Sunday, October 4, 2015

Picks From The Past


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My neighbor just had a baby.  If you are a woman and you have had a baby you might remember the nights you spent feeding the baby or rocking the baby to sleep.  You are up. The baby is either eating or in the process of falling asleep and there you are sitting or rocking. So you have some down time even if it is the middle of the night and if you were like me, I could not sleep nor did I fall asleep after I put the baby down. 
 I asked her if she had a chance to read anything while she has been home on maternity, pretty much expecting an answer of I really have been too busy or too tired to read anything at this time.  But that was not the answer I got. She read on her e-reader.The e-reader has become a beautiful thing to use during the feeding or rocking period.  It is light weight and you can change the page with one hand.  
Her answer to my question of, had she read anything good was surprising and a little bit brilliant.  She said she choose books from previous years' bestseller list.  What a great idea they are so much easier to find. Not as many people waiting for them especially if you go the library route which I often do. So I decided I would go this route as well.
I went to the NY Times Bestseller lists for inspiration and arbitrarily choose the year 1988 to start.  There is no scientific reason or no major event in my life that lead me to this year.  I just started there and I found the book Alaska by James Michener. I have read several of his books such as Hawaii and Chesapeake which I really enjoyed.
If you have read any of Michener's books you know that he does a great deal of research on the setting for the book as well as the history of the people.  He also writes about multiple generations thereby leading his readers through history spanning many years.
The one thing you need to know about Michener is his books are long and very detailed.  If you can get passed those two things I think you will really enjoy the books.

Alaska is 868 pages so it may take me awhile to make it through the book.  Check back in a couple of weeks.

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