I Bought Books

Thursday, 4:39 pm

By Kate

Apr

19

2007

Okay, so I broke my own rules. But there just isn’t a substitute for holding a book in your hands and thinking, “Mine. Forevermore Mine!” It’s a disease.

What I dragged home this time:

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.
Somehow I’ve lived this long without reading the book. Skimming it for English class in high school doesn’t count as reading it. Now that the man is dead, I think I owe it to both of us to actually read it. Amazon’s editorial review begins..."Kurt Vonnegut’s absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes unstuck in time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut’s) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.”

Fred First’s Slow Road Home: a blue ridge book of days.
I’ve heard about this book from several bloggers in the past several months. It was Gary’s review that finally inspired me to buy it. Thanks, Gary. I’m going to enjoy this book a whole bunch and will try not to read it all in one sitting. I think it’s a book that should be stretched out over a period of time to really savor it. For those of us who are attracted to rural places, Fred First paints vivid prose portraits of his parcel of it, with a naturalist’s eye. The author also maintains a website, Fragments from Floyd that is well worth a read.

What I’m listening to:

Simon and Garfunkel’s Tales from New York.
For reasons I know not, this CD is my comfort music. Better than food, y’know? When the world gets a little too intense, I throw this on and let it soothe me. Thought I’d just add this as an afterthought. I bought it a long time ago, but it’s (still) working its magic on me today.