Six Pack of Books

I have finished my six books that I set out to read through the year.  While I feel great for reaching my goal, it's just six books.  Although it did lower the stack of unread books on the bookshelf, this isn't some huge accomplishment.  Having a goal of reading through just six books isn't the largest of goals, but it was for me because I don't read quickly.  What I feel best about is that these books were not all novels, three of them were history books.  Heavy reading well worth it based on the topics.  

The last book I read, Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, was extremely depressing.  I've read books that have had sad moments when you put it down at the end of the night and just want to cry yourself to sleep or wonder how you can avoid such a situation, but this book....the entire time I was reading it, I felt really down.  Maybe it was the way McCarthy painted the situations, he has such a great way with words.  Don't believe me?  Read 'The Road'. 

I think that the one scene in the book that just got to me was four characters sleeping in an abandoned car and starting a fire on the floor boards just to keep warm and make it through the night.  You can just see this old rusted out car with no windows, no wheels, remnants of seats.  You can picture four grown men huddled on the floor of this car and being okay with the situation because they don't know a better life.  I finished that part of the book and didn't read for about two weeks.   

As with all of McCarthy's books that I read, it was a good book just really tough to get through.  I need to find something light and fun to read now.  I still have seven books that I haven't read, but I may try to find an old favorite.  As long as it isn't 'The Jungle', the most depressing book I have ever read.  EVER! 

• Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fates of Human Societies
• Tell All
• Damned
• A Little Matter of Genocide:  Holocaust and Denial in the Americas from 1492 to Present
• Suttree
• Founding Brothers:  The Revolutionary Generation