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...