Nonfiction

I realize I'm late to the buzz about "Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality." I had a long, boring jury duty summons to get through today and spied it on our bookshelf. {@ the Criminal Court building. Stayed 6 1/2 hours and got sent home} My girlfriend, Alyssa, gave it a good review. I read A LOT today; I like Miller's style.

"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened."

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I read "Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology" around Labor Day and I'm still thinking about the story. I mailed the book down to my brother in the north Georgia mountains. He lives in a rural community and his little sister lives up in Chicago and yet we overlap with an interest in farming/CSAs, sustainability and ways to live more simply. On a similar topic, I added this book to my Secret Santa list (that we do with my husband's immediate family)- "The Plain Reader". As we near the end of the year, I think we all tend to do a little mental cleanse. Refocus...

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Side note, Rick Steves' book 'Travel as a Political Act' came recommended to me at Thanksgiving. Brad's aunt and cousin attended a reading out in Seattle. I'm a huge fan of Rick Steves' travel/ guide books. I'll have to check my local library stacks. {Thanks Aunt Marilyn}