Busy feeling sorry for myself

My wife has had a long-standing cold that just doesn’t seem to go away.  She manages to do some of her chores but spends a lot of time reading.  Meanwhile, I just went on hale and hearty.

Then bam!  Last week I lost all my energy.  I first attributed it to splitting wood. lots of ice chipping, and a heavy workout at the fitness center.  But no, my cough got worse and my nose ran a lot.  I gave up on going to the cabin.  Fortunately, we had a thaw and the snow is almost gone (in February, in Duluth Minnesota?  Global warming is a hoax?)

Wait!  If you don’t like the weather in Minnesota, wait five minutes.  It is raining, the temperature is dropping, and we have snow!

My energy level was just sufficient to read books and newspapers.  Let’s see, I got through both of Aaron James’ “Asshole” books,  I finished another non-fiction book and got half-way through a fourth.  Today, I just had to finish Lisa Scottoline’s Courting Trouble.  Wow!  Does it twist and turn.

Now, I have to gather all the notes I made from reading newspapers, sort out what I have already made blog entries about, and write something that is a different take on what is being published.

I hope i don’t have to shovel snow tomorrow!

You know whodunit, but...

...how many will he kill before he is caught or killed?

That is my take half-way through Benefit of Doubt by Neal Griffin.

My wife picked it out for me when she went to the library.  She thought it would be similar to novels by John Lescroart.  I think she was going by Joseph Wambaugh's review on the back cover:

"A complicated killer seeking revenge is hunted by a complicated lawman in this unique and suspenseful debut novel by a cop-turned-author who knows the turf."

Hank Phillippi Ryan wrote that it would keep you guessing "to the unpredictable–and completely surprising–last page."

I'm about two-thirds the way through and keep wondering why I put up with all the gratuitous, graphically-described violence.  Two corrupt police officers who break the rules to line their own pockets don't endear me to the book.  However, some good guys and gals who break the rules to promote justice keep me going and guessing.

I'm tempted to stay up until I finish it, but I have lots of things to do tomorrow.  Like on the first night I started reading Benefit of Doubt, I'll probably lie awake mulling over what I read.  I do know I won't set the alarm.

Coincidences continue

You may have read about the recent bizarre death of the actor David Carradine.

Saturday we stopped at a book sale and picked up some famous author books at a dollar apiece. One I chose was a murder mystery by Michael Crichton, "Rising Sun", published in 1992. I was surprised to read a description of a similar death in this book (p. 117).

The doctor doing the autopsy said, "it's too easy to make a mistake and go too far. They do, all the time."

Were the stars aligned just so that I would read this book this week? Did some deity choose this book for me to read to teach me some lesson or to use me as a prophet to warn others? I don't think so.

Millions of people read about David Carradine's death. A couple dozen people probably read Crichton's novel this week. One of these readers happens to be a blogger who writes weird stuff. Wait a day or two and somebody else will probably right something similar.

BTW, "Rising Sun" is a good read. The story takes many surprising turns, some you might guess, some you won't.

BTW2, "Rising Sun" is prophetic. "We don't make things anymore. When you manufacture products, you add value to raw materials, and you literally create wealth. But America has stopped doing that. Americans make money by creating paper manipulation, which the Japanese say is bound to catch up to us because paper profits don't reflect real wealth. They think our fascination with Wall Street and junk bonds is crazy." (p. 193)

Hm! Published in 1992. When will they ever learn?