I read a couple things at the end of last year that encouraged me to set aside some time each day to read some books. Two blog posts I read that got me motivated both pushed the idea of reading (at least) 1 book a week. How To Read a Book a Week in 2010 answers the question: “Why would you want to?” and Read One Book a Week gives some ideas on how to read more and like it. Would I be able to do it?

I love books, the problem is ‘finding’ time to read. The secret appears to be just doing it. One of my best methods is to take time I may have usually veg’ed out watching TV and instead put in my headphones to listen to some instrumental jazz and read a chapter of a book.

I would really like to write a blog post reviewing each book after finishing it. Problem is I am not a fast writer, each post would take at least an hour to write (or more) and would mean less time to read! Still, I have partially finished posts about each of these books and hope to finish them soon.

So, what did I read in January?

1. To End All Wars by Ernest Gordon This is quite a book, telling the story of Allied soldiers imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII.
   Started: 01/02/2010 — Finished: 01/06/2010 — Source: Library
2. The Time Traveler\’s Wife (audiobook) by Audrey Niffenegger
   An interesting book. I liked the premise but feel the author went overboard describing sexual encounters that need not have been so explicit.
   Started: 01/03/2010 — Finished: 01/13/2010 — Source: Library
3. Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright
   What happens to us after death? Wright does well answering the question.
   I love the quote: “Heaven is a wonderful place but it is not the end of the world”.
   Started: 12/26/2009 — Finished: 01/16/2010 — Source: Library
4. Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel
   The author gives good reasons and examples of how a business can use Twitter, and use it well.
   Started: 01/16/2010 — Finished: 01/24/2010 — Source: Library
5. The Graveyard Book (audiobook) by Neil Gaiman
   A boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard. What kind of trouble can he get into?
   Started: 01/13/2010 — Finished: 01/24/2010 — Source: Library
6. Areas of My Expertise (audiobook) by Jonathan Hodgman
   Hodgman’s humor is as vast as his knowledge. I want to go back and read more about Roosevelt’s “Hobo Eradication Plan” aka “The New Deal”.
   Started: 01/24/2010 — Finished: 01/28/2010 — Source: Borrow from Geoff
7. The Woman Who Named God by Charlotte Gordon
   Historical fiction speculating what may have been going on between God, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, etc, that the Bible didn’t bother to document.
   All I can say is that I am looking forward to reading “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”.
   Started: 01/10/2010 — Finished: 01/31/2010 — Source: Owned (LibraryThing Early Review)

I also listen to 30 minutes of the Bible each morning. Currently listening to the Contemporary English Version, which says it is designed to be read aloud and listened to rather than just read. In January I listened to:

• Genesis
• Luke
• Acts
• Exodus
• Hosea
• Amos
• 1&2 Thessalonians
• Joshua
• Galatians
• Romans
• 1&2 Corinthians

My Book Queue is set for the next month. Not sure I will get through quite so many books, but one can always hope.

The Graveyard Book is the first Neil Gaiman book I have ‘read’ and it was interesting to have it read to me by the author. My oldest son, who is 24, recommended the author and so I put in a request for a couple of Gaiman’s books from the local library. The story entrapped me from the beginning.

Summary Summary

A baby, barely able to walk, wanders out of the house while his family was being murdered. He wanders into a graveyard where he will grow up under the care of ghosts and other creatures of the graveyard until he is old enough to leave. The book is a collection of stories of his adventures while in the graveyard.

Review

The story is written is such a way that each chapter is almost a stand-alone story, each building ever so slightly on the chapter before. My main complaints was that each chapter seemed to begin with details that would be required a few pages later, almost like downloading data in the Matrix movies. Still, each chapter told a good story and I could see reading these stories to children over successive nights.

As a children’s book, the subject is dark enough and enough violence that I would only recommend it to kids at least 12 years old. My ‘prudishness’ may be a product of the Disney-fied versions of children’s stories that I grew up with, but the macabre has always been a part of children’s literature since forever. Why? I leave that to the sociologists I think children, as they grow up, need to be able to learn how to deal with bad things that happen, to learn that things are not always sugar coated and stories are a safe way to do that.

Overall this was a fun read and I look forward to reading more of Gaiman’s books.

Rating

poor | mediocre | okay | GOOD | excellent

Format: Audiobook

Source: Mid-Columbia Library

Started: 01/13/2010 - Finished: 01/24/2010

Well, I needed to do a little cleanup in the garage this afternoon. What do you do with old computers, monitors, etc when they break down and are replaced by newer, better models? In my house the answer has always been that you stick them out in the garage ’cause you never know when you … ok, just because what else are you supposed to do with them!

Well, what do do with such stuff? I could always just go put it in the dumpster at the office. That would be the easiest, but I had a twang of guilt knowing it was probably not the ‘ecological’ thing to do. Computer and other electronics contain lead and other heavy metals that can be harmful to the environment.

Office Depot sells you boxes to put electronic recycling in for $5, $10, or $15. Found that Best Buy would let me bring in 2 computers or monitors a day for recycling. They charge $10 per item but give you a $10 gift card, so a wash.

Did a little more research online and discovered the Benton County Solid Waste Management Program, which is a joint effort of Benton County and the Cities of Richland, Kennewick, West Richland, Prosser, and Benton City. The program, handled through the Richland Landfill, accepts computers, monitors, TVs, etc at no charge for Benton County residents! This is the deal I was looking for. Now I just had to find it. The Richland Landfill web site gave the address as 3102 Twin Bridges Rd., but did not link to a map. I plugged this address into google maps but the satellite imagery made it obvious that google had no idea where that street address was located. With some more google searching, I found this map to the landfill. That said, once you head out Highway 240 from Richland, the signs made finding the landfill very easy.

Since it was going to be ‘free’ I did some more scrounging around the house and ended up pulling out 2 old computer towers, 2 old CRT monitors, 2 old printers, and 2 very old laptops. When I say very old, I can do mean very old. I remember justifying spending $$ on a business laptop 20 years ago. I wish I had the specs for it but believe me, an xbox is much more powerful today and costs 1/10th what I paid.

Yes, there is a bit of the ‘hoarder’ in me. I am going to miss that nostalgic wave that rolled over me when I would see the old laptop in the garage as I was searching for something else, but I felt good knowing this this stuff was gone, and I know it made my wife happy. Hopefully I can get out to the garage tomorrow afternoon and load up a box or two of other stuff I have been ‘collecting’ in the garage and take it to the dumpster ’cause when I said I did a ‘little’ cleanup today my wife would agree with the word ‘little’.

I am at the 1/2 way mark of Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel and am really enjoying his storytelling ability and the great examples of how businesses are using twitter.

He starts the book telling how Twitter was born and its growing pains. In the following chapters he explains how companies are using Twitter, big companies including Dell and Comcast as well as smaller companies. His examples include how companies have used Twitter to give their company a human face as well as how some companies have been blindsided by twitterstorms such as the MotrinMoms.

Best of all is that his examples and thoughts have helped me think through how to best use Twitter for my business, Mid-Columbia Insurance: @MCIns. I have always known not to use Twitter to ’sell’ but from his examples I think that many of my tweets have not been designed to engage conversation and that @MCIns needs to interact more with other twitter users.

I am excited to finish this book and implement more of the ideas presented.