hibernation

I finished Narcissus and Golmund this weekend. I love that feeling of completion, especially when the task completed is done in a relatively short period of time (these days, 1 week for a book is fairly spectacular considering the amount of TO DO things constantly floating around in my brain....plus the collective timespan of book reading was smooshed into about 3 days within that week, maybe 6 or so hours total. maybe less. decent I'd say). So now there's Jung to finish, but I'm bypassing it once again for Angels and Demons. My mom would like to read it after Christmas, so I figured it makes sense to read it now. It's a quick read, as was Da Vinci Code. 100 pages flew by...it's that short chapter format that pushes the book along so nicely. Dan Brown is the first mainstream author I've read in awhile, so I thougt it appropriate to give him adequate attention and read several books instead of just taking a ride on the Da Vinci train. It's good so far. I like Dan Brown because his stories spark curiosity. Fact and Fiction make for a good combination. I first enjoyed this in "London" by Rutherford. It's the history of London as told through fictitious characters, but based around factual events. It's a very satisfying way to learn about new things, it's like following a path. You somehow gain the urge to look for books that chronicle history in depth. Dan Brown does this as well. England, France, Italy... the fact based fictional accounts gain my attention and lead me to dig further and educate myself in the degree of accuracy of Brown's fact. I don't doubt that the fact provided isn't true, I'm more curious about how much he's presented, and what remains outside the boundary of his intricately woven story. After reading London, I proceded to read an entire book on Henry VIII...and another on Henry's wives. I like English history anyway, but I am not entirely sure I would have found myself wading through a 1000 page history of King Henry if it weren't for "London". So that's my current state of mind. Winter always puts me in a literary state of mind. I guess it's my form of hibernation. This year I'll be a hybrid...some hibernation, and some adrenaline (snowboarding). It should be very interesting.