Ever since my husband had a major stroke last February, he has been unable to read. One problem is that the stroke left him with hemianopia, or visual field cut, a loss of the right half of his vision in both eyes. However, it also appears that he suffered a loss of reading ability owing to damage to the centers of the brain involved in processing reading.

Before the stroke he loved to read, and his current favorite author is Daniel Silva who writes spy novels and publishes a new book every year, usually in July.  As can be seen here, we have a book shelf full of Silva’s novels…

The latest novel, House of Spies, was released in mid-July. It was unavailable in an audio version, so I ordered a hardback copy, and I have spent at least an hour each day since it arrived reading aloud to my husband.  The book was just over 500 pages in length, and we finished it yesterday.

It’s not a book I would have read on my own, but I did enjoy reading it, and surprisingly I enjoyed reading it aloud.  It has been a good experience for my husband, one he wants to continue.  (Plus it can count as one more book toward my reading challenge goal on Goodreads.com)

Tomorrow we begin an historical novel, The Conquerors,  the 3rd volume in “The Winning of America” series by Allan Eckert.  This one is over 700 pages long!

“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road.  They are the destination, and the journey.  They are home”  (Anna Quindlen)