Tuning into Darwin's Radio

Last year for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I wrote about books that influenced my life in one way or another. I had near a hundred books that I talked about in my mini novella. I came to a realization that not only do I use books to escape from reality, but I use books as a way to connect with other people, most particularly I use books to be able to communicate with my parents.

I don't communicate well. I am at best passive aggressive. I don't like to rock the boat.  I  am not one to enjoy larges amounts of drama.  I don't think I have ever seen a family that hasn't rocked the boat, that isn't aggressive and that has mastered the avoidance of drama. My family is unconventional and full of anxiety and mood swings. The thing that we can do and do very well is read. My mother is a huge reader and so is my father, and when we need to find something to fill silence, we resort to one thing.

"What are you reading?"

My dad lives in California. I do not. I don't keep up on California politics. I don't read the LA Times and I don't really miss the air quality warnings, and the 9% sales tax. I sometimes miss the excitement of an earthquake, but not the chaos of the aftermath of a big quake. I do miss my dad. We don't get to see each other that often, but when we do we try to make the most of it, which is why it is so important to me that we talk on the phone often.

" The flat afternoon sky spread over the black and gray mountains like a stage backdrop, the color of a dog's pale crazy eye."

My dad recommended this book to me, Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear.  He went on about this book for months. I honestly have never read anything by Greg Bear, so it was foreign territory for me, but it sounded interesting.  Then one day it showed up in the mail. It was a hardback book, that had a library code on the jacket cover, and then another library stamp on the inside.  I love getting books in the mail, but for a small moment, I had to wonder if my father was a book thief. Did he steal this book from the library, because he thought I would like it? It was an autographed copy of the book that was in pretty good condition for being in a library. After a little bit of research I discovered, it was just a library book sale that my dad took advantage of to get one of his favorite books.  I did not dive into the book right away. I had other stuff on the night stand to read and that I was in the middle of.

"Bacteria made us. They take us back in the end. Welcome  home."

I am on vacation. It is beautiful  on vacation, and I have time to read.  I brought the book with me. I don't know if I am going to like it. I don't think that I will hate it, but it isn't my usual cup of tea. I just started it and am not more then two dozen pages in, but is makes me think and not in a bad way.  I can't wait to finish it, just so that I have yet one more thing to talk to my dad about, and in a small way feel a little bit closer to him despite our distance apart.