Thursday Thirteen #16: Books I Want To Read

For more participants visit Thursday Thirteen.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and how you liked them, or let me know what you would highly recommend as don’t-miss-books. Wishing you all a Happy St. Valentine’s Day Thursday!

1. The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild by Craig Childs (non-fiction) I love adventure, but the best I can do is Adventures in Barbecuing and an occasional camping trip so I live vicariously through books in the comfort and safety of my armchair. Childs will take me to Alaska, Washington, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico to discover beautiful creatures like the Great Blue Heron, ravens, owls, coyotes, mountain lions and jaguars. Some of these animals are in my own backyard and I often watch them through my windows so it won’t take much imagination for me to be transported to the great wildernesses of our American West.

2. Paris Review Interviews edited by Philip Gourevitch (Non-Fiction — the 3rd volume in a series is to be released soon) I’m a journalist and a writer so interviews, authors and writing are always of interest to me. Here writers have interviewed other writers like Steven King, T. S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges, John Gardner and Alice Munro.

3. The Folded World by Amity Paige (Fiction) I’m not so much interested in the basic plot, but in the subplot dealing with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, as I once worked for a crisis helpline with more than our fair share of schizophrenics which always made me think that some local doctors must have been giving our phone number to patients. The book is about a young social worker torn between the needs of his clients and of his own family.

4. The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan (Non-Fiction) It has history, travel and according to the reviews I’ve read, superb, award-winning journalistic talent, so how can I possibly resist?

5. My Life In France by Julia Child (Non-Fiction) My husband and I were at the bookstore recently, a favorite pastime of ours, and I became completely engrossed by this book. In this memoir, she recalls her years in “La Belle France” as she calls her adopted home during the 1950s. She describes my native country as only a lover of France and its people could. It is a consummate love affair with everything French and she transports us to a time where she finally finds her self and her calling while in the arms of her other amour, her husband Paul Child. I don’t know how I could possibly have missed this book for the last two years. Julia is my favorite chef because her recipes are well-tested. She is the only chef I would trust enough for me to cook a recipe for the 1st time and serve it to company or even to a stereotypical evil mother-in-law. I know without even the shadow of a doubt that she will guide me right down to the last grain of salt and will not only tell me what to do, but much more importantly, what pitfalls to not fall into. Julia doesn’t just give us recipes, she teaches us how to cook.

6. Reading For Writers: A Guide For People Who Love Books and For Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose (Non-Fiction) In other words, a guide written for yours truly. 😉

7. House Calls: Reflections of a Family Physician by Thomas L. Stern, M.D. (Non-Fiction) Medicine is another field of interest for me. Dr. Stern was the role model and technical adviser for the Marcus Welby, M.D. television show, and in this book he tells us the story of his life. This quote on the back cover particularly caught my eye: “I’ll tell you stories of the warmth of patients’ feelings toward me as their doctor; but especially, I’ll tell you about how I loved each of them, the people who trusted me enough to refer to me as ‘my doctor.'” Having worked with doctors and having had a few doctors I call ‘my doctor,’ I can tell you that the ones who care are the ones who make all the difference in the world.

8. Rumpole And The Primrose Path by John Mortimer (Fiction) I have read all previous Rumpole books — several times — and it is high time I read this one. Rumpole makes me laugh out loud and heartily, and let me tell you, we adults need to laugh a whole lot more often. I also love the Rumpole PBS series with Leo McLeod also of The Prisoner.

9. The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian by Phil Doran (Non-Fiction) From the writer and producer of The Wonder Years and Who’s The Boss, this travel memoir is reminiscent of A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and the cover promises another laugh-out-loud adventure.

10. Gerald’s Game by Stephen King (Fiction) I was recently given this book I had never read from the early 1990s. I hope it’s one of King’s really-scary-in-a-great-sort-of-way books and not one of his books describing evil because I don’t like those. But his truly scary ones are the work of a tremendously talented writer

11. Summer of Night by Dan Simmons (Fiction) From the library of the same person who gave me Gerald’s Game. I never read horror except for Stephen King, but since King says “one of those rare must-read books. I am in awe of Dan Simmons,” then I must have been missing something good all these years.

12. The Tomb of Tutankhamen by Howard Carter (Non-Fiction) Another adventure in my armchair to help me experience the greatest archaeological discovery and excavation of all time. Tut has fascinated the world since 1922 and I too have fallen prey to his magical hypnosis from beyond the sarcophagus.

13. The Best Cat Ever by Cleveland Armory (Non-Fiction) If you too have ever been owned by a cat, you might also want to read about Polar Bear and his curmudgeon author.

Don’t forget to leave a comment so we can all visit you too. 😉

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Adventures In Blogging — What Do We Have In Common?

I’ve been seeing this long list on a lot of blogs lately and it’s interesting to see how we have a lot in common with each other and on some blogs we have so few in common with each other. This list seems to have been started by a real adventurous person. The ones highlighted in red are the ones which apply to me. The ones in black I do not have in common with the person who created the list. How do you compare?

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with Touched wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive ride
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris (and even lived there for 12 years)
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. . Seen the Northern Lights
14.Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables herbs
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run (it must have been a miracle — most of the time I can’t even hit the ball)
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day several decades
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them (a few restaurants are like that and the train too)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs records (I haven’t been that organized for too long)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo The Bible says not to
81. Rafted the Snake American River
82. Been on television as a volunteer pledge drive taker an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a day cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (just a toe, so that doesn’t really count, does it?)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced (not even above the neck!)
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (my own mug and the ones I photographed)
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts (even built motherboards)
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

And I thought I had a boring life!