Making a suggestion for reading every day is changing from a fun task into a frightening job. I want to read so many books and I’m gradually slowing down more and more. But what’s even scarier, I’m finding myself staring at the latest episode of Mr. Robot with no desire or apparent ability to raise my arms or alter my focus.
Back in the days of my more youthful reading, especially those highly esteemed and musty old tomes, I would treat my lack of enthusiasm by reading a few titles of popular fiction such as mystery novels or even some hopefully quality science fiction. The key is to limit the number of books of this sort because poplar fiction generates tedium and dulls the brain much faster than more classical reading. But like sugary desserts, the first few bites are exquisite even though in short order the whole thing caramelizes your tongue and makes your teeth hurt.
Last month (December) the suggestions were pretty good … too good, perhaps:
12-01-18 – I’d Rather Be Reading —Anne Bogel
12-02-18 – Love Is Blind — William Boyd
12-03-18 – The Labyrinth of the Spirits — Carlos Ruiz Zafon
12-04-18 – Heresy — Mellisa Lenhardt
12-05-18 – The Last Hurrah — Edwin O’Connor
12-06-18 – Lies My Teachers Told Me — James W. Loewen
12-07-18 – Brief Answers to the Big Questions — Stephen Hawking
12-08-18 – The Secret History of the World — Jonathan Black
12-09-18 – Frida Kahlo — Gerry Souter
12-10-18 – Friday Black — Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
12-11-18 – Capitalism in America — Alan Greenspan
12-12-18 – Unsheltered — Barbara Kingsolver
12-13-18 – A Map of Days — Ransom Riggs
12-14-18 – The Amazing Adventures of Aaron Broom — A. E. Hotchner
12-15-18 – The Job — Ellen Ruppel Shell
12-16-18 – The Comedy of Errors — William Shakespeare
12-17-18 – Dark At the Top of the Stairs — William Inge
12-18-18 – Topaz — Leon Uris
12-19-18 – Robert B. Parker’s Blood Feud — Mike Lupica
12-20-18 – The Last Poets — Christine Otten
12-21-18 – Newcomer — Keigo Higashino
12-22-18 – The Reincarnated Giant — Mingwei Song
12-23-18 – Mycroft Holmes — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
12-24-18 – They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us — Hanif Abdurraqib
12-25-18 – Freshwater — Akwaeke Emezi
12-26-18 – Frolic of the Beasts — Yukio Mishima
12-27-18 – The Son — Gina Berriault
12-28-18 – Milkman: A Novel — Anna Burns
12-29-18 – Cults That Kill — Wendy Joan Biddlecombe Agsar
12-30-18 – The Caretaker — Harold Pinter
12-31-18 – The Face: Cartography of the Void — Chris Abani
A Celebration of Reading 