Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Reading Time:
I began this book today, and have high expectations that it will be at least as enjoyable as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was, which I completed within the past month.
Title: Classics for Pleasure
Author: Michael Dirda
NLS Book #: DB-66597
Reading Time: 12 hours, 12 minutes.
05:00 PM: Started this book this afternoon. This is a collection of essays about ninety authors and their works, who wrote what is now regarded as fringe classic literature. I say “fringe” because as I understand the introduction, this author intentionally avoided mentioning the extremely authors (like Shakespeare and Plato) and opted for equally as enjoyable yet less well-known writers. This should expose me to many works I’ve never heard of before that might be well worth reading.
Title: Best African American Essays: 2009
Editors: G. Early & Debra J. Dickerson.
DB-68449
Reading time: 11:14
Now to more current topics, as compared to the Civil War political discussions in the Team of Rivals book that I just finished reading. This new book is a collection of works from some of the best black American writers of today, covering a myriad of topics from home life and the arts, to music, interracial relationships, homosexuality, and life style in general on the American social landscape, as experienced by these authors. This is the first essay anthology I’ve ever read, and the first annual edition of this particular collection. I hope I like it.
I began reading the book: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain overnight.
I read some of this 1876 classic back in the late 1960s, though I remember very little of the story. However, images of the white-washed fence that Tom’s aunt Polly made him paint for fighting with a neighbor boy, came back vividly along with the fight itself.
I’m also reminded of certain highly expressive phrases that I’ve routinely used through the years, which I learned from this book even though I understood not it’s deeper meanings and themes as an eight year-old. Phrases stuck with me, such as ”used for style, rather than service, ” which Twain wrote to describe the role of Aunt Polly’s spectacles. Though as a boy I did not get what this meant in regards to her glasses, I’ve nonetheless encountered numerous opportunities to appropriately write or utter this idea myself. So, though I’d have never guessed it back in second and third grades, reading this book made me into a more astutely expressive person.
In fact, I’m always so amazed over the knowledge I later discover that I picked up from an initial reading of a book such as this, so many years ago. Though I was typically bored the first time through and telling myself that I wasn’t learning a darn thing, I invariably discover later that I was wrong, and that I had learned much more than I first estimated.
So boredom with a book does not necessarily mean that I’m getting nothing from it. Sometimes, the more boring it is, particularly if it’s classic literature, the better. Boredom could be thought of as an invitation to read the work again, and fill in the gaps in understanding that the first reading produced. Sometimes, I find myself saying, “Come on, book. Bore me some more.”
However, this Tom Sawyer book, the second time around, has bored me not a trifle, because I get so much more of it now. So I’m eager to finish this and to read the companion volume, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
09:25 PM: Began the book Call of the Wild from 1903, by Jack London, because I need a break from the Team of Rivals history book I’ve been studying for nearly two weeks now. So I thought I’d read something light and short, but that still qualifies as classic American literature. This book should fill the bill on all counts.
I owned a paperback version of this work back in the mid 1980s, that I’d purchased from the Pitt book store, full-well intending to read it then. In fact, spurred by the fantasy of becoming deeply knowledgeable regarding all classic American literature, I bought many books whose pages turned yellow at my Craig St. apartment, without me ever having glanced them. I’m reminded of how much of a procrastinator I was in my twenties. But I really did have valid reasons for not reading this back then. Due to the small print of that particular edition, and my other academic responsibilities in college at that time, I never found time to open it, except to view the many black and white dog pictures inside, which were really quite good.
However, now, finally, this book shall be read. 
I began reading this American literature classic this morning. I’ve heard this book referenced numerous times as a great read, and it in fact, was the first book I downloaded on my new account from the BARD site last night. After decades of only knowing of it, I’ll finally get to know it myself.
Total reading time: 10:35.
11:45 AM: I started this book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. They suggested this at the library, because for one, they had very few other DTB books in stock to choose from. Plus it sounded familiar to me; I think President Obama was reading this book during the early months of his first year as president in an effort to more effectively bring together congressional republicans and democrats. This seems a timely book in lieu of congressional gridlock these days. Finally, it’s quite long (over thirty-eight hours reading time), and I enjoy a “meaty” book. So, we’ll give this one a read.
05:00 AM: I’m up. My weight is unchanged from yesterday. It’s still 177.0 Lbs.
08:05 AM: Worked the Bing Site Submissions project, which I requested that pages from all my blogs be added to the Bing search engine index.
09:55 AM: Watched today’s episode of Pittsburgh Today Live.
10:00 AM: Worked the Yahoo Site Submissions project, in which I requested that pages from all my blogs be added to the Yahoo! search engine index.
10:10 AM: Heading back to bed for a couple hours.
12:30 PM I’m back up again.
01:30 PM: Watched today’s episode of The Young and the Restless.
04:00 PM Went shopping.
06:00 PM: Submitted my blog sites to several more search engines.
07:30 PM: Watched tonight’s episodes of NBC’s Nightly News and The CBS Evening News.
08:15 PM: Fixed all remaining posts on the Tom’s Love Quest blog that had title tags longer than 61 characters. The software changes I made last week fixed all but two posts, through exclusion of redundant words in the tag. However the final two were still a little too long, but no longer. All excessively long titles have been shortened in this blog now. The next task is to fix any titles that have illegal characters in them.
09:15 PM: Removed all known illegal characters from thirty-two posts on the Tom’s Love Quest blog. Next, I’ll tackle the removal of stop words from all titles on that blog. This will take some time, as there have been 232 problems reported of this type.
10:15 PM: Located and purchased some blank cartridges, mailers, and USB cable accessories on today’s Internet Shopping Trip, for the NLS DTB player.
12:00 AM: Listened to a couple episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater with [Emmy].
12:05 AM: Okay, going to bed. Have a great night and I’ll see you back out here later on. Take care.
09:00 AM: I’m up. My weight is unchanged from yesterday. It’s still 177.0 Lbs. I lost 0.5 pounds in February, which gives me a total loss for the year of 6.5 pounds. Let’s see if we can’t get an improved weight loss in March. This month, my hunger pangs and cravings, along with my feeble willpower to resist them caused me to actually gain weight over the past couple weeks. Plus, I’ve seriously cut back on the green tea to reduce the headaches I was experiencing. That may be one reason why the food cravings were so overpowering. Well, it’s a new month tomorrow, and a clean slate. Maybe I can do better.
10:50 AM: Read the final chapters of the book: The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow.
02:30 PM: Added the Obesity category to the Tom’s Love Quest blog. In it, I placed posts that talk about the impact of heaviness on my love quest and how my preferences were shaped regarding it.
04:55 PM: Added a few hundred words to the NLS DTB Player post, now that I’ve had a few days to play with the new unit. I know so much more about it now than the day I first got mine.
05:00 PM: Started readng the book: Sway: The Irresistible Pull Of Irrational Behavior.
05:40 PM: We ran out to Pizza Pronto and got some steak subs for supper. Yum, but, oh no!
06:30 PM: Watched WPXI TV channel 11 local news. Much mention was made of the Canada – USA hockey game played today in the winter Olympics. This is the closing day of the Olympics, and the Canadians won. It’s hard to be disappointed though since some of the players on team Canada also play for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
10:40 PM: Read some more of the book: Sway: The Irresistible Pull Of Irrational Behavior.
11:45 PM: Bed time. See you tomorrow.
Started my next book: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Ron Brafman (DB-67217). Yes, they’re brothers.