The Reading Year

A couple months ago, I looked over at Eliza and declared: "I'm having a reading year." What, one is lead to wonder, is a reading year?

A reading year is a period of intense reading activity, often undertaken in midlife, so as to prevent one's brain from turning to mush. (I turned 35 last month.) A reading year is a voluntary vow of television poverty, of sleeping poverty, of knowledge wealth. It is the essence of mental aerobics...

I'm convinced that my mind is going soft. I'm losing my edge. I need to have a reading year. So far, I've read a few good books this year, including:

Activism, Inc. - a critique of modern political canvassing.
The Last Templar - by Raymond Khoury
The Templar Legacy - by Steve Berry

Noticing a pattern here? Yes, I've been reading every new major book on the Templars. I'm now reading Knights of the Black & White by Jack Whyte. But I got distracted by another book I'm reading about labor radio in the 1930's-'50's (Waves of Opposition).

I'm trying to read all the Templar books. I was thinking about writing a comparative book review of the four major recent releases. One problem: my memory doesn't allow me to remember any details on any of them. So nothing to compare, except maybe the attractiveness of the covers. So much for the gains of the reading year.

I've also read everything by Steve Berry this year. In addition to The Templar Legacy, I've read The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophecy, and the Third Secret. They were all good, kind of a la Dan Brown. But again, I can't really remember much.

One climax of my reading year was yesterday's trip to the Miami International Book Festival. I BOUGHT 18 BOOKS. A few years ago, I had to admit to myself and my friends that I have a disease. I'm not just a reader of books, I'm also a collector. Fortunately, many of the books I bought yesterday were $1.99 or $2.99. I got some fun ones. I bought 5 books from the University of Florida table for $11.

*The Creation of the Media, Paul Starr - about the political economy of the media
*An Empire of Wealth, John Steele Gordon - an economic history of the US
*Dixie Rising, Peter Applebome - about the dominance of southern culture & politics in American society

And more: Big Sugar, Religion & Politics in America, The Buying of the President 2004, The Failures of Integration, Cuba Today and Tomorrow, Radio and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the South....

OK, not a lot of fiction here. But nonetheless, I'm having a reading year. Got to make my mind a steel trap...

What's Wrong With Singing Kumbaya?

There are many things in the world I do not understand. One of them is what's so bad with singing Kumbaya...

Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya!
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya!
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya!
O Lord, kumbaya!

In mocking someone for being naive, one says "Let's all just hold hands and sing Kumbaya."

Wikipedia puts it this way:

Reference is sometimes made to "Kumbaya" in a satirical context, to denote a blandly pious and naively optimistic view of the world and human nature, insufficiently grounded in real experience. In a satirical television spot for the 2006 Congressional elections, made by David Zucker, an actress playing Madeleine Allbright serves cookies and milk to a group of terrorists: when she notices gunmen and suicide bombers emerging from the basemement, her guests distract her and allay her suspicions by picking up a guitar and breaking into a chorus of "Kumbaya".

But is it really that bad?

Future Posting Topics

I'm building a list of things to blog about. I'd like to share with you my list, and maybe solicit some additional topics. I keep the list on my Treo, and occasionally I can even get in and retrieve the list.

1. Great epitaphs - What do you want written on your tombstone?
2. Emoticons - Those little smiley faces that people send in emails and text messages.
3. Brick - I like it.
4. Technology and the Foley scandal. Action/reaction. Use of the internet. I forgot what I had to say on this, so it's probably lost.
5. Canada - Also probably lost.
6. Secret. It's all about the topic.
7. 48 Laws of Power - There was just a fascinating article on the books in the New Yorker.

So in the vein of soliciting greater audience participation, lemme know what you think.

Back in the Saddle

Oh, well so much for the discipline of the writer. It's been what, 5 weeks? How can any self-respecting blogger (obviously I'm not yet one) expect to build an audience without regular postings?

Some things have taken place in the interlude. Should we perhaps have a name for the past five weeks. I'm taking nominations:

1. The Dark Days;
2. The Late Unpleastantness (actually Robert DeNiro's reference to The Cold War in Ronin)
3. The Elections
4. My Black Period (meaning the day the computer screen went dark);
5. The name of your choice.

Maybe by having a little audience participation, we can liven things up. Is it a sign of a lame website if one lament's one's own slow webtraffic?