Mostly books I’d started in months past, which means that the currently reading list is back to a manageable size.

I also got some non-Kindle books off the stack, freeing me up for more time with the world’s greatest electronic invention since the NES, or maybe since the iPod. Take your pick.

Most importantly, I finally finished “The Stories of John Cheever.” What a great book. I was actually kind of sad the next day when there was no more to read. Sarah’s now digging in and reading a handful of my favorites, like “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill.” If you’ve never read Cheever, you’re missing out.

Onto the list…

Just like last month, six word book reviews.

Happy reading!

What’s On My Kindle

I’ll use this section to list recently finished and started Kindle books, along with those I hope to start over the month.

Recently Finished

“Get Shorty” (Elmore Leonard) – I wanna be cool, like Chili

In Progress

“Heaven” (Randy Alcorn)

“The Manchurian Canidate” (Richard Condon)

“Reading Like a Writer” (Francine Prose)

“unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters” (David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons)

What’s Not

This is everything else. Books in print and in audio that I’ve also recently finished, started or hope to start.

Recently Finished

“Elements of Writing Fiction – Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card) – Going on my yearly re-read list.

“Why Guys Need God” (Michael Erre) – Best men’s resource outside of Eldredge.

“Overcoming Your Shadow Mission” (John Ortberg) – “The narcotic of applause,” I surrender.

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever) – Social and personal, duality of man.

“In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership” (Henri J. Nouwen) - I thought I knew discipleship before.

“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable” (Patrick M. Lencioni) – A team lacking, an organization failing.

“The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)” (Patrick M. Lencioni) – anonymity, irrelevance, immeasurability. Avoid like plague.

“Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business” (Patrick M. Lencioni) - meetings can be better. Conflict, context.

In Progress

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures” (Dan Roam)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may have surmised that, of all the books I’ve read this year, one of them seems to be taking quite some time.

That would be The Stories of John Cheever, a collection of John Cheever’s best short fiction from 1946 to 1978.

I started this book in April. I’ve started and finished many other books in the months between, but this one remains unfinished, five months later.

For this week, at least. I’m less than 100 pages from the end now, with some of Cheever’s best stories still to come.

Why, of all books, has this one taken me so long?

Perhaps it’s the length. With 800 pages of small print, this is a big book.

Maybe it’s Cheever’s writing style. I’ve performed an unscientific¹ breakdown of the amount of narrative (which tends to be quite dense) to dialogue (which tends to be read faster) in the book and I figure the divide is about 70% narrative to 30% dialogue. That’s a big disparity, and something that few modern authors could pull off and manage to get published. Assuming this breakdown is correct that means that the book is 560 pages of narrative and 240 of dialogue.

It could be neither of those things, or a mix of both. Maybe I’ve just been savoring the book, devouring one or two stories at a time and allowing them to sink in before moving on.

No matter the reason, John Cheever is a brilliant writer. Here’s one of my favorite passages, and an example of why I’ve enjoyed reading this book so much:

“There are some Americans who, although their fathers emigrated from the old world three centuries ago, never seem to have quite completed the voyage and I am one of these. I stand, figuratively, with one wet foot on Plymouth Rock, looking with some delicacy, not into a formidable and challenging wilderness but onto a half-finished civilization embracing glass towers, oil derricks, suburban continents, and abandoned movie houses and wondering why, in this most prosperous, equitable and accomplished world–where even the cleaning women practice the Chopin preludes in their spare time–everyone should seem to be so disappointed?” – “The Death of Justina”

Highly recommended.

1. I guessed

I do this from time to time. Normally, I’ll have 3-4 books in progress at once, which I can handle pretty well.

Anything beyond that usually means that I’ve stopped reading something.

Right now, I have eight books working at once. Yikes… focus, Brandon.

On another note, I’m going to try something new for reviews of books I’ve finished.

Six word book reviews.

I’ve recently discovered the joy of writing Six word memoirs, and even composed my own and submitted it to Smith Magazine.

A lot of fun to say something profound in six words. Not my usual style, as I’m sure you know.

Why not the same for book reviews? We’ll see how it goes…

What’s On My Kindle

I’ll use this section to list recently finished and started Kindle books, along with those I hope to start over the month.

