The Associate or The Shack

For several months I've had two books on hold at the library. At first I was number 1,079 in line to get John Grisham's new book The Associate. A few weeks later I added William P. Young's controversial book, The Shack.

I love John Grisham novels ... not sure why since I have little interest in our legal system. Maybe because he creates fascinating characters with exciting plots. I was able to pick it up 10 days ago but haven't had much time to read. I'm about one-third of the way through now. It's pretty good, but its no Pelican Brief or Street Lawyer. Kyle is about to graduate from Yale law school when he gets blackmailed into taking a job at a gigantic law firm in NYC and spying against them.

Wouldn't you know it, I get notice from the library that The Shack is ready and if I don't pick it up by soon it'll be released to the next person on hold. Now this book has really piqued my curiosity with all the chatter going on about it. I know several people who have read it and wanted to tell me about it but I refused to listen. What I do know is that it's a deep well-written book that will probably change my relationship with God. It is about a guy who spent a life-altering weekend in a shack because something happened to his kids. It is fiction, but people have a hard time believing that.

So I picked it up today with the intent to finish The Associate first. I had 10 minutes to kill as I waited for Riley to get out of rehearsal so I read the first 6 or 7 pages and was intrigued.

Should I ditch Grisham for the Shack? Have you read either book?

Enough time has passed since my last blog that I can talk about the good things in my life without my readers thinking that I am bi-polar.

After two-months of agonizing exercise, workouts have become bearable again. Reality of age has hit me and I realize that I don't bounce back physically like I used to. This is a positive aspect, in that I know I can live the active lifestyle that I enjoy so much. I haven't signed up for any races yet this year, only because I need to coordinate them with my summer calendar. There are several new ones that I'm reviewing. I would do them all if time allowed.

I have to admit that I am a bit jealous of my dog's running ability. He has 8" legs and can run a 5K in under 22 min without training. He averages 8.4 mph on our outings and that fluctuates depending on the various smells outside and the number of other dogs and critters we encounter. I enjoy our evening excursions because we often see wildlife along the way. Almost always when we are out at twilight we see a few white-tailed deer. We've also seen wild turkey, numerous squirrels, and a few groundhogs.

Weather was wonderful this week. It started with almost 6" of snow last Saturday and by Thursday it was 80 degrees. It's time to dust off the old road bike and go for some long training rides. The thought crossed my mind yesterday when it was still in the upper 60's but weekend chores won and I ended up washing the cars, re-potting some houseplants, and the ubiquitous laundry and cleaning.

Today is daylight savings, and even though I lost an hour of my weekend I'm excited that the days will seem longer and springtime is just around the corner.