Books

 “Men were the only animals that slaughtered their own kind by the million, and turned the landscape into a waste of shell craters and barbed wire. Perhaps the human race would wipe itself out completely, and leave the world to the birds and trees, Walter thought apocalyptically. Perhaps that would be for the best.” 

― Ken Follett, Fall of Giants

I started the New Year finishing a really good historical novel, Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett. It is the first part of the Century Trilogy which follows five families, interrelated, from 1911 through 1924. It combines fiction with historical facts which is a win win combination for me. I like his style of writing. He kept his characters interesting and you can easily form a bond with them - love or hate. Since my future is going to consist of traveling I have the audio of the second book. My daughter said his books are intimidating, I can see that but a good read. According to the library I spent 16 1/2 hours reading this. It was time well spent.

The book of poetry I put in my purse, No Gravity, by Rudy Francisco was disappointing. I just couldn’t get into his work. I found it a little tedious but there were a couple of gems.

18/30 Venom

My biggest mistake
Was pretending 
You weren’t poison.
It is easy to forget
Even venom looks pretty 
In good lighting.

So what is in the future, book wise. My daughter recommends, Snapdragon by Kat Leyh. A graphic novel about a young girl befriending the town’s witch. I discovered another poet, Chelan Harkin. She has her first book, Susceptible to Light, published and it is on my wish list. 
  
The worst thing we ever did
was put God in the sky
out of reach
pulling the divinity
from the leaf,
sifting out the holy from our bones,
insisting God isn’t bursting dazzlement 
through everything we’ve made 
a hard commitment to see as ordinary, 
stripping the sacred from everywhere 
to put in a cloud man elsewhere,
prying closeness from your heart.
The worst thing we ever did
was take the dance and the song
out of prayer
made it sit up straight 
and cross its legs
removed it of rejoicing
wiped clean its hip sway, 
its questions, 
its ecstatic yowl,
its tears.
The worst thing we ever did is pretend 
God isn’t the easiest thing 
in this Universe 
available to every soul 
in every breath'
~ Chelan Harkin