Recently Finished

“Orthodoxy” (G. K. Chesterton) – Made me wish I was smarter.

“American Gods: A Novel” (Neil Gaiman) – Often good, often reaching. Neverwhere better.

“The Big Sleep” (Raymond Chandler) – Wow, the beginning of a genre.

In Progress

“Get Shorty” (Elmore Leonard)

“unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters” (David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons)

Up Next

“Reading Like a Writer” (Francine Prose)

What’s Not

This is everything else. Books in print and in audio that I’ve also recently finished, started or hope to start.

Recently Finished

“Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)” (Jeffrey Kluger) – Could have been so much more.

In Progress

“Elements of Writing Fiction – Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card) – I’ve been reading this one 5-10 pages at a time in order to give myself time to absorb what I’m reading.

“Why Guys Need God” (Michael Erre)

“Overcoming Your Shadow Mission” (John Ortberg)

In Progress, but mostly untouched in the last month

“The Stories of John Cheever” – Untouched in the last month, with 300 pages to go. I think it’s time to pick it back up.

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass) – I have on good authority that the companion workbook for this is great. I bought it on Amazon last week and look forward to digging through both at once.

“The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures” (Dan Roam)

Here’s the update for July. A wide variety of books…

One thing I’ve realized this year as I’ve been tracking my reading closely is that there is almost no rhyme or reason to my reading. I suppose some smarter than I like to read thematically, or with a set list that doesn’t change.

I read like a near 30-year old with mild ADD and a impulsive streak, which I am.

I suppose if you want to glean anything from my reading list, you could say that my reading habits are ordered chaos.

Except for the Chandler and Leonard books below. Those are related to my next novel, which I’ll start in November. That’s all I’m saying.

And the Prose, Card and Maas books. Writing books.

But other than that, pure chaos.

What’s On My Kindle

I’ll use this section to list recently finished and started Kindle books, along with those I hope to start over the month.

Recently Finished

“The Man Who Was Thursday” (G. K. Chesterton) – Clever, funny and somehow surprising even though it was predictable. Chesterton is the man.

In Progress

“Orthodoxy” (G. K. Chesterton) – Best read a bit at a time, this one is putting the highlight function of the Kindle through it’s paces.

“American Gods: A Novel” (Neil Gaiman) – Neverwhere, which I really enjoyed, was the first thing I’d read by Neil Gaiman. Seems that most consider American Gods to be his best work, so I thought I’d give it a try. So far, I can see why.

Up Next

“Reading Like a Writer” (Francine Prose)

“The Big Sleep” (Raymond Chandler)

“Get Shorty” (Elmore Leonard)

What’s Not

This is everything else. Books in print and in audio that I’ve also recently finished, started or hope to start.

Recently Finished

“Peace Like a River” (Leif Enger) – One of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time. This is how you incorporate faith into fiction and preserve reality.

“Notes From Underground” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) – After wanting to read this book for years, I finally finished this one yesterday. Tragic, sobering and brilliant.

“Deadly Viper Character Assassins” (Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite) – A book about pursuing integrity and grace, two things I always need more of.

Still Reading After All These Years

“The Stories of John Cheever” – I know I’ll be reading this book forever, but I don’t care. It’s worth the slow, meandering read.

In Progress

“Elements of Writing Fiction – Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card) – I must admit that I’m having trouble getting into this one, and I can only seem to manage a few pages at a time before feeling the urge to put the book down and pick something else up. Like the next book…

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“Why Guys Need God” (Michael Erre)

“The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures” (Dan Roam)

So, after three months of patient waiting and reading through a pile of books I vowed to complete, I finally ordered myself a Kindle.

The bad news is that I didn’t exactly read all 16 books on my pre-Kindle reading list. I finished 12 and had 4 remaining when I decided to stop waiting and pull the trigger.

I cracked. I am weak. I’ve accepted this.

The good news is that I will still read those books. Seriously. I’m realizing that the Kindle can’t possibly be a complete replacement for all of my reading, mainly because not everything I want to read is available on the Kindle. Quite a few great books are, but many aren’t¹.

Besides, I expect that Sarah will want to read some books on the Kindle as well. So I’d better have some print books in reserve…

So fear not, I will finish that 800-page behemoth, “The Stories of John Cheever.” I’m on page 500 after all, it’s too late to stop now.

