Bibliofile - October

I read eight books in October bringing the year's total to eighty-four. I started the month with a book about Canadian politics by respected journalist Chantal Hebert called The Morning After. It's a fascinating look at the 1995 Quebec referendum and how no one really had any long-term plans respecting what would happen should the Yes forces win, including the Yes forces. For a political junkie like myself I found it a fascinating read.

Next up was the hilarious sequel to The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion. I recommend the first and the sequel to anyone looking for a good laugh-out-loud read.

The month didn't pass without a music industry book. This time it was Something So Strong by Chris Bourke, an extensive, thousand page plus look at Australia's Crowded House. Of course, as is usually the case with these books, reading this one lead to a buying spree on Amazon with two Split Enz CDs - a precursor to Crowded House - A Crowded House CD, and a Tim Finn CD, an on-again, off-again member of Crowded House and older brother to creative genius Neil. I've gotta stop reading these books. This book was interesting. I've always liked Crowded House. But it was a tad on the long side.

I closed out the month with James Dashner's The Maze series, a young adult trilogy that you'd like if you enjoyed The Hunger Games or His Dark Materials. I liked it, although I felt a tad let down by the third volume and the ending. Overall though it was a good read.

In between I read another Elvis Cole novel this time featuring his partner Joe Pike and The Humans where an alien takes over the body of a mathematics professor from Cambridge to hilarious consequences. My Hematologist, who knows I read a lot, recommended this to me on my last visit. I'm glad he did.

Here's all the books I read in October:

The Morning After - Chantal Hebert ****
The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simsion
The First Rule (Elvis Cole #13) - Robert Crais ****
Something So Strong - Chris Bourke ****
The Humans - Matt Haig ****
The Maze Runner (Book 1) - James Dashner ****
The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner Book 2) - James Dashner ****
Death Cure (Maze Runner Book 3) - James Dashner ***

That was my month between the covers. How about you?

My Back Pages - November

I know, I know, I know I should have reported in before now. But sometimes real life just gets in the way. I attempted 5 books in November. I say attempted because I slapped a big DNF (did not finish) on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. I just can't seem to get into this guy. It's the second or third of his I've given up on, Not so the other four, starting with a biography of Stephen Stills called Change Partners. This followed by a hilarious biography of the guy responsible for National Lampoon called A Stupid and Futile Gesture - How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever. I ended the month reading yet another biography, this one of the man behind Rolling Stone magazine,. It was called Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine. A fascinating read. So last month I hit the magic number 50 I'd imagined for myself back in January. If I roll this month into my yearly total I'm at 54 books. And I still hav...

The Polka Dot Door

A long time ago, when I was 22, my first child was born. That kid grew up on a little Canadian kid's show called Polka Dot Door, produced by the TV Ontario network. And Dad, more often than not, sat through those shows with his little one. Nine or so years later when a brother, and a year after that when a sister came along number one son was moving on to Knight Rider and The Dukes of Hazzard. But there was a nice overlap where his siblings picked up where he had left off with Polka Dot Door. And Dad was right there to welcome them. So you're looking at a Polka Dot Door veteran. The show began in 1971 and ran to 1993. I didn't watch the full run but I did get in my fair share. The formula was pretty simple. A young male and female host, which seemed to change every week, sang songs, told stories, made crafts and generally did their best stimulate little brains. The show opened as follows... Imagination Day! Oh boy! ...

30 Days of Photos III #4 Sour

Check out Ziva's Inferno for the rest of today's photos.

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