Thomas Merton's name attracted me to this review. The first two paragraphs were interesting.

BOOK REVIEW
'Ghost,' by Alan Lightman

By Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 17, 2007

The Trappist mystic Thomas Merton once remarked that, if he were walking down the street and a miracle occurred on the sidewalk in front of him, he'd cross to the other side and do his best to ignore it.

Merton wasn't expressing skepticism about the existence of the miraculous, simply a reservation about its relevance to the lives of men and women, who must work out even their salvation in the world of reason and the five senses. There's a trusting, austere kind of heroism in that, especially for those -- like Merton -- who believe that reason and the senses are inadequate to the task.

I enjoy reading the newspaper. I would like to read more books but I often don't finish them because I forget about them and then when I remember what I was reading, I've lost the flow. So I read "about books" especially reviews in the LA Times or on NPR.

I see lots of items that interest me. Was it Thomas Merton who wrote that our minds are like crows, attracted to bright, glittery, shiny things even if they are worthless pieces of junk we just stuff in our nest.