Time to go back and reread some of the books I enjoyed when I was a child. I was in two conversations last week about Lloyd Alexander's Taran books, so I checked those out from the library. Also, I checked out 'The Great Brain' by John D Fitzgerald. I read all of it in a couple hours on Saturday. It's about some boys growing up in Utah in the late 19th century. I enjoyed it (though I don't know that I'll keep reading in the series).

I will say this much: reading 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'The Great Brain' have me pining for simpler times. This is not typical for me. I'm famous for saying 'There were no good old days.' However, some of the simplicity of their lives, though they were harder, is attractive to me. Then again, it's probably only the leisure of my complicated life that gives me time or inclination to even think such things.