Author: EKK

A Fine Day for A Great Run – Music by Karibow

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A Fine Run Highlighted by a 9:52 Mile! – Music by Karibow

Over the last few weeks I have been checking Weather.com’s rating for going for a run. Considering the conditions, clear skies, low temperature and humidity I figured it would be a high rating. It was 8 out of 10. That was slightly lower than I thought it would be, but still great. No excuses if today’s run wasn’t a good one!

The Run

But with that said the run didn’t start out too well. I wasn’t too far into the run before I realized I forgot my Fitbit! I had left it in the house charging. So I turned around and walked back home! I know I never ease into runs like I should so I considered  this minor delay my easing into this run.

So I see out again when I passed the first half-mile mark in under five minutes I thought to myself” could this be the day I run a mile under 10 minutes! Sure enough I ran the first mile in 9:52! Now came the hard part not sucking wind over the next 3 miles!

I slowed down a little but I still felt pretty good. I ran the second mile in 10:19, with an average pace of 10:05. Once again I slowed down a little more but again I still didn’t feel too bad! Mile 3 was completed in 10:38. I looked at my time when I hit the 5k mark and my time was 31:56!

Since at this point in the run I had run my fastest mile and 5K this year I had no problem with slowing down some more. The last mile was 10:50. At the end of the 4 miles I felt pretty good so I gave it a little sprint covering the last 0.13 miles at a 9:33 pace!!
So I was really, really happy with the run!

The Nerdy Details

Total Distance 4.13 miles    Total Time: 42:54  Average Pace: 10:23 (m/m)

Mile Splits Mile 1: 9:52 m/m Mile 2 – 10:19 m/m   Mile 3 10:38 m/m Mile 4 10:50 m/m   0.12 -19:35 m/m

Average Heart Rate ; 150 bpm Max Heart Rate 172 bpm

Calories Burned: 595 cals.

The Soundtrack From Here to Impossible – Karibow

The soundtrack for the run was From Here to the Impossible from the Prog Rock band Karibow. Karibow is a Ctossover Prog band from Germany. From Wikipedia…..

Karibow is a German progressive rock band, the essential elements of the neo-progressive rock with the compositional characteristics of the Adult Orientated rock (AOR) connects. Karibows music is characterized by clear melodic lines, rhythmic complex arrangements and epic, sometimes futuristic text content. Musical relationship consists of bands such as Saga , Marillion and Toto . December 2014 Karibow were with the German Rock & Pop Prize awarded “Best Progressive Band”. Read More

I really like this album and will be writing about it soon! Until then here’s the album trailer!

 

A Good Morning Run Over a New Course with Old Memories!

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A Four Mile Run Some Shade, Some Sun, Some Memories – Good Music from Amplifier

So this morning I decided to creat a new course for my run. My training plan since my early 40s has been running four miles on two weekdays.! And then a five to eight mile run on the one of the weekend days. This year I have not run any distance greater than four miles. As a result there are portions of those five to eight mile courses that I have not run this year.

One of those places is along the Rancocas Creek bear its confluence with the Delaware River. So I designed the course so that I could have a four mile run that included that part of Delran and Riverside. Here are two pictures taken along the creek somewhere in the third mile of  my run. The second one is the view I had as I plodded along hoping for shade!

RancocasCreek – looking towards Delaware River

Rancocas Creek looking upstream

A little farther along on that third mile I came to Whomsley Field where my boys played Little League baseball. Needless to say a lot of memories came back when I passed there. I went back after the run to take these pictures.

I looked for the sliding board that used be out beyond right field fence on this field. The reason was that was the slide that our third son fell off of day at a game!! Got him a big knot on his field and a trip to the doctor!

The Run

But back to the run. The first part of the run had more shade than sun, while it was the reverse on the second two miles. The first two miles were completed in 10:37 and 10:39 While the sun shiney portions of the run were covered in 11:08 and 11:34. Yes I was sucking wind at the end. But I still managed to crank it up over the last 0.17 miles. Running that short distance at a pace of 10:41!! Here are the complete results!

The Results

Total Distance 4.17 miles    Total Time: 45:51  Average Pace: 10:58 (m/m)

Mile Splits Mile 1:  10:37 m/m Mile 2 – 10:39 m/m   Mile 3 11:08 m/m Mile 4 11:34 m/m   0.17 – 10:41 m/m:

Average Heart Rate:140 bpm Max Heart Rate: 152 bpm

Calories Burned: 580 cals.

