I'm back for my second post, which I guess means that this blog has a chance for some longevity. But don't hold me to that. ; )

Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed reading. Back "in the day" I mostly read comic books, and fortunately the 80s was a golden age for the art form. Marvel comics were my fave, and I remember waiting for Tuesday morning so that I could ride my bike to Sunnyside Farms and drop down a quarter for the latest issue of Fantastic Four, Iron Man, X-Men, or Spiderman. I then watched as prices inflated faster than gas prices today... 30 cents, 35, 50, 75, a dollar. All the while the quality of the writing declined as the price went up, and the golden age ended. At least that's how I perceived it - maybe growing up made them less interesting... but that would imply an increasing maturity (nah, that couldn't have been it).

Every once in a while I'll pick up a comic (they're $2.50 now!) and the writing still seems a bit weak (though the art and printing quality is much better than it was back in my day). It seems they sell very few copies, and now Marvel makes all its money from selling the movie rights to Hollywood studios.

Anyway, these days I try to read 10-12 "real" books a year, though it tends to happen in fits and spurts. Recently I've had the pleasure of reading a couple of good ones. I bought Forever by Pete Hammill a while back and started reading it. It has an interesting premise... a man that can live forever as long as he never leaves Manhattan. The story starts in the 1600s and proceeds to modern times; I enjoyed learning about the formation of NYC from a small settlement to the most densely populated city in the USA.

I was about halfway through the book (reading 10 minutes at a time before going to sleep at night) when the major literary event of the year happened... the sixth Harry Potter book was released. Now, I've been on the Harry Potter bandwagon since before the first one was released (I read an article about it in USA Today) and have been impatiently waiting for JK Rowling to get back to finishing the series (funny how being a billionaire slows down your writing pace).

So I started reading Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince and zoomed through it in a about a week (which for me is a long time for one of these). If you haven't read any Harry Potter, JKR creates a delightful world that is both believable and fantastic. They really are for people of all ages - don't dismiss them just because of the annoying amount of hype. I promise you won't regret it.

I got back to Forever as soon as I finished, and completed it during my layover while awaiting my flight from Chicago to Providence. I had wondered whether the premise would allow a satisfying ending (I know I couldn't think of one), and I must say the finale fizzles somewhat. Still, it's an enjoyable book overall that I would recommend. The use of immortality as a theme allows the reader to see how the natural aging process most of us fear is really a gift.