Getting started

Since this is only my second blog (and my first one is still quite new), I'm still learning about this entire process. However, I started this one to talk about books and what I like (or don't like) to read. I used to read all the time growing up then drifted away from it somewhat when in university and tech school (who really likes to read textbooks anyway??). Now that I ride public transit for roughly 1.5 hours a day, I have more time to read and it makes the bus trips that much shorter. Not that I mind riding the bus anyway :)

Currently, I'm in the middle of North and South by John Jakes. This is the first of his three books about the Mains of South Carolina and the Hazards of Pennsylvania in the time leading up to the Civil War. Some of you may remember the series that had been on TV a while back starring Patrick Swayze. This series, as I understand it, was in fact based on the second book in the series, Love and War. In any case, this is the second time I'm reading this book as it had been a while since the first reading and I am determined to read all three books in a row this time. I thought a refresher might be useful in this case.

The book has drawn me in as much the second time around as it did the first. Reading for me is an escape (much like television) and therefore, I like to see things that may not actually be possible. However, I still like to believe that they are possible. In North and South, two vastly different families stay connected because of the friendship of Orry and George, who met at West Point while training to become military men. Although it seems likely in this day and age (and for that matter, during the era in which the book is set) that this friendship would not have held up, it nonetheless does and it's encouraging to see. I love the dynamic between them with regards to the slavery issue. Neither wants to tell the other that they disapprove of their means of making their way in the world and yet it is understood between them.

Anyway, it is only getting juicier as the book progresses and I'm really looking forward to finishing it and starting the next one. I have about 25 books at home which I have not yet read. I keep telling myself that I cannot purchase any new books until I finish the unread ones. Of course, being obsessed with books after all, I just bought five new ones during the year end sales. What can I say?? In my next post, I'll provide a list of my unread books and my plan for reading them all.