Plus, in the words of an old college friend, John Cheever “rocks my face off.”

Kindle – Early Impressions

It’s a fantastic device and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve only had it for about two weeks, but I really have no complaints². Here are some of the things I love about it:

• The display – They’ve finally nailed this technology. It really is just like reading print as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried to read on my share of Tablet PCs and backlit displays, so trust me when I say that this is NOT like reading on a computer screen. It’s like reading a paperback, plain and simple. The way it should be. Think reading a book on an iPhone will be as pleasant? Doubtful.
• The built-in dictionary – Using the scroll-wheel on the device while reading a book allows you to look up a word or words on a given line using the built-in dictionary. In the three books I’ve read on the device so far, this feature has been invaluable. I’m padding my vocabulary with all kinds of polysyllabic words–like patois–which I plan to use to win friends and influence people. Look out world…
• Integrated search – Beyond the built-in dictionary, the Kindle also provides a built-in search feature that searches for a term of phrase across all the books on your device, the web and Wikipedia. This last part is my favorite and it’s added a depth and richness to my reading that I really, really love. Fellow Kindle enthusiast, Coloradan, and Twitter friend Len Edgerly wrote about this feature as well in his Kindle review. You were right, Len. That’s a killer feature.
• Highlighting and Note-taking – I like to highlight interesting passages in books. And I love to capture brilliant quotes and the thoughts of others much more intelligent than myself. The Kindle interface for note-taking and highlighting is good, not great. But what is great is that all of your notes and highlights are grouped in a single file that can be pulled from the device as a simple text file. That’s something I’ve needed for a while. Methinks I must use my programming chops to create a program to parse these files for import into other programs. Next step, Amazon? XML. I mean, c’mon, It’s all ball bearings³ these days.

All in all, I am very pleased with this purchase. It’s been a joy to read books on this device. highly recommended.

Is There Anything You Don’t Like?

Yes, as a matter of fact, there are a few things:

• The device is too expensive – Even at the current price, the Kindle is about $100-150 too much for all but the insane gadget-mongering early-adopter techno-geeks like myself and my friend Phil, who always gets all the cool stuff before I do. Don’t expect the Kindle to be a real killer app until they drop the price. Of course, if they drop the price while raising the total cost of ownership like Apple is doing with the 3G iPhone, they’ll have missed the point. Don’t do it Amazon. Don’t be that guy. Make the device cheaper, but keep Whispernet free.
• Search is manual – This is a nit-pick, but it bothers me. When using the search feature, you have to manually type in what you are searching for. Not a big deal most of the time, but I’d like to be able to select the search term similar to looking up a word in the dictionary. When I’m doing wikipedia searches on the crazy names and places Neil Gaiman uses in American Gods, it would be nice to just be able to select the word rather than typing it in slowly to make sure I get it right.
• The books are too expensive – Boy, I’m picky, huh? Seriously though. Amazon and Apple both are missing the boat in how they are pricing digital content these days. Apple was spot on with 99-cent songs. But 2-buck shows, 4-dollar movie rentals that expire in 24-hours once-started, and 10-dollar books are starting to smack of a digital-content marketplace that has allowed too much influence from commercial interests. Bottom line, I like that the books are cheaper than their in-print companions. There just aren’t quite cheap enough. That being said, there are plenty of great classics available in the 1-2 dollar range. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

So What’s Next?

I have this crazy idea that people actually want to know what I am reading. I call it crazy because it is probably more indulgent than true.

Of course, maybe I’m wrong and you want to know what I’m reading.

In any case, the pre-Kindle reading posts are going to morph into a “What’s on My Kindle” series. And rather than posting weekly, or every-other week, I’ll probably just do this one monthly.

Should be a similar format, but I’ll probably step out of form and comment on a few of the books I’m reading.

And despite the title, I expect that the post will cover all things I am reading, Kindle and non-Kindle forms alike.

In the meantime, why not treat yourself to a Kindle? You’ll be glad you did.

