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	i used to read one book at a time. i used to read that book in a very regimented manner, like fifteen or twenty five pages a day, depending on how simple or dense the writing. i used to set a schedule and track my progress making it so i knew when i should be done with the book and if i completed the book as expected. sometimes i finished on time, and other times, i never finished at all. the never finishing at all business bothered me. like a lot. i found that a slow moving or not right for this moment book could stall my reading, all my reading. i knew changing the book might clear the block but consequences loomed. this is the ocd side of me. while this quirk sometimes debilitated me, other times, lots of times, my quirk helped me over many of life's saw horses. i needed this to be one of those times. so, i made a small tweak to my reading routine (somewhere along this journey, i stumbled upon the bionic power of small properly-placed tweaks). instead of focusing on one book, i now read four - six books at a time. and instead of reading in a genre rotation like i once did (e.g. fiction, history, literature, non-fiction, psychology, fluff, repeat), i read all genres at once. and instead of reading for a set amount of pages per day, i read for a set amount of time, thirty minutes. when the reading window comes up, i set the timer, pick one of the books from the currently being read stack, open to the bookmarked page and collapse into another person's world and experience. now when i stall, i stall for bigger, more meaty causes, the sort of things one should set their book down for. not just because the lead character in the book blows or the author and i aren't jiving at the minute. this i can live with.			Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein Wherever You Go There You Are Jon Kabat-Zinn Bleak House Charles Dickens Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert Endurance: Shackletons' Incredible Voyage Alfred Lansing Mindset Carolyn Dweck
	READ BEFORE	BOOKS FROM : 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
		Cold Dog Soup Stephen Dobyns 11.2001 There's a girl in my computer class who recently told a story about how she and a friend, while driving down the road, ran over and killed a dog. It's not a new tale but in her telling she couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably throughout the narrative. I mean she was in absolute hysterics and repeatedly said, "I know I shouldn't be laughing, but it was just so damn funny I can't help it." The girl who finds humor in running over man's best friend would enjoy this book. I did not. link to this review
		Les Miserables Victor Hugo 11.2001 Like chess the written word has infinite possibilities, there are countless ways to describe any one moment. Of these possible options each and every instance falls onto a continuum of efficacy. It is this continuum that divides great authors from the pedestrian. It is no secret that Hugo danced on the very precipice of this scale mostly through his specialty; character development. He masterly accomplishes in a few lines what some attempt to achieve in complete works. Of the countless characteristics or observations that can be conveyed, he had the ability to focus on the meaningful points that brought you ever closer to his characters. By the end of this lengthy tome I feel as though I would recognize Jean or Cossette should I run into them on the street. In fact, after reading on the metro one workday morning, I found that, without even being fully aware, I was crying while walking down the sidewalk towards my building. By my evaluation, that there is some mighty fine storytelling. link to this review
		Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 07.2001 So this book did not strum my funny bone the same reading it ten years later. But, I can explain. First, the story takes place on a university campus among some of the most pretentious and pedantic types known. When meeting this book for the first time, that was my life and therefore it spoke to me in a very intimate way. Having left that environment and many of its occupants behind, I no longer see myself planted in its pages. Lucky Jim also deals with the dating game, yet another arena I haven't frequented in many years, although it did take me back to more than one memory. Lastly, and what will still make me call this an overly enjoyable book deals with the main character lucky Jim Dixon. Now luck, then and now, is something I am very familiar with and not a shred of that humor was lost on me. Bottom line, if you're not at university, in the dating melee or a very lucky person, this British comedy may not whisper secrets in your ear like it did mine and you may therefore not enjoy it as much as I. Buyer beware. link to this review
