I'm a bookie!

The Question of the week is:   A songwriter composes a song about your love for books.  What would the song's title be?  (This question was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer).

My response:  I tell my friends I read a lot because I'm a "bookie."  That is very different, of course, from the way my dictionary defines that word.  But it works for me.  The song would be titled "She's a Bookie."  That's a photo of me reading to one of my great-grandchildren.  Books were always my choice of gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

Here's another of my great-grandchildren, reading a picture book I'd given him.

Do you ever re-read books?

Book Blogger Hop gives bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers.  It is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.  Here is the question for this week:  May 16th - 22nd - What are some of your favorite books to re-read? (This question was submitted by Nicole, whose blog cannot be accessed.)  I'm re-reading this one right now:

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End ~ by Atul Gawande, 2014, social science, 304 pages, 10/10

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Atul Gawande tackles the challenge of how medicine can not only improve life, but also the process of its ending.  Medicine has transformed birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable.  But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit:

• Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs.
• Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot.
• Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families.  He offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.  This book asserts that medicine can comfort us and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life, but also a good end.

This quote is from page 259.

Book Blogger Hop ~ how many books did I read?

Book Blogger Hop asks a question each week.  Here's the one for Dec. 30 - Jan. 5th:

In 2022, how many books did you read?

I keep track of books completed in the years listed just below my header.  It looks like it was a good reading year.  My 2022 list shows that I completed 136 books.  Being retired, I have a lot of time to read and a lot of unread books on my shelves.

On the right are a couple of my bookshelves.  I have six, and each is six shelves high.  I seem to replace books as fast as I trade them in at the used bookstore.  Funny how trading books means having more books, huh?

*Note:  I like that we get upcoming questions HERE.

Books from Santa?

Book Blogger Hop* asks a question each week.  Here's the one for Dec. 23-29, 2022:

Did Santa bring you any books?

Bah, humbug!  No, Santa went right over my house without leaving me a single book.  Well, okay, I live on the sixth floor of a tall building, and Santa managed to avoid running into it.  Do you suppose Santa failed to leave a book because I have no chimney for him to come down?  I did, however, give myself books from the library, from the bookstore, and for my Kindle.  Does that count?  If so, then I did get books.

Oh, wait!  I just remembered that I used to BE Santa when my children were little, so all those books DO count after all!  Here are some 10/10 books that I recommend you give yourself (in no particular order):

• A Pain in the Tuchis: A Mrs. Kaplan Mystery ~ by Mark Reutlinger, 2015, cozy mystery, 217 pages, 10/10
• The Indigo Girl ~ by Natasha Boyd, 2017, historical fiction (South Carolina), 329 pages, 10/10
• Regarding Anna ~ by Florence Osmund, 2015, fiction, 272 pages, 10/10
• Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah ~ by Richard Bach, 2001, philosophy, 144 pages, 10/10
• Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul ~ by Richard Bach, 2004, philosophy, 216 pages, 10/10
• The Virtues of Aging ~ by Jimmy Carter, 1998, memoir, 160 pages, 10/10
• A Charlie Brown Christmas ~ by Charles M. Schulz, 2007, children's book, 128 pages, 10/10
• Educated ~ by Tara Westover, 2018, memoir (Idaho, Utah, England), 336 pages, 10/10
• Rick the Rock of Room 214 ~ by Julie Falatko and illustrated by Ruth Chan, 2022, children's picture book, 40 pages, 10/10

(*Note:  I like that we can plan ahead by reading the upcoming questions HERE.)

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop asks a question each week.  Here's the one for Dec. 16-22, 2022:

Which time of day do you prefer to read: 

morning, afternoon, or evening?

Hmm, I'd just have to say, "Yes."  I always prefer to read.  I read in the morning when I get up, I read throughout the day, and I read in bed before falling asleep.  Being retired, I'm not limited by WHEN I can read.  Unless I plan to go somewhere with a friend or have to get groceries or something like that, you'll probably find me reading.  I do occasionally have to do things like wash dishes or clothes, but I'd rather be reading.  Who wouldn't?

(*Note:  I like that we can plan ahead by reading the upcoming questions HERE.)

Book Blogger Hop ~ favorite reading nook

Book Blogger Hop asks a question each week.  Here's the one for Dec. 9-15, 2022:

"Do you have a favorite reading nook?"

No, not really.  I usually read in one of two places:  in my easy chair or in bed.  But I also read while I'm having lunch at home or in the Circle@Crown Café here at my retirement center — if I'm not talking to friends.  I read in a doctor's waiting room or while sitting in a shady spot outdoors in the summer.  In other words, I read here, there, and everywhere.

(*Note:  I like that we can plan ahead by reading the upcoming questions HERE.)