1. especially books on writing. Many of those are still print-only
2. aside from the ones below, of course
3. and XML

Books completed in weeks 10 and 11

“Neverwhere: A Novel” (Neil Gaiman) (Audiobook)

“The Shack” (William P. Young)

“Fatal Deduction” (Gayle Roper)

Books read or started in weeks 10 and 11

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

“The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” (Thomas L. Friedman)

John Cheever stories read in weeks 10 and 11 (with Ratings from 1 to 5)

Just One More Time – 2

The Housebreaker of Shady Hill – 4

The Bus to St. James’s – 3

The Worm in the Apple – 5

The Trouble with Marcie Flint – 3

The Kindle Go-No Go Assessment: 10

Even I’m amazed that I’ve made it this long…

The (Remaining) Reading List (8 of 16 Remaining)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

“The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” (Thomas L. Friedman)

“Peace Like a River” (Leif Enger)

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“Notes From Underground” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)” (Aquinas Thomas)

“On Eloquence” (Denis Donoghue)

Previous Weeks

Weeks 1 and 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Weeks 6 and 7

Weeks 8 and 9

In addition to the standard book tour blog post, Dee is planning to post a “Weekend Chatterbox” entry on her blog about one of the dominant themes in the book.

What’s more, the three of us will be holding a Twitter chat about the book on Monday, June 9th at 2 PM Eastern Time¹. If you’re on twitter, click on the following links to follow us and join in:

http://twitter.com/deegospel

http://twitter.com/kathleenpopa

http://www.twitter.com/thesatch

Here’s a summary of the book and a bit about the author.

Author: Gayle Roper

Summary: Libby Burton longs to be close to her twin sister, Tori, but their lives have taken them in different directions. Forced to share Aunt Stella’s old Philadelphia home in order to receive their inheritance, Libby hopes for a change, but it isn’t looking good so far. First, Tori tries to steal the affection and allegiance of Libby’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Chloe. Then when a crossword puzzle with a hidden warning shows up on their doorstep, Tori refuses to take it seriously-inspite of the dead man who delivers it. Libby finds comfort in neighbor Drew Canfield, but he hesitates to trust her after his disastrous marriage. As Libby struggles to act faithfully in the midst of these confusing relationships, she must also deal with a stolen diamond and a botched kidnapping. The answer to her problems lies in the riddles of the crosswords, if only she can solve the puzzle before it’s too late.

Author Bio: Gayle Roper has been writig mystery and romantic suspense novels for more than thirty years and is the author of over forty-five books. She is a three-time Christy Award finalist, the winner of three Holt Medallions, and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine. Her novel Autumn Dreams won Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance. She and her husband, Chuck, divide their time between Pennsylvania and Ontario, Canada.

#

I received this book a little late in the game, so I must admit that I’m not done yet. I’m about 60 pages from the end and the action is just starting to pick up and move. I’ll likely finish tonight and will be all primed to chat about it on Monday afternoon with Dee and Kathleen. In the meantime, go check out the book.

1. Assuming Twitter complies, of course

#

I only finished one book in the last two weeks, though I’ve currently got five working. That Cheever book is fantastic and I really am loving every story, but it’s 800 pages! What’s more, short stories in Cheever’s day apparently consisted of healthy doses internal monologue and narrative and dialogue only where absolutely necessary.

And there aren’t any pictures! What’s this world coming to? I should put some Dr. Seuss books in my queue to pad my stats…

In the meantime, I’m mixing in some lighter fare to keep me sane.

Maybe the summer days now upon us will stir me to spend more time reading…

Books completed in weeks 8 and 9

“The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America” (David Hajdu) (Audiobook)

Books read or started in weeks 8 and 9

“Neverwhere: A Novel” (Neil Gaiman) (Audiobook)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“Fatal Deduction” (Gayle Roper)

“The Shack” (William P. Young)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

John Cheever stories read in weeks 8 and 9 (with Ratings from 1 to 5)

The Superintendent – 4

The Children – 4

The Sorrows of Gin – 4

O Youth and Beauty! – 5

The Day the Pig Fell into the Well – 2

The Five-Forty-Eight – 3

The Kindle Go-No Go Assessment: 10

Amazon just dropped the price on the Kindle a bit, which is nice. No news I can see on Kindle 2.0, though it will probably be August before I’m done with this list, so who knows.

