What I'm reading...

Information:

I've begun working on the annual review of medical literature re. scleroderma.

Still reading gardening books as I plan new plantings along the back fence. I rather like the trumpet vine that has come back and the hummingbirds and butterflies love it so I think it stays even if it is orange. Yes, it may eventually destroy the fence but the last one lasted more than 20 years vines and all. Since the gas company is putting in a new remote readable electronic meter I may even let part of the jungle return. Right now I'm feeling blue: plumbago, aganpanthus, wax myrtle... But I can't plant in a drought so I'll wait until Fall.

Fiction:

Novik, Naomi: His Majeysty's Dragon. 2006
Novik, Naomi: Throne of Jade. 2006
Novik, Naomi: Black Powder War. 2006
Novik, Naomi: Empire of Ivory. 2007
Novik, Naomi: Victory of Eagles. 2008
The Temeraire Series. New York: Ballantine Books. Kindle. It was a huge mistake to download the free copy of what proved to be the first of series. I got hooked on this story about dragons and the Napoleonic Wars. The writing is superb and the story is compelling. Novik speaks to lots of social conditions and philosophical ideas. I was reminded of David's favorites--the Horatio Hornblower books by C.S. Forester and the Richard Sharp novels by Bernard Cornwell. Kinda fun but really a complete waste of time that I could have spent more productively. FICTION FANTASY BRITISH NAVY DRAGONS 21st Century

Bedside Book:

Andreach, Robert J.: Studies in Structure: Stages in the spiritural life in four modern authors: Gerarad Manley Hopkins, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Hart Crane. London: Burns & Oates, 1964, Fordham University Press. Now I understand why I never liked James Joyce. This is an exceedingly odd book. It is less literary cricticism and more an analysis of stages in spirituality.

Chairside Nibbles:

catching up on newspapers and periodicals


Patten, Robert L.: George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art. Volume1: 1792-1835. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992. Kindle BIOGRAPHY ARTIST ILLUSTRATOR 18th Century 19th Century 20th Century This award winning biography by one of my English literature professors from Rice University is proving a most enjoyable re-read. One of Patten's strong points as a professor was rooting the literature in the history, the sociology, and the culture of the time, He offers rich details in a very readable frame. With my new interest in book illustration it is even more interesting to me now than it was on my first reading some years ago.

SEASONS:

Linn, Dennis; Linn, Sheila Fabricant; Linn, Matthew: Good Goats: helaing our image of God. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994. vi, 101 p. FEMINITY OF GOD JUDGEMENT DAY HELL DOCTRINE 20th Century