The Soundtrack

The Soundtrack for the run was my first listen to Trippin’ with Dr. Faustus the latest from the Psychedelic/Space Rock ban Amplifier.

From ProgArchive

AMPLIFIER is a Manchester based space rock band. This three-piece makes extraordinary music which is quite similar to the, also Manchester based, band OCEANSIZE. The band consists of Sel Balamir who plays guitar and is also the band’s lead-vocalist. Than there’s Matt Brobin, who is the band’s drummer. Last, but not least, there’s Neil Mahony who is the bassist. As you can see there’s no keyboardist on board, so all the weird sounds and effects are played on the guitar, hence the name “AMPLIFIER”…..

….Their music is highly original. They combine deep personal lyrics with walls of noise, combined with stunning melodies.

This band has been hailed a lot in the media. Kerrang! Magazine said this was “.the British rock-scene altering record” when talking about their selftitled debutalbum. Metal Hammer said they were “.the future of rock.” and even Q magazine said that “.at present British rock doesn’t get much better than this.”  Read More

As with the other albums that have been soundtracks for recent runs, I hope to write about Trippin’ with Dr Fautus after listening to it a few more times. It may sound just a little different if I’m not half-dying while listening to it!!

But for now let’s listen to “Kosmos (Groves of Triumph) ” from Trippin with Dr Faustus by Amplifier

 

 

Another Shaded Early Morning Run

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A Struggling 3.25 Mile Run is  Better Than No Run – July 19, 2017

 

As I  sit here now (12:19 pm) I see that the current temperature is 90 degrees and it’s very, very sunny. So I know that I made the right decision about running this morning. But it was a bit of a struggle to get out the door. The whiny, heat hating me said, “But it’s still going to be hot running, even though it’s 75 now. You know the sun is going to be hot!” The good me said “I know that so what I’m going to do is once again alter my course a little more to get a few more blocks of shade into the run!” The whiny me said “Okay you win!”

The Run….

So out the door I went with a slightly altered course that offered a little more shade than my last run. The course I had laid out was a four-mile, but I didn’t care if I made the whole four miles. I was ok through the first two miles, completing them both in 10:51. Then the wheels fell off the bus, and the sweat was pouring from my body!  And that put my distance at whatever it was when I got back to my house. The course I had laid out, had a run around the park, and some more, to make it a full 4 mile run . I knew that wasn’t happening!

Without the extra distance the course ended up being 3.25 miles. which I finished in 36:01. My average  average pace per mile was 11 minutes and 4 seconds. Typically, I would have tried to sprint to get my pace back under 11 minute per mile pace. But that was not the case today. What do they say “Discretion is the Better Part of Valor” I will live to run another day!

I decided that, like the other day, I would walk another 0.75 miles to make the total run/walk 4 miles. It wasn’t tpp long into my walk around Spring Garden Park that I stopped an said “Whoa!”

One of the largest and oldest trees in the park had been reduced to a stump!

Anyone care to count the rings?? I  bet there’s close to 150 or so. The tree is  probably as ol as the park!

The Results of the Run…..

Mile Splits: Mile 1 – 10:51 Mile 2: 10:51  Mile 3: 11:21 an 0.25 – 11:40 (out of gas on the last quarter-mile!

Total 3.25 Mile 36:01  – Average Pace 11:04 min per mile Average Heart Rate 142=3 bpm  Calories Burned: 475

The Soundtrack for the Run  Anu]bis – The Second Hand 

Anu]bis is a Neo Prog progressive rock band from Australia. You can read about the album here at ProgArchives The band’s album Behind Our Eyes (Live 2014) was the soundtrack of a previous run. So I think it’s time for a review at FreeWheelin’ Music Safari.

Third Run of the  Week Puts Weekly Mileage Over Ten Miles!

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July 15 – Three Runs in One Week! Yeah Me! Life’s Little Victories!