The (Remaining) Reading List (10 of 16 Remaining)

I‘ve done a swap in the list this week. I moved Chesterton off of this list and to the top of the Kindle list (Orthodoxy is only $.99) and added a book for a book tour I’m doing this week for a few other folks.

“Fatal Deduction” (Gayle Roper)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“The Shack” (William P. Young)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

“The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” (Thomas L. Friedman)

“Peace Like a River” (Leif Enger)

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“Notes From Underground” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)” (Aquinas Thomas)

“On Eloquence” (Denis Donoghue)

Previous Weeks

Weeks 1 and 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Weeks 6 and 7

“So, are you planning on doing that post every week?”

I said that I had planned on completing this post every week.

“For how long?”

“Until I have read everything on my list,” I replied.

“Oh, okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just wonder if you need to update everyone on your reading list progress every week. I like reading your real posts better.”

I laugh. Then she laughs. Then I ask if she realizes that I’ll probably be posting this conversation.

Gotta love Sarah for keeping it real. And so here we are, with the first of the now bi-weekly Pre-Kindle Reading List updates. I’m certain that I remain the only one interested in this little experiment, but I plod on. In any case, these posts have been garnering me traffic from unsuspecting people searching for actual information about the Kindle simply because I use the word a lot.

Kindle Kindle Kindle Kindle Kindle.

Books completed in weeks 6 and 7

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Ishmael Beah)

“Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life” (Steve Martin)

Books read or started in weeks 6 and 7

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America” (David Hajdu) (Audiobook)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

John Cheever stories read in weeks 6 and 7 (with Ratings from 1 to 5)

The Summer Farmer – 4

Torch Song – 5

The Pot of Gold – 4

Clancy in the Tower of Babel – 3

Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor – 4

The Season of Divorce – 3

The Chaste Clarissa – 2

The Cure – 4

The Kindle Go-No Go Assessment: 10

Nothing different here. Just biding my time…

The (Remaining) Reading List (10 of 16 Remaining)

“Orthodoxy” (Gilbert K. Chesterton, G. K. Chesterton)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“The Shack” (William P. Young)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

“The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” (Thomas L. Friedman)

“Peace Like a River” (Leif Enger)

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“Notes From Underground” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)” (Aquinas Thomas)

“On Eloquence” (Denis Donoghue)

Previous Weeks

Weeks 1 and 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

1. don’t recall how the conversation went there, but I’m sure I was responsible

Books completed in week 5

“Duma Key: A Novel” (Stephen King)

Books read or started in week 5

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Ishmael Beah)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America” (David Hajdu) (Audiobook)

Since the John Cheever book is actually a collection of (61!) short stories, I thought I would post the ones I’ve read each week, along with a 1-5 rating of the story itself. I know I said I wouldn’t review anything, but this doesn’t count. For John Cheever, a great 20th century writer, 1 = Good and 5 = Face-Meltingly Great¹ anyway. So here we go with the six I’ve read in the past week:

Goodbye, My Brother – 3

The Common Day – 2

The Enormous Radio – 4

O City of Broken Dreams – 4

The Hartleys – 3

The Sutton Place Story – 3

The Kindle Go-No Go Assessment: 10

This will probably stay at a ten unless something major happens in the next couple of months. By major, I mean a massive recall of Kindles. Or a suprise revelation that Kindle screens are being manufactured in an Asian sweatshop by Pandas coaxed into labor on the promise of a lifetime supply of eucalyptus.

Needless to say, I’ll probably be getting the Kindle when all is said and done. The only real question now is if I will actually manage to wait until I finish twelve more books. Cast your votes in the comment section. Will I make it?

The (Remaining) Reading List (12 of 16 Remaining)

“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Ishmael Beah)

“Orthodoxy” (Gilbert K. Chesterton, G. K. Chesterton)

“The Stories of John Cheever” (John Cheever)

“The Shack” (William P. Young)

“Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)” (Orson Scott Card)

“The World Is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century” (Thomas L. Friedman)

“Peace Like a River” (Leif Enger)

“Writing the Breakout Novel” (Donald Maass)

“Notes From Underground” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)” (Aquinas Thomas)

“On Eloquence” (Denis Donoghue)

“Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life” (Steve Martin)

1. Like Belloc in Raiders of the Lost Ark