A DAY AT THE BUFFALO ZOO, by TJ SCHUHLE

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Here we go again ...

I haven't quite figured out what drives this cycle, but I'm in the middle of it again.
Book reading.
I go weeks, sometimes months, without even picking one up. Then I devour a whole one, maybe two, and gradually start hearing about another, then another and another that I just have to read.
So, I start them. One by one. Without finishing any of them.
That's where I am now. In the last several weeks, I've started:
"The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks
"The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life" by Alice Schroeder
"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
"Loving Frank: A Novel" by Nancy Horan
And those are just the ones that I really want to finish.
The book that got things rolling was "The Associate," a John Grisham that I missed when it was initially released.
Then a friend recommended three books. I started with "The Widow" and was enjoying it until something distracted me. Probably an editing job.
Then, before long, I'd won the Buffett book by adding a comment to a Vibrant Nation blog. Can't say it's anything I'd ever have planned to read. I just like winning.
But, when it arrived, it was clean and shiny, with that new-book smell. So, I started it, quickly becoming that odd brand of hooked where my brain wants to keep going but not enough to tell my arms to pick it up again ... immediately.
After that, I worked at the Geneva Public Library book sale on opening night. Wouldn't you know it? The last dealer to pay he had THE ONE book I'd hope to find for myself: The Help.
I swooned.
The dealer hesitated.
I explained.
He told me to take it.
I balked ... in that semi-sincere way that only a scavenger can.
He said it again.
I accepted.
He said he'd only lose six bucks by not having it to sell.
I pretended that was random information, not something contrived to guilt me into declining the offer. Or, worse, paying him the $6.
I thanked him again.
I started reading it a few days later. Gee, it's good.
Then, an Amazon box arrived.
Some people at Rotary had recently been talking about "Loving Frank," which piqued my interest. It's about Frank Lloyd Wright, and a Chicagoan I know had given me the cook's tour of his city two years ago, including some FLW homes.
So, when my son's birthday present fell short of Amazon's $25 needed for free shipping, I tossed Frank into my shopping cart.
I started it this afternoon. Another good read.
If personal history is any judge, I'm not going to be able to go back and forth among them all for much longer, if at all.
That means I should commit to one of them. But which?
The pressure's killing me.
Any advice?

1 comment:

  1. I haven't stopped thinking about Malcolm Gladwell's books even though it's been months since I read them (currently reading "What the Dog Saw). I read them in the reverse order of their printing, and I think I liked "Tipping Point" best.

    That's not the advice you were looking for, but I love talking about books - just had to weigh in with my favorite non-fiction!

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