The Run

Ah, this morning temperatures were in the low 70s and it was cloudy a good morning for a run. And it was,but there was one thing that I forgot! That one thing was that the relative humidity was relatively high! That for someone like me who sweats at the drop of a heat is not a good thing. My first thoughts about the run were that I would run my most hilly four mile run. But that thought went out the window after the first mile. May second, thought was maybe I’d run my four mile Creek out and back 4 mile run.

As I got hotter and hotter that run did not appeal to me. So I finally, settled on my 3.1 loop that includes the out part of the Creek Out and Back run. But instead of turning around at the 2 mile mark I just keep going straight and loop around and come back home. As I ran down along the Rancocas Creek I thought maybe I would alter the run a little and make it a four mile loop.

NJ at Wathcase etc

Point of run going uphill the building on left is the Watchcase Bldg where I work for like 25 years!

Then I hit the slight hill at the railroad tracks and as I struggled up that hill I thought the hell with it lets just get a 3.1 plus mile in today! The final length of the run turned out to be 3.30 miles as I ran just a little past our house.

Post-Run Walk

When I finished I started my usual cool-down walk around the block. I got a little past halfway around the block, when I thought about increasing the length of my walk. It would only take .70 of mile to make the overall workout four miles. Then I thought how about I go down to the high school track and see how accurate the GPS is on a walk around the track.  The answer was pretty much dead on. When I started around the track I was at .52 miles and at the end of the lap .77, which makes one lap .25 miles!

I momentarily contemplated running some intervals. However, on the walk to the track I couldn’t see because of the sweat in my eyes.  I could just see it. Well maybe not! I figured on the quarter lap after a full lap, I i would be blind! Anyway, I’ll save intervals for another day or night!

So the question of the day what’s worse : Sunny and low humidity or cloudy and high humidity. My vote goes to the later. Any thoughts?

the results of the run……..

 

Mile Splits: Mile 1 10:37  min/mile – Mile 2 10:56 min/mile – Mile 3 11:24 min/mile – 0.30 mile – 11:20   Totals 3.30 miles – 36:24 min – 11:01 min/mile

Average Heart Rate : 142 beats per min (bpm)  Max 154 bpm  Calories Burned: 464 cal

Soundtrack of the Run: Behind Our Eyes (Live 2014) from the Prog Rock band  Anu]bis.

Here’s a Track from the Album. And once again I will try to write about the album later to day……

 

Featured Image: looking down Bridgeboro Street at the point where i cross it. Many times when I run down this street I think that the first time I ran down this street was as a member of the Burlington City Cross Country team in either 1968 or 1969? So I’ve almost been running down this road for 50 years! Oh  My!

July’s First Run – Not Great But Every Run Helps!

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Today’s Run : July 9, 2017 – Four Miles – a struggle over the last mile

 

The temperature was right around seventy  degrees this morning so I decided it was a good day for a run. Looking back at my posts,I see that the last run I wrote about was way back on June 8th. Just because I haven’t posted, doesn’t mean I haven’t been running. While I haven’t been running as much as I should, I did run four more times in June  Here are the results….

1 – June 15 – distance 3.26 miles, overall pace 10:45 min/ mile
2  – June 22 – distance 3.28 miles, overall pace 1049 min/ mile
3  – June 25 – distance 4 miles, overall pace 11:13 min/mile
4 – June 29 – distance 4 miles, overall pace 10:53 min/ mile

While you may not realize it, three of those four runs were on a Thursday –  June 15,22, and 29! The reason is simple, it’s my day off from babysitting and Target.

The last two runs were  both four mile runs and that’s a good thing. Now all I need to do is get another weekday run in and then a longer weekend run! Ha!

Today’s Run Prep

As I said at the start of this post the temperature this Morning was relatively cool (70 degrees). The only bad thing was that it is also very sunny! On days like today,  I try to plan my run so that it has a good amount of shade in it. The bad thing about that is that the most heavily wooded area in town is also the area at the highest elevation . Which means it’s uphill to get there!

The Run…

Anyway I took off telling myself to take it easy because there will be a hill coming. So I was buzzing along feeling pretty good like I could keep this pace up for the whole run But when I finished the first mile in 10:25 I began to worry. At the 1.5 mile mark my pace had dropped to 10:38 (mid-way up that hill) and by the time I was at the top of the hill and heading toward the second mile mark my pace had dropped to 10:53! Finally I made the turn and headed back to the hill, but this time I was going down hill so I got to recover a little but the rest of the run after  my descent was a struggle! My only thought was I don’t care about time just let me finish – which I did!

