I seem to have read a few books this year

I may have mentioned that I read a lot. Apparently I read quickly too. I figured I'd test this out and see how fast I could read 2 books. Of course at the same time.

Fortunately Cathy brought home 2 interesting books last tuesday.

Making Money - Terry Pratchett
Stranger in a strange land - Robert A. Heinlein

Two very different books and seemed to be acceptable to my speed trial. I finished "Making Money" on Tuesday night and have less than 100 pages on "Stranger in a strange land". So I'm guessing I'll finish that by the weekend.

I've never considered myself to be a fast reader, but to finish almost 2 books in just over a week is apparently fast (light speed if one of my friend's opinions is correct - although he only "reads" from "books-on-CD" these days).

So, I guess a question is in order - how fast do you read? And like me, do you read more than 1 book at a time? (I've had a maximum of 4 books on the go once, that was a little confusing!).

2 more to the list

I just finished reading 2 books (yes, I do that - read a few at once, I get bored).

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Both are very interesting books, I guess dealing with the struggles of life and how to live. I must admit I did enjoy Life of Pi more than American Psycho, but I suspect I was always going to enjoy it.

Surprisingly I also enjoyed the movie American Psycho and have suggested to a number of people that the movie and book actually compliment each other, to me this is a miracle and the indication of serious talent.

Book

I finished Ben Elton's Blind Faith last night. While some may view this book as the worst possible theory that anyone could imagine, others may see the world really is turning towards something similar to what Mr Elton views.

I for one do see the world becoming slowly (or quickly) in a lot of ways similar to his novel. The major being the recent increase in the "Nanny State", particularly with the Federal government's continued push towards 1984 mentality and technology in their "Play the role of the parents" internet clean feed.

While I could comment about the religious and political nature of the book - the other thing that hits me (which I suspect a lot of people would by pass) is the desire to be "proud" of one's own body. To the point of being overly arrogant to how others may think of their body. This I can see happening. More and more every day we are forced to accept a "normal" perception of the human body - while more and more every day people force feed themselves to hide from their inability to get the "normal" body. Eventually this will snap back - I'm just not sure which way it will go.

I'd love to say I can see it going towards the future where everyone is nice and healthy and the best body they can have. I just doubt this very much.

I have been told that people see this book as very sad, very negative in it's outlook of human future. I, on the other hand, can see something different. While I see the crap and the stupidity that rules this world, I can also see that it's just another black time in human history. We've had them before and again in this case it will get through it. If we do go through something like this in the "real" world, the idiots who make these sorts of laws will eventually retire and die and other idiots will make other laws - good or ill who really knows.

The future probably won't be golden - but neither will it be as bleak as some have predicted. But whatever it is, I can see that there will always be a portion of the population who will be able to stand up, brush themselves off and make the best of things. I just hope that these people will still have the ability to keep the rest going.

I for one have serious thoughts about the reasons behind keeping those people around. Although I'm not sure I'd want to live in a world where everyone is going at 100%, 100% of the time. That would be a little scary.