Slam the door; turn the key; close the transom; roll the bureau in tight and stack the chairs on top. My on-hand reading is full and even with a strict yoghurt diet I’ll never outlast the shelves of books and the digital jungle of novels, short stories, poetry, and an essay or two or two thousand. I’m done. No more books.
Do you think the publishing houses will honor my demand?
Drat! What if I read on-line or in the Post or hear a recommendation on Twitter? Should I resign from all social media? Should I cancel the Post? Should I sell my computer? If I disappear will Apple Books survive me?
Does the vast number of books I want to read give my life purpose or does the realization that I’ll never exhaust literature (or even popular fiction) demonstrate the utter futility of life? Should I change directions and read the greats: Jacqueline Suzanne, Stephen King, and Dan Brown? Do I dare eat a peach?
While I’m rolling my trousers, consider the suggestions that were made in July?
07-01-20 – Saint X — Alexis Schaitkin
07-02-20 – Love in the New Millennium — Can Xue
07-03-20 – Real Life: A Novel — Brandon Taylor
07-04-20 – Amnesty — Aravind Adiga
07-05-20 – The Women in Black — Madeleine St. John
07-06-20 – The Long Goodbye — Sam Wasson
07-07-20 – The Schrödinger Girl — Laurel Brett
07-08-20 – A Partial List of People To Bleach — Gary Lutz
07-09-20 – The Ugly American — Eugene Burdick
07-10-20 – Who Rules the World? — Noam Chomsky
07-11-20 – Invisible — Paul Auster
07-12-20 – The Lucky Star — William T. Vollmann
07-13-20 – The Man In the Red Coat — Julian Barnes
07-14-20 – Signs Preceding the End of the World — Yuri Herrera
07-15-20 – Nickel and Dimed — Barbara Ehrenreich
07-16-20 – The Big Book of Irony — Jon Winokur
07-17-20 – The Story of Lucy Gault — William Trevor
07-18-20 – Black Wave — Michelle Tea
07-19-20 – My Dark Vanessa — Kate Elizabeth Russell
07-20-20 – The Literary Mind — Mark Turner
07-21-20 – The Ministry of Pain: A Novel — Dubravka Ugresic
07-22-20 – Ring of Fire — David Agranoff
07-23-20 – Bosh and Flapdoodle — A. R. Ammons
07-24-20 – The Crazyladies of Pearl Street: A Novel — Trevanian
07-25-20 – Burn This Book: Notes on Literature and Engagement — Toni Morrison
07-26-20 – The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language — Steven Pinker
07-27-20 – Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie: Gonzo Papers, Vol. 4 — Hunter S. Thompson
07-28-20 – Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class — Charles Murray
07-29-20 – Cutting Up the Century: A Burroughs Birthday Miscellany — Joan Hawkins and Jon Longhi
07-30-20 – A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan — Carlos Castaneda
07-31-20 – From Main Street To Mall: The Rise and Fall of Department Stores — Vicki Howard
Sink the Bismarck was an early triple-play that captured my interest around 1960. I read the book first, Sink the Bismarck! by C. S. Forester, and then thrilled at the black and white movie. Hey, even Johnny Horton’s contribution was great.
May of nineteen forty-one the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismark was the fastest ship that ever sailed the seas
On her deck were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees
Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood
And evry British seaman, he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismark, the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees
We’ll find that German battleship thats makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down
The Hood found the Bismark and on that fatal day
The Bismark started firin’ fifteen miles away
We gotta sink the Bismark was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away
The mighty Hood went down
For six long days and weary nights they tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people “Put ev’ry ship a-sail”
Cause somewhere on that ocean I know she’s gotta be
We gotta send the Bismark to the bottom of the sea
We’ll find that German battleship that’s makin’ such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismark cause the world depends on us
Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down
The fog was gone the seventh day and they saw the mornin’ sun
Ten hours away from homeland the Bismark made its’ run
The admiral of the British fleet said “Turn those bows around”
We found that German battleship and we’re gonna cut her down
The British guns were aimed and the shells were comin’ fast
The first shell hit the Bismark, they knew she couldn’t last
That mighty German battleship is just a memory
“Sink the Bismark” was the battle cry that shook the seven seas
We found that German battleship was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark cause the world depends on us
We hit the decks a-runnin’ and we spun those guns around
Yeah, we found the mighty Bismark and then we cut her down
We found that German battleship was makin’ such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismark cause the world depends on us
We hit the decks a-runnin’ and we spun those guns around
We found the mighty Bismark and then we cut her down
A Celebration of Reading 