The Splits

Mile No   –  Average Pace

1      –     10:26 min/mile
2      –     11:17  min/mile
3      –      10:58 min/mile
4.     –      11:47 min/mile

The Results

Calories burned 591    Average Heart-rate 143 bpm Max Heart-rate by 156 bpm

Overall, I am going to rate today’s as a B – The first mile gets an A  and the last a C The to middle miles a B. So that’s the average which is fine by me!  AndI just need to remember each run makes me a little better than before!!

The Soundtrack for the run was Erosion the latest from the Prog Rock band Cydemind. I will be reviewing the album in a bit at  FreeWheelin’ Music SafarI

 

 

 

 

My Morning Workout – July 2 & 3 2017

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My Morning Workouts – July 2 and 3 2017

We went to the Jersey shore yesterday for a small family gathering ( no beach) Just the way I like it! Anyway as a result I didn’t get to run. I did get in an abbreviated morning workout though. I did the first twenty two minutes of my 60 minute workout. The routine included  a 4 minutes dance cardio warm up and a tabata routine was made up of….

1 -4 – 20 second sets of jumping jacks (25 per 20 seconds ( 100 total)
2- 1 – 20 second mountain climbers -35 total
3 -1 – 20 second squat thrusts – 10
4 -1 – 20 second push-ups
5 -1 – 20 squats
6 -1 – 20 second squat kicks
7- 1 – 20 second squat steps
8 – 1 – 29 second squat together
9- 1 – 20 second hydrant
10- 1 – 20 second chair kickbacks

11- 1 20 second curls with 15 pound weights
12 -1 20 second overhead press 15 lb weights
13 -1 20 second lunges 15 lb weights

14 – Two rounds of various weights with a kettlle bell
15 – 2:00 minutes per round 4 total

At the end of those exercise I was just shy of burning 200 calories so I add some dance cardio with some jumping jacks included for 3 minutes or so bringing the total routine to 24 minutes burning a whopping 205 calories! Can you read the sarcasm in that statement?

July 3rd Morning Workout 

 

Anyway this morning I replaced the 15 lb weights with 5 lb weights for 4 minutes. Then resistance bands for four minutes and a closing dance cardio with some kettle bell and jump rope. The routine totalled about 24 minutes and burned
about  that same 200 plus calories. I don’t know precisely because I never stopped the Fitbit! So if you through in my shower and getting dressed the workout lasted 54 minutes and burned 314 calories.

I may be able to get a run in today, but with the hot weather I don’t know. Maybe an after dinner bike ride? That would be something a little different.

Ok  so me today’s workout begins in earnest. Zoe is up! Just kidding!  Watching Zoe is not a hard task and certainly doesn’t burn a lot of calories- now Oliver that’s a different story!  After Zoe got up we spent some time cutting shapes.The featured image shows Zoe cutting the shapes by herself. She will turn three in September!

 

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Robotham and Donlea End April on High Note

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Starter House by Sonja Condit Starts May Right!

Over the last several weeks I have finished reading several books and over the weekend I added several to my “to be read” shelf. Here are the books that I have finished….along with the date finished and the book’s number on my list of books read in 2016……

20. Close Your Eyes – Michael Robotham (April 27th) Book Joseph O’Loughlin #8

From Goodreads….

When a former student bungles a murder investigation, clinical psychologist Joseph O’Loughlin steps in to face a ruthless killer.

A mother and her teenage daughter are found murdered in a remote farmhouse, one defiled by multiple stab wounds and the other posed like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her Prince. Joe O’Loughlin is drawn into the investigation when a former student, trading on Joe’s reputation by calling himself the “Mindhunter,” jeopardizes the police inquiry by leaking details to the media and stirring up public anger.

With no shortage of suspects and tempers beginning to fray, Joe discovers a link between these murders and a series of brutal attacks where the men and women are choked unconscious and the letter “A” is carved into their foreheads. Read More

Along with the above there is a secondary storyline the book. Joe is asked by his estranged wife to move back into their cottage with his family which includes his wife and their two daughters. Joe is thrilled at the prospect of reuniting with his wife and daughters only problem is that his wife has cancer. And once again Joe is faced with the problem of balancing his work and his family!!

