Reading Books

[hersilentsymphony]

Hi Guys,

When I'm feeling down I usually escape to the fictional reality of books, but since I read so fast I have run out of books to read. What book do you find helps you the most and what are you thinking of reading next?

I am interested to see the different books people come up with.

Thank you,

Hersilentsymphony x.

[The_Real_David_Charles]

Dear tacet,

Thunder Dog.

Blind dog and handler on the 82nd floor of the World Trade Centre when the planes hit ten years ago.  Inspirational story of courage and trust.   For many, seeing a blind person and his dog get down the stairs was truly motivational.  The missed calls home and lack of communication portrayed as it happened in a very vivid manner.

In the back story there is a stand off at school where the Council deem non visual high school kids unsuitable for school bus trips !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Usual crap - liability issues.  What's interesting is that blindness had that disability tag but in the main most blind people, with their guide dogs, are super capable.   This handler ended up doing big time PR for the Guide Dog Association.

We take so much for granted.

Adios, David.

PS  Some psychiatric drugs make reading impossible.   Side effects.

[jess334]

I'm the same! I love reading to escape.  I'm a bit old school though and I love reading the old romances.  

Another interesting read is The Happiness Trap (Russ Harris).  I've also got my uni text books, but they aren't as fun.  

[Pixie15]

Hi,

I love to read. My favorite little escape book is "The Little Prince" by Antoine de St. Exupery. It cheers me up every time. Thanks, Chris.

[anna3]

Hey, I find reading such a great escape too!
My personal favourites because they are easy to read and lighthearted are:

The Moomintroll series by Tove Jansson
Anything by Alexander McCall Smith
All my childhood books
Frankie magazine 🙂

I suppose it also depends on your taste in books, but good luck with these! (And there are plenty in each series to keep you going for a while!)

[Vegetarian Marshmallow]

I usually read fiction.  Mostly with humour in it or I tend to get bored easily.  Currently I'm on Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends".  The premise was unappealing at first because of the terrible vampire books (which shall remain nameless) that have been popular recently.  But I'd previously enjoyed his "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal", and as soon as I started reading this one my fears were quashed by the power of a good laugh.

I'm also reading Douglas Hofstadter's "I Am A Strange Loop", and someone-or-other's "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat".  And every now and then I am rifling through "The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe".

For the last couple months I've been stuck about a quarter way through David Foster Wallace's "Broom Of The System".  It's very good, but my interest was hijacked by the aforementioned, lighter, books.  For me, at least, DFW's writing requires the use of a dictionary every now and then.  Sometimes you just don't feel like thinking that much.

I think before that I was on Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle".  He's good.  I like him.  I need to get to his "Mother Night", as well.  I saw the 1996 film and was very touched by the dialogue from the play that the main character writes about Hitler and Eva Braun, with his inspiration obviously coming from his own beloved.