Two More

The 39 Clues by Rick Riordan

A kid can’t go wrong picking a Rick Riordan book. How I hesitated to pick up that ugly ARC of The Lightning Thief, thinking (wrongly, I know now) it would be a dull read! And now I spend hours and hours anticipating the new Riordan books to come.

I was so happy to see The 39 Clues at our book fair that I borrowed a copy and took it along with me to the Texas Book Festival last weekend. (Don’t worry….I bought it last week….) Great read. Everything a kid would want in a book…action…adventure…great characters…fun plot….

Highly recommended.

Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Mark Richardson

I love ZAMM. I am possibly one of its biggest fans. I’ve read it more than any other book. Reading it was a life changing experience. I went from a nervous, grade-motivated college student to a relaxed, self-motivated human being.

So I had to read this book. Richardson follows the path of Robert Pirsig in ZAMM. The book apes the style of Pirsig. Richardson meets up with the people of the book and uses letters others have written to him to add to the story.

Here are my honest first thoughts: Couldn’t there be someone who was more of a ZAMM-geek than Richardson to write this book? And I’m not sure I needed to know all the details presented in this book. (For example, does it really matter whether Pirsig stayed at this motel or that motel? Please.)

I have mixed feelings about the book. I liked it and I hated it. The best part was riding along again with Pirsig (and now Richardson) and trying to stay in that wonderful state that Pirsig first helped me to find.