Bottom Line: Close Your Eyes is another excellent book from Michael Robotham. This series is one of my favorites and like many of them it keeps getting better which is very hard to do because Robotham set the bar really high with his early books!! I will even forgive him for joining the ranks of William Kent Krueger and Karin Slaughter Ratings: Goodreads **** (4.15)  *RGrandad **** 1/2 (4.5)

Summit Lake a recent reads21. Summit Lake – Charlie Donlea (April 29th)

From Goodreads…..

Set in a small, picturesque North Carolina town, Charlie Donlea’s suspenseful debut novel tells the haunting story of a murdered law school student, the reporter assigned to her story—and the intimate connection that comes when the living walk in the footsteps of the dead.

“No suspects. No persons of interest. Just a girl who was alive one day and dead the next.” Read More

This is Charlie Donlea’s debut novel and a smashingly good debut it is! The murder victim is Becca Eckersley a first year law student and the daughter of a powerful attorney who is about to become a judge. After Becca is murdered investigator Kelsey Castle is sent by her employer Events magazine to Summit Lake to find out what happened. Once she arrives Kelsey discovers that the murder appears to be more complex than the theory that the Feds are promoting that it was a random robbery gone bad. The story is told by both flashbacks which chronicle the last year of Becca’s life and Kelsey’s current investigation.

Bottom Line: Summit Lake was a very good read. It took me a while to get into the story and I must admit that I found some aspects of the story somewhat implausible. Particularly the willingness of the county police chief to give police files to Kelsey. But the overall story more than made up for those minor dislikes.  Ratings Goodreads **** (4.07) RGranddad ****

 

Starter House a recent read22. Starter House –  Sonja Condit  (May 8th)

From Goodreads…..

In the vein of Heart-Shaped Box and The Thirteenth Tale, Starter House is a haunting and skillfully told debut novel about a newlywed couple and their first home — a home that seems to be haunted by a very malicious ghost. Read More

This was a Dollar Tree purchase and I have to say that the were more aspects of this book that troubled me than in Summit Lake.  The first thing that bothered me was that after meeting that little boy and feeling a presence that pushed her down the stairs resulting in almost losing her baby.,Lacey Miszlak didn’t just say I’m not staying in this house. Secondly, is that she never really tells her husband what’s going on in the house! Poor Eric! But as the storyline progressed those things seemed less and less important and I enjoyed the unraveling mystery.

Bottom Line : While I liked Starter House it never really that scared me . I did get engrossed in the book about two-thirds of the way in and really liked it from then on until the end. While I enjoyed the characters I never really connected all that much with them particularly Eric, whose character I really did not like that much at all. So over all good but not great for me! Ratings Goodreads: ***+ (3.16) RGranddad *** (3.00)

Ok so I was going to discuss the three new books that I added to my to be read pile in this post, but I think that I’ll save that for another post!!

My Biologic Clock Still Not Going Backwards..

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Why the Biologic Clock is not going backwards….

Over the last month and a half I have not done a whole lot to turn back my biologic clock. In fact with my bronchitis and I think a couple of colds, I have basically been trying to keep that clock from taking great leaps forward. One of the things that I haven’t been able to do is start back running, which is hard to do when you can’t stop coughing, and it’s cold outside! But now even when the weather is nicer and I’m feeling better I am finding it difficult to find the time to run.

The other day I was thinking about it and realized that when I add babysitting our two grandchildren to my Target schedule my schedule gets pretty full! I am off Sunday and Monday, but then the rest of the week has been pretty crowded! Lately its been Target Tuesdays and Thursdays followed by babysitting Zoe and then babysitting Oliver on Wednesday and Fridays and Target starting at 6 am on Saturdays With the return of my daughter-in-law’s grandmother from a February vacation, my babysitting duties for Zoe my slack off and Oliver may be going to day care full-time, I may have more time in my schedule. But I also know that I will miss babysitting them greatly, actually, babysitting them is a lot more fun than running, so I think in the long run I’d rather squeeze in the running time and babysit then sit around and miss them! You can’t win!

Anyway, all this has led me to writing a lot less on this blog! From Tuesday through Saturday when I’m done work or babysitting I’m tired and can successfully put off writing until it’s time for bed.

