Finally

I finally finished Kosovo's The Historian. It's a very well written book and it took me nearly 4 times as long as usual to read it. There was just a quality to the book that seemed to force me to read it in small chunks with reflection betwixt. Her approach to the book and the subject--Vlad the Impaler--was both entertaining and literary. I definitely recommend the book though I must admit I was put off by the ending. It seemed trite and contrived. A definite disservice to what was up to that point a very worthy book. C'est la Vie. Even so it's worth reading for the journey, if not the destination.

I've also been reading a book on how the mind works and some philosophical reflections along that subject. An Alchemy of Mind by Diane Ackerman. I finished this just a few hours before the Kosovo book but I can't recomment the Ackerman. She seems a mite flighty and her research strikes me as being too subjective for a book like this. It comes across to me as an artist attempting to write science. This is probably unfair since the author has extensive writing credentials in science writing but that is nevertheless my impression.

In a few days the new Harry Potter book should be delivered to my door so I'll probably just read something fast next. Maybe a library book I have on hand, Robert Heilbrun's Offer of Proof. On the other hand I have a lot of books on hand of my own that I could be reading. I'm singlehandedly trying to improve Amazon's bottom line. And Books-a-million too. BAM has really nice prices on their close outs. :-)