My Favorite Reads & 70s Icons

My Favorite Reads is hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books every Thursday. What a great way to read reviews of books that were mainstream (or not!) a while back but have faded off the radar of what is "hot" right now in the land of literature.

This is my first My Favorite Reads. I have been wanting to do one for a few weeks. I thought about several books I wanted to review and just yesterday decided on one. I was in Borders waiting for my son to buy his book...Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. He's on a big Clarke kick right now. He read and loved the Rama series. Since then, he's read a few of his novels and is now reading The Collected Stories.
Anyway, I saw a reissue copy of Shogun by James Clavell.

Here's a short summary from Amazon...This is James Clavell's tour-de-force; an epic saga of one Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, and his integration into the struggles and strife of feudal Japan. Both entertaining and incisive, SHOGUN is a stunningly dramatic re-creation of a very different world. Starting with his shipwreck on this most alien of shores, the novel charts Blackthorne's rise from the status of reviled foreigner up to the hights of trusted advisor and eventually, Samurai. All as civil war looms over the fragile country.


I first read Shogun as a Junior in high school. I took an Eastern Religions and we had to read this and write an essay about it. While it was a daunting novel at over 1200 pages and with a lot of Japanese dialougue, I LOVED it! It had everything... war, a love story between Blackthorne and Mariko, ceremonial scenes and even seppuku (ritual suicide). I remember just cruising through this book. Not only was it well-written but it was just fascinating. Granted I was young, but I knew nothing about feudal Japan. In the years since high school, I've read it probably five times and each time, it just awes me. I have also read Taipan by Clavell and it is also a great read. I highly recommend Shogun as well as Taipan and have already dug out my old copy. It's on my TBR pile and I might just have to read it again.

I'm watching the news about Michael Jackson's death and thinking about my childhood. Farrah Fawcett's passing today and Ed McMahon's death earlier this week also have me thinking about the 70s.

While the Michael Jackson of late was, most certainly, not my cup of tea, I will always have fond memories of the little boy fronting the Jackson 5. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers singing with the hairbrush microphone to "ABC" and "One Bad Apple" while looking at the posters of Michael, Donny Osmond and Bobby Sherman cut out of Tiger Beat magazine... dreamy :)


I never had the iconic Farrah poster but I sure rocked the feathered 'do she inspired, even carrying a comb in the back pocket of my embroidered bellbottoms. I was too cool! I remember Wednesday nights were big in my house... if I finished my homework, I could watch Charlie's Angels at 8 then stay up to watch Starsky & Hutch! Starsky was such a FOX (said in my best 7th grade voice).


Spending the night with my Grammie(my daughter is named after her) and Poppa was always a treat. Not only were we allowed a big dish of ice cream in special bowls (that my mom now has) but we ate it while watching Johnny. We felt very special when we heard Ed McMahon say "Heeeeere's Johnny!". I will forever think of my Grammie and Poppa and those late night bowls of ice cream when I hear Ed's famous introduction.