Bookshelf Update 12/03/2009

Currently reading:

"Emotions Revealed" by Dr. Paul Ekman

"The Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut

To-Read:

"Slapstick" by Kurt Vonnegut

"Mothernight" by Kurt Vonnegut

What a Long Time it's Been

It's been almost six months since I posted on my blog. How depressing..

I have finished reading Player Piano but haven't had a chance to put my thoughts up on my blog. I've been pretty busy with school and work and haven't had much time to put into this. I want that to change.

In the meantime I started another book by Kurt Vonnegut called "The Sirens of Titan". Also, I picked up a book on reading emotions from facial expressions. It is called "Emotions Revealed" by Dr. Paul Ekman.

Dr. Ekman is actually the consultant to the show Lie to Me that airs on Fox Network, which is where my interest in this area began. His book starts out describing the ways that we as people inherently all make the same facial expressions for at least 7 emotions. Ekman gives reasons why we would want to recognize these expressions on others such as improving communication. One may also be able to tell what emotion a person is feeling even before they become aware that they are feeling it because the expression can be subconscious.

I can't wait to get through these two books because I have an overwhelmingly large stack of books on my 'to read' shelf.

Please comment. I would enjoy discussion on these topics : )

First Book: Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

A couple things before I get to the book.

My blog will not be spoiler free. I want to put my thoughts out there for others to see and comment on.

I will do one thing though. If there is a spoiler, (spoiler warning) will be in the post's title.

On to the book. . .

This is not my first Vonnegut book, but this is Vonnegut's first. I only read a couple of his books but before I read any more I wanted to start at his beginning.

I thought that it would be pretty cool to read through his novels in the order that he wrote them to see how he changed as an author. This is something I have not done before but seeing how I like Vonnegut's style in a couple other books I'm giving it a shot.

As a read through a book, I may start blogging about what I have read so far and then when finished I will recap all my thoughts.

I would like anyone to leave comments and let me know what they thought as well.

Twelve A Year

Every month I am going to read a new book and this is where I will discuss it.

This is something new I am going to be trying.  I know twelve is a very low number compared to some avid readers but it is something I feel I can accomplish with the amount of time I have to put into this.  I am a college student and work four days a week during the school year so needless to say my reading for pleasure has taken a slump.

So please follow along and I hope you will enjoy my blog.

We'll see where this ends up.