A Little Light Reading

I was inspired by a friend's blog posting to update any interested parties on my current reading (she always has such good ideas). I love to read. As mentioned in a previous posting of mine, books are my drug of choice. There are few things that I can do for hours at a time without needing to break for trivial things like food, sleep, etc. Reading is one of them. When I take some new purchase home from the bookstore (especially if I've been anticipating it), only my training, instilled in me by my mother in her hope that I would function like a normal human being, prevents me from cutting myself off from the outside world completely. The very real possibility exists that I could end up in a hermit-like state, only venturing out to replenish my supply of food, darting furtively through crowds of outsiders at the grocery store and only relaxing when I return home, victorious. A few things prevent me from doing this: 1) I have no income, other than my job, that would sustain this lifestyle - I can't pay the rent without money, and I don't have a place to keep my books without an apartment. 2) Contrary to popular belief, I do not loathe all human contact - just most of it. I suppose there would be a point, eventually, when I would want to interact with another person, even if it's only the clerk at the bookstore. To my mother's relief, my addiction to the written word does not quite surpass the requirement of living and working in society (as long as I can get my "fixes").

For those who haven't yet quit reading this post to go on to more interesting things, here is a brief overview of my recent and immediate future reading:

Coming out April 14 (FINALLY!): Bloodhound, by Tamora Pierce

The second installment of Pierce's Beka Cooper series, Bloodhound promises to be just as good, if not better, than Terrier. By now Beka has finished her year in training to be a Provost's Guardswoman, and will soon be a junior partner to a senior Guard (we'll see how well this turns out - she was good with Tunstall and Goodwin, but Beka's got her own way of doing things). My guess (soon to be proved wrong, I'm sure) is that she'll tackle an illegal slave-trading operation, probably made complicated by her sort of love-interest, Rosto the Piper. At the end of Terrier, Rosto had secured his claim to the title of "Rogue", the king of the criminals. This should prove to be interesting!

Coming out sometime in May: The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan

This is the fifth and probably final installment of Riordan's wonderful series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. For those of you who may be ignorant of this series, let me encourage you to at least read the first book, The Lightning Thief. In this book, Percy Jackson realizes that he is the half-mortal son of Posiedon, and that the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece have adapted and hidden themselves to survive in modern culture. In The Last Olympian, Percy will come up against the Titan Kronos yet again, and finally understand the meaning of the prophecy that could change the world, and his life, forever. Riordan's engaging narrative and intricate plots are worth reading, no matter what your age.

Just finished reading this week: Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen

Lies My Teacher Told Me is an astute analysis of the way U.S. history is being taught in public schools, based primarily on a review of the most popular textbooks for said classes. Loewen barely skims the surface of the most glaring incongruities between our history and what is taught from the textbooks. His topics range from the truth about the first Thanksgiving to the treatment and analysis of events in the 2000s. I guarantee that you will learn something, and you will probably be shocked.

Just finished reading a few months ago: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, by Terry Pratchett

On the suface, a wonderful and exciting story about a street-wise cat and his partners in crime, a band of intelligent rats. Maurice (the cat) and the rats move from town to town, giving the people a "plague" of rats and then cashing in by having a piper (who is in on the scam) lure them away. All of that changes when they come to a town called Bath. For those of you who are brave enough to dig deeper, it is a deep exploration of themes like societal structure, ethics, and death. It is much more than it appears to be, trust me.

Currently reading: Cynicism from Diogenes to Dilbert, by Ian Cutler

I was inspired to order this book after reading a newspaper article about Cynicism as philosophical thought. I learned about one of the founders of Cynicism, the Greek philosopher Diogenes. Most of what is taught of and about Diogenes is anecdotal, as writing down the tenets of Cynicism would be completely contrary to its intention. Diogenes lived in a barrel, rolling it wherever he wished to go. According to lore he walked through the streets with a lit lantern in full daylight, and when people asked him what he was doing, he replied "Looking for an honest man." Alexander the Great was purportedly an admirer of Diogenes, and upon finding the philosopher lying on the ground and basking in the sun, introduced himself. Alexander offered to do him any favor he wished, and Diogenes, after some thought, asked him to move out of the way of his sunlight. Though Cynicism is widely believed to be something negative, the orginal thought behind it is not. Cynics strove to disabuse society of any illusions that it may have about itself. Animals were to be admired for their lack of self-denial. They never pretended to be anything other than what they were, and that was something to be emulated. Cynicism has evolved over the years as a way for people to protect themselves when they believe that society has become unbearable. In other words, it's my kind of philosophy!

So that's a small taste of what I have been reading, and hope to in the future. Let me know if you have any suggestions, or if you have any questions about these!