Thankfully such juveniles usually tire their little selves out after a few times.

As to "A Flight of Ravens," it deals with going from creating to make statements to creating for mere profit which is something any writer has to be constantly aware about and guard against. Some are able to go back and forth between both (Stephen King, for instance), others may sort of progress or regress from one to the other, while others remain true to their own vision regardless.

I am currently reading a book by Dave Barry, "Dave Barry Talks Back". Dave writes for The Miami Herald and has a number of books out, all humorous. The Miami Hearld is a client of mine and I was visiting with my contact there and he said that he had visited with Dave on several occasions. Most interesting is that he, Dave Barry, is good friends with Stephen King and they, apparently, have been working on forming a musical group.

Yes, then they can lay their mat out and take a nap. Come to think of it, sometimes I miss those carefree days. I'm still in Machineries, just finished The Lifework Of Juan Diaz. I really enjoy his spanish stories also, they're so dusty and dry like the desert(love the desert, miss the dry heat, as compared to mega humidity here in summer). Gotta love the mummies and catacombs too. He could have an anthology probably of just the mexican stories. Speaking of anthologies, I remember reading your string(don't recall where)on a Martian anthologies. Was that just a thought, which sounds like a good one, or is there plans for a collection?

MCII was a thought, not an actual collection. When I finish the current projects taking over my life, I'll be revisiting posts here on the board.

Yes, D. An impressive undertaking.

Currently-
Herriot: All Creatures...
Shakespeare: Hamlet
Tolkein: Hobbit
Remarque: All Quiet...
Greenberg, Matheson, Waugh: Twilight Zone: Original Stories
Sachar: Holes

Dandy,
Nice post above. Your "...creating to make statements to creating for mere profit ..." made me think...Stravinsky never recorded a Christmas album, did he? !

And Ray Bradbury barely wrote any Christmas stories. I'm thinking three? Less than 1%? None of which spread much Christmas cheer at that. Let's see, in one a boy beats a dog, in another an undead guy rises from a frozen cemetery, and the cheeriest one is set in the cold vastness of outer space. Suppose it's the commercialism that bothers him?

I always have several books at hand, ready to dip into as my mood fits. A chapter a day does me fine. Right now, I'm reading:

• The Vintage Bradbury. I was interested to see what Ray considered his best work, at least in 1965. And I hadn't read many of these stories in so long. Not surprisingly, I appreciate them in a different way as an adult than when I read them as an adolescent. I hear Ray's adult voice much better, you know? Like the droll wit in The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse.
  
• Death Is a Lonely Business. I bought this initially to give to a friend who was from Los Angeles, for its portrait of a lost L.A. from 1949, the year his dad moved there. But having read A Graveyard for Lunatics, I ended up putting this aside for my own enjoyment. The title is interesting, and has several different meanings. Many of the people in the book are eccentrics who live alone, and some of them die in the course of the story. But the title is also spoken by a nihilist who turns out to be the villain of the story, suggesting Ray's own rejection of nihilism.
  
• E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art. I picked this up for a dollar at a used book store, after seeing it was recommended in Clifton Fadiman's The Lifetime Reading Plan. I've never read a survey of art before, so I am learning very much.
  
• Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. Originally published in 1944, this thick anthology avoids the more gruesome in favor of the classic, one reason why it's still in print after all these years. It's interesting to see how the approaches change from author to author and develop over a century's time.

Coming up next on my list of books is to re-read The Iliad and The Odyssey, which I read in high school and college. Back then I read for story, now I read them for psychology, myth and literary style.

Then on to read for the first time the Analects of Confucius, which has been a huge influence on Chinese culture for more than two thousand years, as much as the Bible has been on Western culture.

Quite a list Walloon, thanks for sharing. I just finished Machineries of Joy, some reason, I dragged my feet through that one. It was great, don't get me wrong. I think it was that I was reading alot of poetry at the same time. Now I have simultaneously started I sing the Body Electric and The Postman by David Brin. I'm loving the Postman so far. I'm waiting for Earth Abides, that will be next, so many people on here have said its great. Also will read, when it gets here, Seven From Oregon.

I have The Odyssey, but I want to get The Illiad soon, and read both. I saw it at the used bookstore but it was too pricey for me then.

Believe it or not, for some reason I'm now in the middle of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"!

That one's been on my list for ever so.

Ah, the oh so pondered first post. Where do you post so as not the offend the indiginous tribes? I hope this is a suitable spot.

Hello all, I'm currently reading Heidegger: Being and time, although inbetween bouts of catatonia I have been rereading F451, far more enjoyable and certainly more understandable.

Super cool forum 'Ya got here.

Jayne,
I don’t think there is anyone here you could offend. I hope you enjoy it here.

Jayne, Are you familiar with Monty Python's "Bruces' Philosophers Song" ?
Lots of fun, particularly if you've read any of these guys. Here's a link with the lyrics and a music clip!

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:4hoTAzHLCrIJ:www.ad...n&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6

Jane,
By the way, Heidegger is tough for me. He makes my brain feel squeaky.