List of Recent Books I’ve Read–and My Recommendations

As most of you know, I’m a reading fool–especially during the winter months when being outside isn’t all that much fun. (I’m a spring/summer/fall enthusiast; winter is the season I do my best just to get through, like a bear.)

 

Whenever I’m not writing, I’m reading. (OK, that’s an exaggeration; I also sleep, take baths, shop for groceries, all the usual stuff that’s required to keep body and soul together…)

 

I just finished MOON SHOT: The Inside Story of America’s Apollo Moon Landings. I bought it because it was featured on Book Bub and because I met one of the authors (astronaut Deke Slayton) during my time at Rocketdyne in Chatsworth CA (1990-1991) while I was temping before I got my foot in the door at Warner Bros. I liked him a lot. So when I spotted this book, I thought, “Yeah…I’m ready to re-live the days when men were going to the moon…”

 

It was a heady time. I remember standing in our front yard in Cle Elum looking up at the moon on July 20, 1969 and saying right out loud, “There’s are two men walking on the moon right now. Good Lord!”  It was an absolute wonder to me. “How did they do that?”

 

Remember, this was 20 years before there was a computer in almost every home and on all smart phones.

 

I’d been watching the build up to the moon shot for years. I’d read about the triumphs and the tragedies, the hits and misses, the ups and the downs. But to stand there, look up at the moon, and actually realize THEY HAD DONE IT–that it was no longer the realm of science fiction to stand on an alien world–I was awed and flabbergasted.

 

I didn’t expect to love this book. I didn’t expect to cry. I didn’t expect to get inside the astronauts (or their families’) heads to the degree I did in MOON SHOT. But I did.

 

I didn’t count the number of times I teared up (which was embarrassing, because I was sitting at the Puyallup Library waiting to be called in to have my taxes prepared, and there were people sitting next to me on both sides and all around me) but it was more than five!

 

Why did I cry?  I cried when astronauts died, when they were denied their birthright (as Deke Slayton himself was for years), when they succeeded, when they described what they saw, and felt, and thought while up there circling the moon and looking at their home world (our home world).

 

I heartily recommend this book. It was co-authored by astronaut  Alan Shepard (who waited a helluva long time for an Apollo adventure, too) and space/science writer Jay Barbee. It is easy to read and understand; there is no science jargon to trip up the casual reader.

 

If you were alive during those thrilling years, I can guarantee this book will bring it all back to you.  If you weren’t alive during the Apollo missions, and you’ve only seen the movie (which was great), you should read this book to vicariously experience the events shared in it the way we did.

 

I can guarantee you that you will enjoy the ride of your life to the moon and back!

 

Before MOON SHOT, I read ROCK CHILD by Win Blevins.  It’s historical fiction about a Tibetan Buddhist nun, a half-breed Native American Indian, and a world-renowned British spy whose paths cross and interconnect in one of the most engaging early America/pioneer adventures I’ve ever read. I definitely plan to read more of this author’s books. He has won awards for his writing about Native American life and culture.

 

The book covers the era when people got “shanghaied” (as many still do today, sadly) and dragged into sex trafficking. During the course of the story, these three meet up and engage with Brigham Young and Mark Twain. The antagonist in the story is a maniac whose failed coupling with the prostituted nun incites such rage in him that he swears vengeance on her when he can’t kill her outright for refusing his demand for sex.  Porter Rockwell (that’s the scoundrel’s name) stalks her all over the Nevada Territory, waiting for his chance to kill her.

 

That’s the synopsis. It sounds like a melodrama but it is so well written by Blevins that the reader gets caught up in it.  I had a hard time putting it down at night to go to sleep. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Another book I’ve read recently is THE SPARK: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius and Autism by Kristine Barnett. I’m intrigued by autism.  I’ve read several books about it. This is one of the best ones, in my opinion. Barnett’s son has a genius IQ. He sees things very differently. He became interested in astrophysics as a very young child and may one day win a Nobel Prize. His mother’s struggle to keep him out of the clutches of “experts” who saw no future for him is a blueprint for other parents who aren’t ready to relinquish their children’s futures to the naysayers.

 

I’m about a third of the way into Elephant Bill. It’s about a fellow who kept track of the physical well-being of the elephants that worked in teak forests not long after the turn of the last century. So far he has shared anecdotes about the wit, charm, forbearance and intelligence of these amazing pachyderms. I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest. There are places in it that are emotionally challenging (veterinary work back in the day was primitive) but most of it is an amazing journey with the people who work with these enormous animals. I’m very much enjoying it.

 

My next book (unless I get waylaid by a more compelling title) is Cat Daddy: What the World’s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love and Coming Clean. (What can I say? I can’t stay away from animal-oriented books for very long.)

 

Every book I read gives me more fodder for blogs, books, and articles. I have lived a thousand lives because of books. I can’t imagine what life must be like for people who don’t read regularly. I think I’d go stark raving mad…and, for sure, my life experience would be a fraction of what it has been were it not for the thousands of books I’ve read.

 

Reading books helped me decide not to live a mundane life.  There’s a saying I keep in my kitchen. It reads:

 

“The day I decided that my life was magical, suddenly there was magic all around me!”

 

Books did that for me. Because of books I “boldly went” where so few others dared go.  And I got there, surprising myself beyond my wildest imaginings! Any of my own books can underscore that claim!

 

Read more. Seriously. You have no idea what you’re missing!