books books books

When I was at BYU, I took a children's literature class.  I didn't need to, of course.  Children's literature hardly has anything to do with computer science.  I even had to get special permission to take it because it was an elementary education class, I think.  Anyway, I had to get someone from some department to sign a form so I could sign up.  It was an absolute delight to be able to excuse reading because it was an assignment.

My teacher was a librarian, of course.  I can't remember now where he libraried.  Maybe at the BYU library.  I do remember a story he told us of a lunch he took at Wendy's one day.  He had been very much looking forward to getting into a book he was reading for a brief half hour before having to get back to a very busy day.  While there, he happened to run into an acquaintance who was a reporter for the local paper who sat with him and talked through his whole lunch.  Of course he was disappointed, but he could hardly have turned the man away.  In a few days an editorial appeared in the paper about how the reporter had saved the lonely librarian from eating a sad lunch alone.  My teacher exclaimed aloud after reading, "Alone! Richard - I was reading!"

Lately I have been listening to books more than reading them.  It appeals to the side of my nature that doesn't like to know what's coming.  When listening to a book, you don't know when the end of a chapter is coming or even the end of a book.  And I can listen while doing a great number of other things, so I can still feel rather productive while getting lost in another world.  It does carry the risk of being rather rudely interrupted when the phone rings, since all my audio books are on my phone.  When reading a book, you can just ignore the phone, but when listening on the phone the ring stops the audio book in order to ring, leaving one to exclaim, "Why are you calling now?! Don't you know Edmond Dantes has just traded places with the corpse of the Abbe Faria and is waiting to be carried out of his prison to his grave?"

The point is, people often ask me what I've been reading lately, so here are the last ten books I've read (or listened to), for your judgement:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (ongoing)
2. Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard (ongoing)
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (still a favorite)
4. The Naming by Alison Croggon
5. The Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
6. The Land of Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer
7. The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie
8. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
9. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
10 The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

Honestly I can recommend all of these books without reservation.  So, go ahead and pick one up today.  And feel free to post your own recommendations in the comments.