I have been for the most part been keeping up with yoga and meditation in the mornings and sometimes in the evening. I have read ten books so far this year have actually explored the music of a lot of musicians some old favorites but more that I am listening to for the first time!

The Music that keeps me going….

Three weeks ago, I decided to pick a few jazz albums out the listened to them whenever I was in the car those albums included new releases from: GoGo Penguin’s Man Made Objects, Herlin Riley‘s New Direction and Matthew Halsall’s Into Forever. of the three Herlin Riley’s New Direction was my favorite.

More Guitar than Friends - Anni Piper helps my biologic clock slow downTwo weeks, I did the same thing with blues albums and listened to the latest from Anni Piper, RB Stone- Some Call it Freedom (Some Call it the Blues), Riff Riders – Hit the Road,  Toronzo Cannon- The Chicago Way and Van Wilks-21st Century Blues. My favorites were Anni Piper’s More Friends than Guitars, which I did manage to write about, but Toronzo Cannon’s The Chicago Way, is still on my list to write about!

New Age albums that have been in my rotation include: Distant Horsemen from Timothy Wenzel and Uma Silbey’s Altered States. Both of which have been soundtracks for exercise and meditations! Tmothy Wenzel’s is my favorite of these two!

Ok so my goals look a lot like they did three weeks ago…..

The Goals for the Week…..

Get Back to Eating Better: to that end I bought strawberries and blueberries yesterday.

Do yoga every morning (maybe add a new routine)

Run two times this week

Continue to Read, hopefully finish one or two books!

Write about the albums and artists that I have been listening to over the last several weeks!

Here’s Toronzo Cannon and his band performing “Fine Seasoned Woman” from The Chicago Way Oh by the way this song has the Zoe seal of approval as she rocked out to it in her car seat this week!

Weekly Update – Jan 30, 2016 – The Reading…

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While Sick Most of the Week – A Book was Finished and Some Started…..

So I have been pretty much wiped out this week. I babysat for Zoe on Tuesday and at the end of the day I felt lousy! I was coughing pretty badly even though I didn’t feel that bad. Anyway it got progressively worse during the night and by morning I knew two things one that I would not be babysitting Oliver and the other I would have to visit the doctor. By late morning both my wife and I were sitting in MedExpress waiting to see the doctor. My wife has been sick longer and worse than I have been. She has had a wicked sinus infection with extreme pain! Anyway she had another sinus infection and I have bronchitis! Since then we have both gotten progressively better and hopefully by tomorrow or Monday I should be back close to normal!! Anyway through it all I have kept reading and even added to my to be read (TBR) pile!

What I’ve been Reading and Plan to Read…..

So what have I been doing with myself when I am not coughing my lungs up! I was able to finish In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam by Robert McNamara. It is book 4 for 2016 and I’m about a book off the pace required to meet my goal of 60 books!! I must say that after reading the book I have a new respect for the man. While he certainly believed that we were doing the right thing in fighting the war he realized that it was a no win situation and that believe lead to an ultimate rift with the administration and his leaving office. McNamara left office in February of the tumultuous year of 1968 so his leaving pretty much corresponding with me just becoming more politically aware, as I would turn 17 in October of ’68! So reading about all of what was going on in the Johnson years from someone who as on the inside was very enlightening!

I also started reading Michael Robotham‘s Edgar nominated book Life or Death. I love Robotham’s Joe O’Laughlin series but this is the first stand alone books of his I have tried! So far so good and if it lives up to the praise from Stephen King on the back of the book – it should be quite a read…..

“Life or Death is a nerve-racking thriller with the heart and soul missing from lesser crime and suspense novels. I couldn’t stop reading it, yet I didn’t want Audie’s story to end. Robotham is an absolute master.

Of course when I went to pick up the book at the library I couldn’t just walk in an get just one book, no I had to look around and come home with several additional books. Those added to my TBR pile include: Bloodline from Warren Murphy, Let Me Die in His Footsteps– Lori Roy and Dorothy Parker Drank Here by Ellen Meister. Why these books?

