Amy Tan's quote refutes the childhood saying of "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me". We know that, sadly, words can be very hurtful and/or damaging. Happy May, everyone!

Since October, I've been reading nothing but fantasy. After my umpteenth re-reading of Harry Potter, I've read fantasy series by George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Dan Simmons, and Christopher Paolini. I finished the prequel to the "Wheel of Time" series, New Spring, just yesterday, and I've run out of easy-to-read books. All that's left in my TBR bookcase are challenging books. Well, right now, I don't want to be challenged. I want to lose myself in another world. I don't know what to read next. Just to have something to run my eyes over, I'm reading The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, but I'm not getting much out of it. I have to find some new fantasy. Perhaps a trip to Barnes and Noble is in order: I received $100 in gift cards for there for Christmas.

Oh yes! If I have found particular enjoyment from a book I will often revisit it about five years + later when details might have grown fuzzy. This is particularly true if I found the book to be character driven, which really does make a book for me. I recently finished Amy Tan' Valley Of Amazement and was surprisingly very disappointed in the book.I don't know if my mood was not quite right for the book or what - I was anxious to complete it much like I would be a not-so-great movie which might have such a good ending that the movie is redeemed in my eyes. Amy Tan creates very enjoyable reads, so I'm tending to find the fault in myself rather than her story. Unless I hear many people talk about how wonderful it was to them and I decide to give it a second chance again someday, I won't re-read it. When bored, I will look over my bookshelves to see what looks good. About eight years ago I found the backbone to ruthlessly cull the many boxes of books I had stored away as well as the five ceiling to floor, four feet wide bookshelves of books just stuffed with them. I culled heartlessly. Twice because I wasn't quite heartless enough the first time because I still had too many. I quit when the only books remaining were the children's books ( some pre-dating WW1 which I've been collecting for decades) as well as those especially loved or those I was positive I would re-read, and still I easily have 100 books on my bookshelves. I put the rejects in cardboard boxes lining the sidewalk with a big sign saying, "Free books to a good home" and by nightfall the last were finally gone. The process was difficult but I felt terrific when the job was complete. I still had a bunch of wonderful books I knew I would re-read with true relish and it was fun to use the leftover books as well as framed family photos, art, "this and that" to decorate the shelves along with the books, it gave the rooms a wonderful updated and fresh look. Now I'm very careful not to keep books I know I won't read again. For one thing, my e- reader has provided me a great storage space and I forced myself to learn to enjoy reading from it - though it can't replicate holding, smelling, feeling a hardbound or even a paperback, for that matter. But it keeps me from stuffing my bookshelves with books I won't read again. The books on my cases are great reads, I know I love them. After Amy Tan's disappointment, I went to my shelf and pulled out "Memoirs Of A Geisha" to read for a second time. Reading a great book again often provides me greater insight to the characters and I'm able to pay more careful attention to the small, interesting details which are not so important to the storyline but which transform a good read to a terrific read for me.I also often will pick up on points I might have somehow missed the first time. To me it is rather like re- visiting a comfortable old friend. When I polish off "Geisha" I'm even giving thought to a re- reading...

The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson Here is a link that might be useful: The Shrinking Man