The Neverending Story

"The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests, just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts."
John Greenleaf Whittier

"We shouldn't teach great books, we should teach a love of reading."
B. F. Skinner

"Some booiks are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
Francis Bacon, Sr.


Books make me happy, in a way that nothing else can. I'm hardwired to need a book almost every waking minute of the day. I'm always reading. When I finish one book, I'll wait a few hours to kind of let that last one soak in and make its impressions on my brain. Then I go pick out a new one. I have a box that's about 2 feet long and a foot and a half wide absolutely filled with paperbacks: two rows deep and some stacked on top. To me, it seems like a treasure chest filled not with jewels and gold coins, but with adventures and intriguing characters.

And escape.

Nothing comforts me like reading. I can turn off the world, forget my problems, worries, sadnesses, and go hunting vampires with Stephen King, catching FTAs with Janet Evanovich, solving mysteries with Robert B. Parker, creating magic--and utter chaos--with Jim Butcher, and, well, um, enjoying vampires with Laurell K. Hamilton. I can run the alleys and hills with Joe Grey and Dulcie in Shirley Rousseau Murphy's mystery-solving cat series. I can dig down deep into the evidence with Lincoln Rhyme in Jeffery Deaver's forensic mystery novels. I can be amazed and stunned by the oddities Special Agent Pendergast goes up against in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's adventure epics.

I can be who or what or where or even when I want to be. All in a book.

And no, a Kindle just isn't the same.

Dear SS

Hey, Precious! I haven't talked with you in about a billion years. How I miss you, it's crazy. Since M's is pretty much under surveillance 24/7, I don't really feel able to visit there. So how are things with you? Working hard, I assume, as usual. Not taking time for you. Have you had any of these nasty sinus/flu bugs that've been going around? You never did get enough rest, so I'll bet you've been sick at least once since December.

Don't look at me like that. I know how you are. ;)

Me? I'm alright. As you (maybe) saw earlier, we went to see The Used in concert a couple weeks ago. They were fucking fantastic! I'd never seen them live before, and to be honest hadn't gotten into their music until sometime last year. It was wow, just wow. Bert's got stage presence oozing out of his pores (at least I hope that's what it is, :P); he held that audience rapt for 2 hours. Not the most attractive man, is Bert, but the beard seems to improve his looks a tad.

And yes, we did have snow--finally. Never a lot, but more often than a normal Knoxville winter so far. We usually get enough snow to melt, refreeze, and turn to black ice the following morning, when various "winter-skilled" drivers (read "overconfident rednecks") skid through it and cause multiple-car pileups. We could turn it into an Olympic event. O_o

Been reading a lot; I'm sure you have too, knowing how you are. ;) I recently read The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I'd never read before. And won't read again. It's an extremely interesting story, enthralling characters, etc. Just, Oscar Wilde had a tendency to run off at the pen. Paragraphs that are two pages long! Descriptions of people/ideas/objects that lose you midway through because you've forgotten what he's talking about! Oh, Oscar, you do go on.

Well, its about time for me to go. Y'know, it's too bad that it's been so cold and snowy lately; we haven't been able to take our blanket outdoors. The stars are still out there, though, still shining for us. Can you see the big one that sparkles and twinkles overhead? Keep your eye on that one, it'll lead you home.

Goodnight, baby. I love you.

My heart to yours, always.

xo jen

PS. Remember, with Love and Hope, we can face the Unknown.