A to Z Challenge: Old like The Old Man and the Sea

I may not be as old as the old man in the book The Old Man and the Sea. I am not even as old as the Pulitzer Award winning book by Ernest Hemingway. I am just growing gray. The book was cited when Hemingway won his Nobel Prize for Literature. I am writing about my second Nobel Prize award winning author so far this week so perhaps I am a bit better read than I thought.



The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favorite books a novella actually. Hemingway is one of my favorite authors I have read most of his works if not all. I like the nautical or tropical adventures from Steinbeck, Benchley, Jimmy Buffett and Bob Morris which I a sure I have written about before.

I like fishing, I like the quest and adventure. I enjoy a great story set in a place I can visit in a daydream. I also like a book or story that grabs me and takes me for the ride. Hemingway delivers for me in this book.

Above is the movie trailer which I haven't seen. I wonder if the movie is as good as my imagination when I read the book?

Well today was a short visit with The Old Man...

Genre Favorite Blogfest

I stumbled across this blogfest and decided to join the party. It is pretty simple, straightforward blog..

List your favorite genre of:

Movie

Music

Books

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!

My favorite genre of movie: I suppose it would be Gangster/Mobster movies but really anything with action. I think in one of these blogfests I said my favorite movie or actor was Al Pacino and Scarface so I will stay consistent.

and I really liked the TV show The Sopranos...

Music...

Well if you read my blog regularly you know I listen to a lot of music and go to a lot of concerts. In 2012 I have seen concerts in Genres including classic rock, adult contemporary,      alt country,  jazz, Motown, R&B, country, rock, blues, jam band music, folk, Americana, show tunes, and even Burmese rock. I would have to say it is a toss up between classic rock and blues. I have reached that age that even some of the pop music I listened to as a kid is considered classic rock. Blues has had more staying power as I have aged and to be honest a lot of contemporary blues has a rock edge to it.

I'll stretch it out a bit in clips my favorite guitarist..

I really like the Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and John Lee Hooker was one of my early favorites...

of course my love of music really started with Led Zeppelin...

and after seeing them live a few times the kings of Rock and Roll The Rolling Stones

and to mellow out with Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffett. I have seen Jimmy quite a few times in Bristow, Virginia. I have also traveled to Raleigh, NC and New Orleans to see him.

Books...like movies I like something with action. A good suspense book works too. I really like a book I can easily get into and one I don't want to put down.One of the best books I read in the past few years was "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.

It is strange I  will go a while without reading a book and then I read a lot of books. I go on a tangent. Out of the classic authors I enjoy Ernest Hemingway and my favorite is probably "The Old Man and the Sea." 

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 Probably between Jimmy Buffett, growing up near the ocean and Hemingway I am drawn to nautical themed adventure books. One of my all time favorites is Peter Benchley who wrote "Jaws."

Here is one of my favorite books from him...

Guilty Pleasures: Pop

If you read my blog you know I have a five year old daughter who has my love for music. She has already shown she is not shy about it. Besides the kid pop groups like The Wiggles and The Fresh Beat Band she likes music sung by girls so I have had my radio taken over..

One of my daughters favorites is Katy Perry and I have to admit I like her songs too,,,

Woot and she is too hot for Sesame Street..

Well I hope you enjoyed the post. Feel free to recommend any books, music, or movies! 

Old Blog Volume 1

October is almost over and the year is winding down. The last couple of years I have put "blogs" about what I have read during the year. Here is an excerpt from the first one back in 2006 on My Space.."Books 2006, 2006 for me

I know some of you who know me are shocked Mike can read! But If you really knew me you would say Mike actually finished a book. I think that is the hardest thing about reading a book. You read a third, a half of a book then you put it down and then life takes over. Then since I don't make a list, dementia may be creeping in, in my 30's so sometimes years bleed into others. ..:
So what books did I actually read? .I read a book on Six Sigma by Chowdrey (sp), It's the "in" quality now days. I was able to work on a Six Sigma project at work in 2005, so it was good to follow up with some more background info. I also read this marriage guide book since I got married. And I thought required reading ended when you were out of school.
OK, we have business, marriage. Boring! Mike isn't dead he's dull. I read the Nick Adams Stories by Hemingway. Though my favorite works by Hemingway are "Islands in the Stream" and "The Old Man and the Sea." I think I read more now than when I was in college. I read more classics, more business books, and more just for the fun of it books. If audio books, I listened to Blind Man's Bluff, it was interesting tales of the submarine during the Cold War.
A Robert Plant bio from 1974, I think the author wrote for Circus magazine. It really had that fanzine feel going, not in a trashy way, or an exaggerated way like Stephen Davis I guess this one had more of a juvenile style.
I also read Jimmy Buffett's Tales from Margaritaville, A Pirate Looks at 50, and Where is Joe Merchant?, I was going to read a Salty Piece of Land but I was told that was enough Buffett. Being married/living with a woman is kind of like being a kid with parents. But my parents never told me; don't you have a bar to go too? a beer to drink? or don't you have to go skiing? So it's not like it's that bad. Oh well a half dozen books isn't that bad I guess.

Back to 2008-
Actually a half dozen books is a small amount compared to the number of books I'm reading this year. Some where in the last half of this year I made a goal to read 24 books. I don't know if I will reach it, I have kind of slowed down this month due to my writing.