's Coming to Dinner!

Guess who’s coming to Dinner!

If it’s quirky, and it’s on our library shelves, it’s going home with me.

Imagine my surprise while innocently strolling through the stacks and blundering into the book, Tattoo A Banana And Other Ways To Turn Anything And Everything Into Art by Phil Hansen.  The cover depicts a naked man, yes, tattoed on a banana.

This book had me from the commonsense disclaimer  which instructs, “although it may be tempting to eat your art, don’t.”

What’s not to love in this book?

There’s the section on The Devil Wears Non-Recyclables, or fun with plastic grocery bags.  You don’t want to miss the chapter on Creative Shapes from Burnt Toast  or my personal fave, Gloorah,  using plastic army men and glue to make art. You will remember those plastic men —those torture devices that your bare foot always encounters while stealthily heading to the kitchen for another bite of  chocolate cake.  You can get groovy with The Eracerist or you might choose to Put Your Rake into it, which encourages the artist in you to “rake” a design or word.

Author Hansen is well-known for his eclectic use of artistic media, using everything from matchsticks to dandelion puffs to work his magic.

Take it home with you.