Cornucopia of Earthly Delights

Let’s lead off with some housekeeping. I am three books behind on posts. In the hopper are A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, Columbine by Dave Cullen and The Long Fall by Walter Mosely (more on The Long Fall below).

I’m actually giddy with excitement over my bounty of blog material. Nonetheless, there are a number of random book thoughts that I have compiled and wanted to share.

1. Vacation Books Redux – We’ve blogged on vacation books before. When on vacation, one of my chosen activities was to peruse those reading by the beach and pool to see what they were reading. Of course, one must do this (a) while wearing sunglasses and (b) without breaking stride. Otherwise, you will, at best, be called a creep and, at worst, be questioned by local authorities. (“I was staring AT YOUR BOOK” just not believable.)

I wanted to put together a post listing the books and authors I observed on vacation to the tune of “12 Days of Christmas” (complete with, “FIVE STEPHEN KINGS”), but couldn’t muster it.

I saw lots of David Baldacci, lots of Stephanie Meyer, lots of Stephen King, too much Dan Brown (I pitied the poor sap reading Digital Fortress). Lots of self-help books and business non-fiction. Lots of kids reading Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series (OK, that one could have been one kid reading one book who I saw multiple times). Harry Potter’s still out there. I saw a bunch of books that I suppose were romance novels due to the facts that (a) I had never heard of the books or authors, (b) usually there were pink and/or yellow flowers on the cover and (c) I never saw such a book being read by someone with a Y chromosome.

Interestingly, not an e book reader to be found, ye olde Kindle snobs out there. . .

2. A quick note on The Long Fall (post pending). I have zero idea why I ordered or read this book. It showed up on a wish list of mine (so I must have put it there), and I bought it. I figured I had seen it on some year-end best book list. But I can’t even find it on a 2009 best ONE HUNDRED book list. [Spoiler Alert: The book is probably going to get an A- recommendation, so it’s not like it was a bad experience.]

This has been plaguing me for days now, as I think I’ve lost my marbles. Why did I get this book? What else am I forgetting? Why do I keep picturing myself clad in a straightjacket repeating “Th-th-th-that's all folks!”?

3. I have a bone to pick with all of you a**holes out there who have been holding out on me. If one more person freaking tells me that “A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best books they’ve ever read,” I’m going to stroke out! Why did it take several blog months for somebody to come forward with the recommendation? THAT’S WHAT THE DAMN BLOG IS HERE FOR! I feel like I’m the no colon butt of all of your jokes here, folks! (“Yeah, I’ve been f**king with him. Not letting him in on the whole ‘Owen Meany’ thing. What a moron!”)

You got any other bright ideas out there? Do you, punks?

4. I have recently had debates with numerous people over the “to re-read or not to re-read, that is the question” question.

My view has always been, “so many books, so little time.” Re-reading any book just takes time away from expanding the experiences of reading new books. On the other hand, re-reading a book, particularly one you haven’t read for a while, can be like reading a new book because of your changed perspective from one reading to the next.

Where I’ve landed for now is that I intend to re-read some books when my kids read them in school. My kids will, of course, hate me for this. Just wait until I ask them about themes and symbolism. Or plot points.

Look for several new posts next week.

In the meantime, I’m taking a new sign-off for a spin. A combination of the previous sign-off and a hotel slogan.

Live long, read and prosper. We’ll leave the light on for you.