July 2018 Reading

The books that I finished reading in July 2018

July 2108 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

This was a very focused month as I decided to just commit to finishing off the Miami Jones series, by A.J. Stewart, which I started last month. It was not that difficult as all of the stories are real "page turners"and a treat to read.

I very much appreciated the depiction of the experience of Black golfers on the PGA Tour in "Deep Rough."  Though, Stewart takes a big liberty with history - the 1966 Los Angeles Open was actually won by Arnold Palmer, despite a closing two over par 73. Charlie Sifford was the first African American to play on the PGA Tour; and he did win the Los Angeles Open in 1969. Sifford and Lee Elder were an inspiration to many in my generation. (Let us just say that Tiger Woods is quite a bit younger than my children.)

All of the stories contain fascinating nuggets of insight in to various sports such as baseball, yachting,  and cricket. And, Miami's observations on exercise and healthy eating also inspired me to do a little  better in my personal life. Not that I will ever put a bunch of green stuff into a blender and drink it for breakfast.

So, I guess that by now the discerning reading will have gathered that I highly recommend these books.

Covers

Bedding: photo by Cliff Hutson

The Bottle Boys:

This is worth another listen:

Betty IPA: photo by Cliff Hutson

Something Completely Different:

Leo Moracchioli feat. Mary Spender

Birth of the Cool: photo by Cliff Hutson

June 2018 Reading

The books that I finished reading in June 2018

June 2018 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

• “Black Betty,” Walter Mosley
• “Stiff Arm Steal,” A.J. Stewart
• “Offside Trap,” A.J. Stewart

Well, the year is half over and I have only read twenty-one books. That puts me well off the pace of my goal of sixty for 2018. I can chalk part of the reason for this to the amount of time that I have spent watching the FIFA World Cup. But, mostly it is due to encountering a bunch of proposed books that I find I have no interest in finishing. I am not going to let the probability of missing this goal to get me down. As, to paraphrase Miami Jones, once you start measuring something you enjoy it saps the fun out of it.

Drawing a Blank

This Page

Blank Pages: photo by Cliff Hutson

One of the things that I have long found to be mildly annoying is coming upon a page in a publication that bears the imprint, "This page intentionally left blank." Because, of course it isn't. 

Aunt Dagmar

Then again, I have always taken to heart Aunt Dagmar's admonition, "If you don't have something to say, there is no need to open your mouth and prove it."

Tonight finds me up against my self-imposed deadline for publishing this blog and I am  pretty much clueless as to any vaguely interesting (even to just me) topic. So, I should stop right here with my own version of a page intentionally left blank.

Shakespeare 

"The rest is silence."  -  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act V

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May 2018 Reading

One Book

May 2018 Reading: photo by Cliff Hutson

This past month I only managed to finish reading one book. I might have lost my attention span much like the character in this xkcd comic coincidentally posted this week.

I came across this book on a visit to my local Barnes and Noble bookstore. C.J. Box is not one of my favorite authors, though I have read a fair number of his Joe Pickett series, but that was years ago. However, when I saw a hard cover edition for under seven dollars, I decided to give him another chance. It just reenforced my belief that  decision to drop him from my preferred list was a correct one. Still, I did read the whole thing. There is no other author who made the cut for May.

That purchase was part of my small campaign of trying to support brick and mortar businesses. Bookstores, new and used, were a big part of my life growing up, and into the 1990s when the small, local ones began to disappear because of the pressure for the big stores like Borders, and B&N.  These, too, have discontinued business, or are threatened with demise, respectively. It is good to see that Upstart Crow is still with us.

Several Magazines

I did read quite a lot of magazines, stacks of which had been building up for a while. These photographs represent a sampling of my selections:

The New Yorker: photo by Cliff Hutson

Scientific American: photo by Cliff Hutso

Westways: photo by Cliff Hutson

Dwell: photo by Cliff Hutson