August Book Club Selection - Education of a Wandering Man

I have only read one Louis l'Amour novel, The Last of the Breed, and it is one of my favorite reads.  It was not the usual western and I read it years ago because it was our book club selection.   For August, our book club pick is Education of a Wandering Man, a memoir by Louis L'Amour, and I am loving it.  At least one other person in the book club got bored with it; not enough action. 

Pages 84 to 87 express the essence of this memoir.  On these pages Louis L'Amour, a high school drop-out, explains how he educated himself through travel, adventure, and reading and became a well known writer.  This book was published in 1989 and on page 84 L'Amour says the present approach to education is all wrong; it is pedestrian. He says we educate children to have opinions but we should be educating them to think.  He explains his love for reading throughout the book, and on page 86 he tells us why he loves to read diaries and memoirs. It is because he wants to know how people were living, what they were thinking and how they expressed themselves.  Throughout the memoir he recommends several books; fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  

His path to becoming a writer started with reading, listening to people's stories then writing.  He wrote and sold two line jokes, jingles, poetry, nature pieces.  I am loving his story.

Want to be a Storyteller?

I like this link to a cheat sheet for storytelling.  Also, if you want to write a book, check this link out 7 Steps to writing a book.

Page Turners

I found a link to 6 page turners for summer reading on Oprah's website.       The blurb on the 6th book, Drowned by Therese Bohman, reminded me of the book that kept me up until 2:00 this morning. The Boy in the Suitcase by Danish writers,  Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, was a really exciting thriller set in Denmark and Lithuania.  The kidnapping of a three year old boy turns his mom into a mama grizzly and she sets off from Lithuania to Denmark to track down her boy.   Her path crosses with Nina, a Danish nurse, who lives to rescue young women and children.  So dear readers that's the seventh book I would add to this summer reading list.

Mish Mash from Brain Pickings

My post today is not just about books.  Today I share a mish mash of links.  I think you will enjoy these three interesting ones I found on Brain Pickings :

1. A graphic novel about the life of physicist Richard Feynman 

2. A crowdsourced  Complaints Choir putting into song all the daily grievances of the world in Finnish with English subtitles.

3. A documentary on the life of one of the greatest jazz musicians of all times ... Louis Armstrong.

Reading the Hunger Games

I just finished the second book in the Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire, and started the third book, Mockingjay.  As anticipated, there is a spirit of rebellion in the Divisions because of Katniss' act of defiance at the Hunger Games that took place in book 1.  Even though there are unexpected twists and turns in books 2 and 3, they did not hold my interest as much as book 1.  Without giving away too much, I am going to just say that I did not like that the writer took us back into the arena for yet another Hunger Games in book 2.  In book 3, the Capitol strikes back at the revolutionaries and there is outright rebellion with Katniss as the symbolic Mockingjay.   The story is not exciting but I am sticking to it because of the love triangle: Gale, Katniss and Peeta.  Who will Katniss choose? Also, it is clear that Katniss is not comfortable with the leadership of the rebellion.  Will she have to defy the Capitol and the rebel government in Division 13?

A list of Personal Finance Books

This is a really cool list of personal finance books to add to your personal collection or for those of us who plan to get rich slowly. Get Rich Slowly is actually the attention grabbing title of this website.