It’s been raining a lot the past month. The constant rain and the warm weather have been making things muggy and uncomfortable - not exactly a great start to the summer. To lift my spirits a bit, I’ve made a new mix CD. It seems to be working so far, so I though I’d post the song selection. In particular, I like #5, How to Save a Life by The Fray.

1. The Painter by Neil Young
2. You and Me by Lifehouse
3. I’m on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover) by Ari Hest
4. Tangerine by Led Zepplin
5. How to Save a Life by The Fray
6. Change by Tracy Chapman
7. American Music by The Violent Femmes
8. Steady as She Goes by The Raconteurs
9. Gone Daddy Gone by The Violent Femmes
10. Can’t Wait One Minute More by CIV
11. Smoke Two Joints by Sublime
12. I Got a Woman by The John Mayer Trio
13. Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie
14. New Year’s Prayer by Jeff Buckley
15. Ghost (live) by Howie Day
16. In My Own Eyes by Brandi Carlile
17. A Waltz for a Night by Julie Delpy
18. Dry Your Eyes by The Streets (featuring Chris Martin)

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I’ve been busy over the past week and have neglected the blog, so I’m playing a little catch up tonight.  I finished Gulliver’s Travels as expected, started and finished The Husband by Dean Koontz, and am beginning a new book, The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl; it looks to be an interesting read.

I really enjoyed Gulliver’s Travels, although I felt it became a little overdone in the last segment where Gulliver ends up in the land of the Houyhnhnms, a horse-like race, free of fraud and dishonesty, but with a peculiar detachment that makes them less admirable and more cold, if anything.  As I had written earlier, all I knew of Gulliver’s Travels was the story of Gulliver’s encounter with the diminutive race of people in Lilliput, when in fact, the Lilliputians only comprise a fourth of the story, and an eighth of the foreign races discovered during Gulliver’s restless travels.  The book is a biting satire which pokes fun at royalties and society beliefs at the time it was written.  Scholars have identified many of the subjects of the satire, although the actual names or events behind the lines certainly aren’t as fundamental as what is between the lines.  In fact, had I not read about some of these circumstances, I would have no less an appreciation for the work.  The bottom line of the story is that Swift would like us to view the world through a different perspective, to question what we have been taught, and see things for ourselves.  Within the story of discovery of the outside world is actually an urge toward self-discovery, to look within us.

The Husband was an excellent read.  The speed with which I read it should serve to demonstrate the enthusiasm I had for each page, each chapter.  The story revolves around a simple gardener who receives a phone call telling him that his wife has been kidnapped.  The kidnappers have demanded $2 million for her return, despite the fact that the gardener, Mitchell Rafferty, could manage little more than $27 thousand if he sold everything he owned.  The kidnappers are serious and back up their threat to him through an act of violence that both convinces Mitchell to do what they ask, and causes the police to suspect his involvement.  With nowhere to turn, Mitchell sets out to prove his love for his wife and do whatever it takes to get her back.  I like Dean Koontz’s writing even though he often times brings in psychic powers and paranormal activity; however, this book has none of that.  It’s a straight up action thriller.