		The Godfather Mario Puzo 07.2001 I deprived myself of this encapsulating tale long enough to forget enough to make the second trip through almost, almost, as enjoyable as the first. With the exception of the ten pages dedicated to Lucy Mancini's vaginal reconstruction surgury (which surprisingly did not make it into either of the first two films), this tale is literary wizardry. And, if I could discern the significance behind Mancini's medical miracle, I may even appreciate those ten pages. link to this review
		Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae Stephen Pressfield 07.2001 Gates portrays a mindset most people will never embrace and an era virtually none can conceive. The situations and imagery conveyed here are unfathomable to me and my mind is impotent to divine such a world on its own. Given this mental limitation, I consumed Pressfield's account of what was certainly a unique moment in man's evolution and growth. When the Spartan king lost use of his left arm due to a severed tricep, his shield was strapped to his torso and he returned to the battlefield to fight beside his blood-caked troops. I once stayed home from school for two days because of a festering blemish on the tip of my nose. Like I said, inconceivable to me. link to this review
		Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book 4) J.K. Rowling 06.2001 This is the best of the series, for multiple reasons. Rowling outdoes herself here and certainly outpaces any expections for this, her fourth in the potter series. She obviously has immunity to whatever funk gets in people's heads after initial success because not only do her books continue in their original vein and sincerity, they seem to improve exponentially in their readibility. The true test for her will be the pending cinema production and if she can continue her craft without letting the ancillary movie efforts cloud her creativity. Secondly, I'm a huge fan of what J.K. is doing for the reading movement on this planet in not only getting kids flipping the pages again, but offering a rather hefty tome (733 pages) as to let young minds not be intimidated by larger works. link to this review
		The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 05.2001 Ok, I need to start by saying I totally got screwed on this book. For any who may not know me or my proclivities, I'm absolutely maniacal when it comes to going in blind on anything enterainment based. In locating the image of this book for this site, I went to amazon and while obtaining it read one sentence of some verbiage in the content area. Wouldn't you know that this one sentence was a 'describe this book in thirty words or less making sure to ruin the ending' kind of sentence. I was absolutely raving. Raving, but not mad in the sense that I'd let the ridiculously foolish act of one person deny me a story written by a woman named Carson. Historically I've not been a fan a female novelist, nothing sexist here, I just can better relate to the prattling-ons of my fellow tripods, but was very impressed with this Carson's Stienbeckian storytelling and eye for the pedestrian. She painted some memorable instances of freaks in an age before my own. Freaks have come a long way. And, thanks for the text and reccomendation Buddy James. link to this review
		The Fourth K Mario Puzo 02.2001 Nothing too sexy going on in this novel. It reads as much like a Clancy novel as anything else. But, the story is quick and entertaining. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a fast, light and enjoyable read to kill a weekend. link to this review
		The Autobiography of Malcolm X Alex Haley 02.2001 This is a powerful book. This is a very powerful book. I have never partaken in a more sincere account of a man's inner and public struggle. If the experiences of Malcolm the pauper, the player, the prisoner, the puppet, the brother and finally the sacrifice, do not touch you, black or white, you are not a reasonable individual. link to this review
		All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 01.2001 Oh to be part of a coddled and privileged generation, floating through our war-eligible years without getting called up stands as quite a boon (for myself and country alike). Because, if a doubt exists in your mind that I would not be the Saving Private Ryan guy frozen and crying in the stairwell, remove it now. And, while I know I can make observations on Western Front like "he made it feel like you were right in the fracas" or "boy, I can just hear the tanks chugging over the hill", I cannot forget that I offer this learned opinion reading, writing and sitting in my chair and a half, fire popping in the hearth and gulping peanut m&m's by the gross. So, for us layman, this compact story of one man's war-time experience presents a concise glimpse into a life that is not our own. And, if nothing else, assures us that it is not a romantic or heroic life, just one rife with fear, agony and the desperate drive to survive. But, on the other hand, if you polled the average American, many would report similar emotions in their daily machinations, the only difference being one is justified and one is not. And, no matter who or how many people would argue the point of relativity, it is not, in any way, relative. link to this review

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