Slow Down Reading

 As I mentioned in the last post, the widget I was using for subscriptions has been discontinued. So, given that fact, most of my subscribers probably did not see my last post. I am planning to send out an email to each subscriber with a link to this latest post. If you want to subscribe, you must let me know so I can add you to my own subscription list. I will still use Facebook as a means for sharing new posts.

Just like my Blog posts, my reading list has become very lax in the last few months. I am trying to keep reading but not at the level I was during the middle of the pandemic. Here are some of my latest books I have read. The list is ordered from most current book back. I have only finished seven books in the last seven months.

The Virgin Forest by Doris Provencher-Faucher

I have an autographed version of this novel. It was written by a distant cousin around 2000. She had sent me a letter asking if I would like to read it so I bought a copy. Too bad that I stuck it in a box that got stored with my parents stuff. For 20 years I have been sorting through these heirlooms and recently found the book.

First, I should mention that Provencher is my family name, it was turned to Provoncha back around the time of my Great-great grandfather Paul, who was born in Quebec and moved to upstate New York, around Schroon Lake and Lake George. There are still lots of Provonchas in that area, but there are many more Provenchers, both in the US and in Canada.

This book is a historical fiction about a young man named Bastian, who leaves France in 1657 for a new opportunity in New France, present day Quebec. I knew that the book had information about the Provencher family, but it took me six chapters to realize that Bastian's Christian name was Sebastian. His character was based on my 7th Great grandfather. After a few years in the land, trying to establish himself as a farmer along the Saint Lawrence river, he sends for his wife-to be (Margurite) in 1662 who was living with Bastian's siblings in France. Marguerite would be my 7th Great grandmother. They eventually married and have kids including my 6th great grandfather. The book is based on lots of historical facts that Doris had gathered. It was a wonderful read, excellent to see your family struggling in a new world.

I knew Doris had written two more books about the family, so I tried to find her on-line, only to find her obituary. The small company that sold her books is no longer in existence either, since I think it was owned by her and her husband. I have seen a few of the books on Amazon. If you want to get me a gift...

Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy

Back in the late 1980s, I belonged to a Book-of-the-Month club and this was one of my purchases. I never found time to read it. I did see the movie and I enjoyed it. I had the book so I read it. Tom Clancy writes great, and it reads easy. The book seemed more complicated than the movie, and it was hard to put down. I need to read more about Jack Ryan.

Something Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll

Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime is a non-fiction book by American theoretical physicist Sean M. Carroll. The book, his fifth, was released on September 10, 2019. It does contain a lot of the current quantum theories including the many-worlds interpretation and quantum fields. Some of the ideas are quite hard to understand, although the book was written for the average interested man. I think I would have liked to seen more of the Mathematics, although he does include some of the more high level equations. My math degrees were what peeked my interest in the book, but I realized that one book would not explain the universe to me. It sure made me more confused, but in this many-world universe, there is probably a version of me that understands it perfectly well.

The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway

Another book from my Book-of-the-Month club days. I never found time to read it either. Then I started this Reading List and read For Whom the Bell Tolls, another great book by Hemingway, and I decided I would read more by him. This was on my book shelf so I took it down and read it. It should be noted that he spent the last 15 years of his life writing it and it was not published until  many years (25) after his death by suicide. I felt it was a great read, but slightly different than For Whom the Bell Tolls. I have other Hemingway books on my list. This was #39 on my list.

The Odyssey by Homer

In 2020, I had read the Iliad by Homer. The Odyssey was in the same book that I have so I decided to read it although the Iliad was not as great as I hoped it would be. This one is written slightly better in my opinion and the story is very interesting. It tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca (not New York) and his odyssey after the Trojan War.  Again, it is a poem, written in 24 books. Thank God it was translated to English otherwise it would be all Greek to me.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Now this is a memorable book. Not very often do I give out my top score, but this earned it. Although very long at nearly 900 pages, I was amazed how wonderful it was. I am not sure exactly why I liked it so much but I know it made me laugh, cry, get angry and many other emotions. I had already read two books by Dickens last year, and they were great books, but I liked this one the most. There are more books by him on my list. This one ended up as #37 on my books to read list.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

This is book three of Pullman's His Dark Material trilogy. It was book #36 read from my list. I started to read the books after watching the HBO series. This book is ahead of where the TV shows are at, and it was a great read.  He has another trilogy that has not been completed called The Book of Dust. Two of the three books are out there and the third is being written. For now, I am waiting for the HBO shows to continue.

Good reading everyone.