100

Well, I was hoping for a better read for my 100th for the year but unfortunately it was David Guterson's "The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind." When I asked for it I was hoping for one of his novels and didn't realize it was a collection of short stories. I hate short stories and these were terrible. I still have a couple of days and two of those are work days so it's possible that there will be 101 before 2011.

The Other

"The Other" is a novel by David Guterson. I've enjoyed several of his novels in the past and was anxious to read this one. Tough going at first with paragraphs two pages long. I kept going and ended up enjoying the book. Neil Countryman is blue-collar Irish and John William Barry has pedigree and wealth. They met in Seattle as teenagers at a track meet. A friendship ensued. Neil wants college and a career as a teacher. John William wants to hide away in the forest. They spent many weekends hiking through northern Washington. Little by little John William checks out of society and becomes a hermit. Neil never abandons John William even when he's living in a cave. Little did he know what his reward would be for that friendship.

Enjoyed the DVD "The Other Bolelyn" which I originally read by Philippa Gregory. The book was much better but the movie was well done. Hard to compact so much history into a two hour movie.

Had a nice evening with my daughter and the grandkids last night. They came for dinner and stayed through the first hour of the opening of the Olympics on television. Spectacular! Unfortunately we stayed awake for the whole thing and our behinds were dragging this morning when we had to get up for work.