2009 Reading #7

1. Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left by Susan Braudy
2. The Sea-Hawk by Rafael Sabatini
3. From the Files of the Time Rangers by Richard Bowes.
4. A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
5. Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural by Jim Steinmeyer.
6. The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks.

7. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. (Reread.) I try to mix an omnibus or a multi-book series into my reading schedule regularly; this one includes this book, Kidnapped, Weir of Hermiston, The Master of Ballantrae, The Black Arrow and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I never read Stevenson as a kid, but I've read Treasure Island and The Black Arrow in recent years; I thought the former was worth reading again. I'm just not sure what I think of it, still. It's not that I didn't enjoy it; plot-wise it's well done, if a bit herk-a-jerk at times. But character-wise, there's Long John Silver and not much else. I'm halfway through Kidnapped, and so far David in that book is nearly indistinguishable from Jim in Treasure Island. I know, I know, I should turn my brain off and enjoy it. I'm trying!

My Plan To "Stimulate" the Economy (By Dave, Age 12)

OK, so first we put together a DVD of the Senate Finance Committee dressed in fetish gear, lip-synching Barry White songs. The show-stopper will be Chuck Schumer singing "Can't Get Enough" to John Kerry on a leash. Anyways, then we put a suggestive cover on it--something with bratwurst and gourds--and coat it with liquid Viagra.

Investors, email me!