Update on My Current Doings

Greetings once again to all who read this.

Well, a great deal has happened in the reading material department since my last post.  I’ve finished Demon of the Waters.  It was really good, but actually seemed to run out of steam early, so that the last quarter or so was kind of… well, boring I guess.  But hey, it was a history book essentially, not a novel, and on that score it was impeccable.  You could really sense that a lot of research had gone into it.  A big part of the fascination for me was in the knowledge that I was reading about events that really happened.

After finishing Demon of the Waters, I finished Margaret Haddix’s Among the Hidden, which I enjoyed.  I was listening to that on tape a few weeks ago when the last cassette broke on me, so I had to wait for the library to send me another copy.  It’s a good story, if a little far-fetched, about a future oppressive America where families are only allowed two children, and “thirds” are systematically hunted down and killed by the “population police”.  

After finishing Among the Hidden, I started Robert Persig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on a whim, but gave up on it fairly early.  I’m sure it’s a very fountain of enlightenment and all, but it just didn’t interest me for some reason.  

Right now I’m reading Jack McDevitt’s Polaris, which is his newest, just released in paperback.  Yes, I’m back in my comfort zone, reading hard sci-fi.  And no one writing today is better at that than Mr. McDevitt.  Chindi is still my favorite of his so far, but Polaris has made a good start. It appears to be set in a different universe than all the others of his I’ve read so far.  Engines of God, Chindi and Omega (as well as most of his other novels, I think) are all set in the same universe, and really form a kind of series, with recurring characters and a continuous story arc (even though they all really stand alone).  Polaris is kind of a “cold case” mystery story.  Every person aboard a luxury spaceship on a sightseeing cruise abruptly disappears, and sixty years later the case is still a mystery when a Malcolm Reynolds-like bounty hunter discovers some new clues and gets tangled up with some powerful enemies who want to keep something hidden.

In music, I need to thank Josh Bizeau for turning me on to Michael Bublé in one of his recent blogs.  Actually, I first need to thank conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager for turning me on to Frank Sinatra.  Several months ago I remember listening to some samples from a Michael Bublé CD just to see what all the fuss was about.  I was thinking at the time that maybe he would be something like Josh Groban, who I love, but who only has two studio CDs out, and I was hungering for more.  At that time, I really blew Mr. Bublé off and forgot about him.  Then for some strange reason Dennis Prager played Sinatra’s “That’s Life” (click for a clip!) in its entirety on his talk show, and spent some time talking about why he liked to listen to Sinatra.  It was like a mini-music-appreciation course for that style of music, and it was very effective, at least for me.  From there it was just a short leap to Michael Bublé, whom I now hear in a completely different light (if it’s possible to hear something in a light).  Thanks Josh!

Well, I need to close this here.  It’s time to get back to work.  More later!

Until next time, keep those comments comin’!