I finished reading:

"Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality" written by John Morton Blum.

As this is the almost certainly the last book of 2008 I have finished I guess it's time for the years wrap-up. I actually finished 97 books. This is a lot more than my average of about one a week. This is primarily because I did more traveling this year with work.. It came out to 32,099 pages which is an average of 331 pages per book.

Next year I am setting myself a goal of 52 books (one per week), although this of course depends on the type of books. Fiction I read quicker than non-fiction and spy/thriller books I read very quickly so it all depends on what comes next up on my list.

-Richard

So listening to my latest "Classical CD" got me thinking about Stats. As I keep a database of all my CD's I figured I would pull some stats. This is on number of works, not, CD's.

I have 280 Works;

The five most popular labels - Deutsche Grammophon, Argo, Emi, Decca and Hyperion
The five most popular Composers - Michael Nyman, John Tavener, John Adams, Richard Strauss and Philip Glass.
The Five most Popular Countries of Composers birth - USA, England, Germany, Russia and Czech Republic
The Five Most Popular Decades composed - 1990's. 1980's, 2000's, 1940's and 1980's

I think that's enough stats for now...

-Richard

The next new CD that I listened to was:

"The World's Ransoming" and "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie". They were composed by James MacMillan performed by Christine Pendrill (Cor Anglais) and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

-Richard

The next book of the Bible that I have just finished is the Book of Job.

-Richard

The next book of the Bible that I have just finished is the Book of Job.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"Stalingrad" written by Theodore Plievier.

This was a very good fiction book written from the perspective of German soldier's as they were surrounded and soundly beaten by the Russians in the battle for Stalingrad. It's a perspective I don't often think about i.e. that of the common German soldier was dragged along by the Hitler mania that swept that country.

-Richard

Happy CHRISTmas to everyone.



-Richard

I finished reading:

"Bourbon Leader: Grover Cleveland and the Democratic Party" written by Horrace Samuel Merrill.

-Richard

I recently updated all my medical records of all the cats that we have fostered for Snowflake. Amazingly we are almost at 150. That staggered me!!! It also reminded me that I hadn't posted for a while, continuing the cats that we have fostered. So, therefore the next ones were -

Nickel and Penny. They came into us the week of July 11th 2006. Nickel (left) a white guy was adopted out on August 13th 2006, followed by Penny, a brown tabby, a couple of weeks later on August 31st.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"Sharpe's Fortress" written by Bernard Cornwall.

This one of the Sharpe series that I thoroughly enjoyed watching as TV movies starring Sean Bean. They are set during the early 1800's during Wellington's campaign's in India and Europe. This is the first book of the series I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a light read and fun.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"Herbert Hoover - Forgotten Progressive" written by Joan Hoff Wilson. An interesting book, not the standard biography, but, more a book on his policies and the development of them.

-Richard

I finished reading:

"The Englishman's Daughter" written by Peter Evans.

-Richard

Book Review....

I broke with my system of reading books in the order I got them!!! Those that know me will be shocked by this!! The reason is that I was sent a book to review.

The book in question is "Historic Photos of Raleigh - Durham" a book of approximately 200 historical photos of the cities of Raleigh and Durham going back to the 1790's when Raleigh was established as the North Carolina State Capital. It is not so much a "reading" book, but, one of interest to those who have a local interest in the development and growth of these two cities. It is incredible how far they have come. There is a small amount of very informative text written by Dusty Walcott and Kenneth E. Peters and will make a good gift for the local Triangle historian and those interested in this area. The photographs are very clear and give a very good pictoral narrative which makes any major writting redundant. The book is published by Turner Publishing.

-Richard

The next CD that I have listened to was:

"WOW Hits 2008 - 30 of the years top Christian Artists and Hits"

I have one new CD to go for now....

-Richard