Citizen of the Galaxy

Robert A Heinlein
This was an audio book. You know it's a good one when you are reluctant to turn off the car and go into work after listening on the way there.

Number the Stars

Lois Lowry
This author wrote The Giver.

Supersonic Flight: Breaking the Sound Barrier and Beyond : The Story of the Bell X-1 and Douglas D-558

Lest you think I am now a romance novel fan, here is some hard-core, technical, non-fiction. This is the story of the assault on the so-called "sound barrier". WWII fighters would sometimes approach the speed of sound in a dive and they would experience surprising, unexplained things. Sometimes planes were lost. Wind tunnels of the day were unable to reproduce the conditions that exist at speeds near the speed of sound. Flying research vehicles appeared to be the only way to find out what happens there. The Bell X-1 with Chuck Yeager at the controls is famous for being the first to fly supersonic. The Douglas D-558 was not familiar to me but it also played a significant role in transonic and supersonic research. With supersonic fighters and even supersonic commercial planes (Concorde) commonplace today, it is easy to forget the time when there was a "sound barrier".

Twilight

I haven't escaped the vampire-romance-craze that has affected my sisters-in-law on both sides. Sarah was excited about the book when we stopped in on our way up to Idaho last month. She lent her copy to Ylfelynn who immediately started reading. (It turns out Ylfelynn's two little sisters were already fans). At one point on our trip, I found myself sitting idle in the van and I picked up and started reading it. After reading for a while, I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the end through all the swooning and the "he's so beautiful"s but I stuck it out - I had to find out what happens. I'm not sure I'm up for the next book - we'll see. It's good to see someone doing something original. I thought it was a good story.

Flight of the Phoenix

I didn't actually read this book - I listened to it. My recently increased commute time allows me time to listen to audio books. This is a great story - one of the all time classic survival tales. An eclectic collection of men crash land in the Sahara desert. A fight for survival ensues. I would come home from work listening to their struggle in the desert and feel more thirsty than usual. I have an increased appreciation for water. I saw the Jimmy Stewart movie many years ago - I want to rent it and watch it again. Also I heard the more recent version with Dennis Quaid is worth watching.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Book 7. The last one. The end of the series. Harry Potter is retired. Or is dead. Or lived happily ever. (Don't want this to be a spoiler.) I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ylfelynn picked up the book the day of its release and we started reading it concurrently. She stayed up late a couple of nights and finished before me. Now we are reading it to the boys. I don't think I need to recommend this as any fan of the books is sure to want to read it. If anyone out there has only seen the movies, I must encourage you to read the books - you are missing out on a lot. If you need to borrow one of the seven books, let me know - I've got all of them ...

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

This book takes place shortly after the Star Wars Episode III film, Revenge of the Sith. There are many Star Wars novels by various authors out there that take place before, during, and after the movies. I have read some of them. None of them are really earth- shattering as far as literature goes but always entertaining for a Star Wars fan such as myself. This story delves into the final stages of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader.

Welcome to my reading list

The other day I was perusing one of my favorite websites, Wikipedia, and I reading an article about Art Garfunkel of Simon & Garfunkel fame. One thing the article about him mentions is that he has a list of every book he has read since 1968. Wow! What a cool list to have. How fun to look back and remember books read. Therefore I am officially starting my own reading list. I do not expect for a minute to have a list as extensive as Art's. My reading seems to go in spurts. Oh well, we'll see what happens.