Recollections and thoughts on life in Minnesota and the midwest... My Catholic faith, my family, travels, the state. Occasional ramblings about an old smoker and the quest for perfect barbecue.
Places where I went during the year, and were there long enough to spend the night. Like most of my life these travels were around the Mississippi and places east.
Victoria, MN, Minneapolis, MN, Webster Groves, MO, Quincy, IL, Roan Mountain, TN, Lexington, KY, Woodstock, IL, Kansas City, MO, Steubenville, OH, Charlotte, NC, Roan Mountain, TN, Kenora, ON, Freeport, ME, Biddeford, ME, Webster Groves, MO, Chattanooga, TN
The following are the books I read in 2022. Most of them are quite good. A few were not worth reading, several are worth reading a second time. Although I do not read much science fiction, I got started on the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and had to read them all.
A book that took me almost 50 years to read, The Dreaming Earth. I started it in high schook, got bored with it, lost it some time in the 70s. I thought about it last year and decided to find it online. I did, and am glad to have done so. Nice little sci-fi story. The Best Loved Poems of the American People was a book in my parents home as a child. A wonderful collection.
I hope to someday read again Marina and Lee, and Churchill's six volume account of WWII.
The worst book of the bunch was "I lived to tell it all" by George Jones. He was a bad man who treated people terribly and squandered his wealth and talent. He wrote this book to brag about the amount of liquor, drugs, and human souls he consumed.
Another loser was "Pre-Colonial Black Africa" by Chiop. Basically a rant that everything good in the world came from P-C B A. World religions, economic structure, democracy, music, art, writing, mathematics, astronomy, skittles, tacos, Buddy Holly, pickup trucks, checkers. The writer makes the case that even the pre-colonial slavery of Africans by Africans was a good kind.
As a Catholic I am supposed to like Flannerty O'Connor and see how her Catholicism is relected in her writing. If I am a proper intellectual Catholic, this will just ooze out of her brain into mine. Didn't happen. I liked one, one, only one short story. A Good Man is Hard to Find. I asked my wife to read it but she did not.
The books are listed in the order I read them.