groon,

oh yes, From the Dust Returned is another of Ray's "fix-ups", where he stitches together a bunch of old stories and calls it a novel. These ones go together reasonably well, but I was surprised to find "On the Orient, North" in there, as it had never occurred to me that it was from the same universe as Homecoming and Einar.

I usually have several books going at once. I just finished reading ELDEST by Christopher Paolini and DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, A BIOGRAPHY by Eberhard Bethge. I am currently reading MESSY SPIRITUALITY by Mike Yaconelli, THE BRADBURY CHRONICLES by Sam Weller, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF SHAOLIN by Wong Kiew Kit, and THE FILM DIRECTOR by Richard L. Bare. Next up is TESTAMENT TO FREEDOM by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and who knows what else may strike my fancy.

Would love to read the Bonhoeffer biography. He's one of my life heroes. Is this a good one? Is it recent?

The Bonhoeffer biography was wonderful. It was written by Eberhard Bethge, his student and best friend. (Bethge also gathered Bonhoeffer's notes/letters and put them together for a couple of posthumous books.) It was originally published in Germany some years back but this edition came out in 2000. It is published by Fortress Press in Minneapolis. It is very conprehensive (at 1048 pages is should be) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I discovered Bonhoeffer fairly recently through THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP, but he has become a hero of mine.

blackdog: The Complete Book of Shaolin, sounds interesting! This you may have already read or would find very enjoyable if your interests lie in the philosophies and cultures of China, 1500 years ago:

Red Pine's translations of Bodhidharma's teachings~

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/086547399...118-6485703?v=glance

"The Cost of Discipleship" was my introduction to him, also. Amazing person, amazing writer. I like his dismissal of "cheap grace".

Sounds interesting, I may have to check it out.

I recently wrote a 25 page Bible study on discipleship and a lot of my ideas came from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

"I was surprised to find "On the Orient, North" in there, as it had never occurred to me that it was from the same universe as Homecoming and Einar. -Phil"

I just read "On the Orient North" yesterday. What a great story! I'm not sure I even want to finish the book now. What could top that? It may not fit directly with the rest, but I think it has such a strong metaphor. A new favorite Bradbury tale for me, I think. As for the rest of the book, I love the character of Cecy, probably just because I want to have her powers, but I didn't care much for the story "Homecoming". I know it's highly talked about among fans, but I don't know, I just didn't get into it. Maybe I'll read it again in ten years and love it, who knows?

Recently read “The Emissary” from “The October Country”, a real fun October story. Am now enjoying “1776” and “Mutts 10”.

You may as well know I am reading "Of Time and the River" by Thomas Wolfe and it's just the most perfect thing I could be reading at this point. In some places it is as if the author is speaking to me directly.

Today read once more 'Strawberry window'. Great story, i feel that it is true for my life: always go further. Not on Mars , but nevertheless.

The previos book was 'Idiot' by Dostoevsky. The classics, what more to say?

I always felt sorry for Dostoevsky, because on the spine of the book it usually says "Dostoevsky The Idiot".

(Theodore Sturgeon was originally going to call a book "The Fabulous Idiot", but when he realised the spine would say "Theodore Sturgeon The Fabulous Idiot", he decided to change it to More Than Human.)

"More than Human" was one of my favorite books.

It still is one of mine. Sturgeon was a wonderful writer whose works deserve to better known, especially by those who seldom read fantasy and SF.