Back on the Book-Wagon Again!

Last year was an abominable year for reading. Sadly, I only pulled off one whole book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I finished in a day and a half. Very good for Harry. Very bad for me and my Reading Ego.

So, it is with great jubilation and pride that I announce my return to the book wagon with the reading of The Man in My Basement, by Walter Mosley. I haven't finished as of yet, but I'm almost half way through it...having just begun today. Its the first book by a black author that I've read in a long while, the last one being the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines. As a black guy, I suppose its expected of me to read more books by black authors, but I just don't get into them. To be honest, I don't truly identify with the usual themes of racial struggle in mostly white settings.

I grew up in a mostly white town, and had mostly white friends, some of which tossed around the "n-word" with a casual "you-know-I'm-just-joking" way. Sometimes it was funny, other times it stung. But such was life, and I dealt with it. But this book doesn't really play on the "race" angle, and I think that's what's drawn me into it.

At any rate, it feels really good to be back on my reading game. I'm one of those creatures that keeps track of all the books I read in year, and I compare notes on the previous years, like some sort of autistic bibliophile. Scary. In 2007 I only managed to trudge through 1 book, but in 2006 I had 9, and in '05 there were 18...yet '04 only saw 3. So, every couple of years I get into a reading slump, which I absolutely hate. Although, is it really a slump if I'm still reading, just not whole books? I mean, I still get lots of Blog reading in, as well as news and magazines. Just not books. I'm sure the book police will fine me if I'm in violation.

Well, here's to a new year full of finished books with lots of new literary friends to cherish!

So the Empire Has Struck Back?

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The Journey Begins...

Have you ever stayed up all night, letting your mind float effortlessly along the stream of consciousness, well past that last safe harbor for launching toward sleep-land? Was your mental boat fueled by caffeine in its never-ending quest to absorb as much information, conversation and meditation as that sleep deprived brain of yours could allow? If so, then this blog will resonate well with you!

Here is a nice little place where minds inebriated by caffeine, or the simple thirst for knowledge and experience, can come to discuss all things that tickle the soul. Books, music, politics, religion, entertainment: they all have a place in these pages, ready like ships to carry us to lands full of adventure.

So, pour yourself a cup of your favorite mental stimulant, and together let us drink deeply from that vast ocean of Ideas from which humanity has been imbibing for ages!