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Reading Slothfully
I was told in elementary school that I only could read at half the speed for success in college. Oh well, one benefit of slow reading is you get to live with the characters a longer period of time. I read in a vain attempt to better understand people. At my other homes, I'm known as a spouse, pop, guy in the choir, physical chemist, computer/web dilettante and child-care provider. In theory, I'm a published author, if you consider stuff like Quenching Cross Sections for Electronic Energy Transfer Reactions Between Metastable Argon Atoms and Noble Gases and Small Molecules to count as publications. I've strewn dozens of such fascinating things to the winds.
Currently reading
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Spirit of the Border
Ramona the Brave (Ramona, #3)
The Underground Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Delilah of the Snows
Mrs. Miniver
Betsy-Tacy Treasury (P.S.)
A Christmas Carol
The Way Some People Die
Envy of Angels
O Pioneers!
Willa Cather is awesome! This is the first of her prairie trilogy. I'd previously read the third one, My Antonia. This is the story of a young woman, Alexandra, who takes over management of her father's farm in western Nebraska, in preference to her two older brothers. She makes a success of it, but is a bit less successful in her personal life, such as it is. This could be considered a feminist book, in that there is a strong, independent, successful female character. She's also very engaging.
I suppose one reason I liked O Pioneers! and My Antonia so much is that it is basically the story of my great grandparents. They homesteaded in South Dakota, then after a couple hideous winters headed south where they settled in Kansas.
