A Sense of Doubt blog post #3943 - Letter to Dad #13 - Reading Old SF

Dad 1985

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3943 - Letter to Dad #13 - Reading Old SF

Hey Big Guy, Because I am writing about books today, I wanted to get a picture of you with books, specifically Dune or Lord of the Rings. I can see the photos in my head, but I couldn't find them.

But this one of you waking from a nap in 1985 is pretty good, too.

Some updates before I get to today's topic.

Yesterday, I decided to change the routine with the dogs. For years now, I have fed the dogs breakfast when I first got up. When this was one dog, Satchel, that was a pretty easy thing to do and did not take that much time. But now with three dogs, medications, treats, and so on the whole operation can take 30 minutes or more. Often Ellory will stop eating, and I have to get on the floor, hold her dish, stroke her head and tell her she's a good girl, and coax her to finish her food. Also, Essel rarely wants to eat first thing or will wait to see if Ellory finishes as Essel and Satchel both want to eat what Ellory often leaves behind.

All of this means that I am going up to thirty minutes without a mug of juice, my pills, and my first sip of coffee. I also have anxiety during the whole process because I want to sit and do my morning routine while drinking coffee.

This morning I decided to delay breakfast. My morning routine last a little over an hour, timed by two thirty minute sits in front of my GO LITE sun lamp.

So, that's what I did. I hope to make it the new routine. Seemed to go well and Essel actually ate breakfast with the others, which she rarely does.

Since I wrote the above yesterday, second day of delayed breakfast went well, though they did not have to wait the full hour because I had to do something between 30-minute sessions of the light. Still, all dogs ate and it worked well. I am giving Ellory too much food in the morning, though, and she ate but didn't finish.

I gave you a lot of updates in the last post, Dad, which I feel like I just wrote because I was late with it.

I am busy with Christmas decorating, cooking, general house stuff, homework, work-work, etc.

So, I am keeping this somewhat short.

This was going to be orange tie post. But that's delayed again. Mainly, because I am uncertain what picture to do: me wearing it? Just the tie where it is currently draped over the to read book case that I am sharing below (though I pulled it out of the way for these photos.

The to read bookcase is very full and so pulling out other books not even in that book case that are unread or were read long ago and need to be re-read.

TO READ BOOK CASE

TOP SHELF

You can just see the orange tie at the top of the picture.

MIDDLE SHELF

BOTTOM SHELF

A SMALL STACK UPSTAIRS TO READ-READ (NOT AUDIO)

I am currently reading (not audio) a book I have started many times and never finished: TIME STORM by Gordon Dickson.

I read The Dragon and the George long ago, while in high school, and became a big fan of Gordon Dickson. But I never read more (except the sequel, The Dragon Prince, I think. Actually, I am not sure if I have read that one as I have no memory of it).

I decided that I would try to get through more books without using audio this year.

I had set a goal of reading 80 books this year (audio and not audio) and I am at 79 books read as of today with nearly a full month to go. So surely, I will exceed eighty books.

This one started hot for 100 pages or so and has bogged down. I still like it, but it's slower as I approach page 300 or 400. I am at around 270 now.

You always raved about the Dorsai books (officially the Childe Cycle) so the first two are next up as those are on audio and are short. I decided to queue up a series of short books to make sure I reached my goal and then I will read some of the longer books visible on the top shelf of the TO READ BOOK CASE such as Babel by R.F. Kuang, The Rose Field by Phillip Pullman, and The Tainted Cup by Robert Jason Bennett, which just won the Best Novel Hugo AND The World Fantasy Award.

Likely, I will read Babel by R.F. Kuang first as I have had it for a year and really want to read it.

I have to get in my annual listen to A Christmas Carol by Dickens and have a couple of other short books to consider, such as The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels and an abridged version of Story by Robert McKee.

Hold up!! Dickson wrote NINE Dragon books??? How did I not know this????

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_R._Dickson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Cycle 

I wish you were still here to talk to about these books.

Love you, Dad. Talk to you next week.


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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.04 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3807 days ago & DAD = 462 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.