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Warren Murphy’s book caught my eye because I don’t think that I have read a book by Murphy since The Grandmaster, which he wrote with his wife Molly Cochran, way back in the mid 1980s! When I went to his website, I see that Warren pasted away back in September of  2015. Murphy was an amazingly prolific writer if you go to Goodreads you can check out the fifteen pages worth of books he has written or co-written. He is probably best known for as the creator of the Destroyer series. It appears that series is now about 150 books strong! The first 73 appear to have been written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir! Oh by the way, The Grandmaster won the 1985 Edgar for Best Novel!!

Let Me Die in His Footsteps like Life or Death is nominated for the 2016 Edgar Award for best novel. Both should be pretty good reads! Finally, I am a fan of the Algonquin wits, – George Kaufman, Robert Benchley, et al and Dorothy Parker e only woman of the group – In this novel like its predecessor Farewell, Dorothy Parker finds the ghost of Dorothy….”haunting the halls of the Algonquin with her wit, wisdom and timeless irreverence. I thought Ms Meister did a good job of capturing the essence of Dorothy Parker in the first book so can’t wait to dive into this one!!

Finally, I don’t watch much TV my wife and I  watch The Blacklist and Elementary and a few other shows but that’s about it. Last week between coughing fits, I did start to watch The Shannara Chronicles based on the books by Terry Brooks. I think the series is great and can’t wait for the next episode next week!  While I have been aware of the Terry Brooks books since the 1980s when I saw his books fly off of the shelves at Waldenbooks where I worked part-time, I have never read any of them! Anyway, the first book The Sword of Shannara was only eight dollars for the Kindle version, so that one is now on the Kindle and I have read  20% of it!

So right now I’m reading Life or Death and The Sword of Shanarra with the other three books waiting!! Wish Me Luck as I try to catch up!! Right now I think it’s time for a nap!!

Renaissance Granddad’s Favorite Books of the 70s!

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An AARP Post leads to a list of My Favorite Books from the 1970s!

 

This morning my wife said “you’re old. please join AARP so we can at least derive some benefits from you ancientness!” Actually, she didn’t say that, but she did ask me to join AARP so that we can hopefully get a discount on our Ancestry.com renewal! While I was on the site registering and paying the whole $16.00 a year membership this post Readers’ Picks: 10 Books Boomers Love caught my attention.These are the books that the readers picked:

10 The World According to Garp – John Irving
9. The Joy of Sex – Edited by Alex Comfort
8. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
7. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
6. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
5 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
4. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
3 Roots – Alex Haley
2. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
1 Catcher in the Rye – J.D Salinger

While the above list is a terrific list, it is not my reading list! I have only read two of the books on the list – Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five. So I thought that I put together a list of my favorite books that were published and read mostly during my high school and college years.

Renaissance Granddad’s Favorite Reads from the 1970s – as best he can remember!

 

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Several of the authors among those shown could have had two or more books on the list. John Fowles’  The Collector and The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Alexander Solzhenitsyn‘s The First Circle., Tom Tryon’s The Other and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, could have all been on the list!

The late high school years along with the college’s year set the tone for the life that follows. Is there a better music than the music of your generation, at least there isn’t for the music of mine! And the books you read lay a foundation for future reading as well help guide you along  your life’s path. The works of Herman Hesse helped me discover and accept the duality of nature, Catch-22 and August 1914 taught me about the absurdities and the horrors of war, and Stephen King and Tom Tryon taught me to be afraid of the dark – very afraid! The Day of the Jackal and The Eye of the Needle ignited a love of political thrillers,Watership Down and All Creatures Great and Small enhanced my love of animals.

Then there is Death at an Early Age, Reading the story of Jonathan Kozol‘s first year as a teacher in a very poor Boston school, was upsetting. When I read the book and I felt so sorry for those poor children, the saddest thing may be that in many schools throughout America things haven’t changed all that much, especially in the inner city schools. Anyway reading Death at an Early Age led me to an Education degree from the University of Georgia. Unfortunately, the twists and turns of my life resulted in that degree going unused! But I hope that my love of learning and reading has been passed on to my children and they will in turn pass it on to their children. And maybe my daughter Elizabeth, who is in her final year of her Masters program in Educational Psychology at the University of Delaware, will do what I didn’t and help some of those in need children!

So there is the list of some of my favorite books of the 1970s. It was a fun exercise and I think many of those books should be visited again!  How many of my books have you other boomers read?? What were some of your favorites from that era??