Well, maybe it’s not that important to remember but each day I publish a new title that catches my interest and, despite the odds against it, I just might read one of these days. Actually, I probably read two or three of these books eventually and if you read two or three of these books and if … well, chances are someone, somewhere will contemplate reading one or more of these books so the suggestions will not be in vain.
Although I am currently reading a lot of detective stories, I tend not to include them on the suggested reading lists. After all, they tend to be simple entertainments that breeze by before the little gray cells get ruffled. Unfair? Probably. Remember, one of the main criteria I use for selecting the suggested reading is that the title catches my eye: with detective stories and mysteries, all the titles are designed to catch my eye. Luckily I tend to read digital copies of these texts: can you imagine if I was selecting reading suggestions based on the lurid, half-naked artwork that adorns so many of these novels? I still have dreams about Mickey Spillane’s I, The Jury.
Sitting here reading in the sun while a dangerous hurricane is slowly moving toward Florida and the Southeastern coast. Back where I lived until three years ago, they’re either sitting in traffic, a hot car running low on gas, or closed up inside the darkness caused by storm shutters.
You hear it all the time: some people even consider not-reading to be a positive characteristic. Of course there are levels and varieties of not-reading: some business types would not be caught reading fiction (although I knew a powerful corporate officer that rejected all fiction … except the romantic bodice rippers he read secretly at night in bed; some social climbers only read (or professed to having read) the most mainstream best-sellers; some readers are overly restrictive, concentrating on a specific genre such as fantasy or science fiction; and there are those who refuse to read anything older than ten years.
Last night I dreamed I went to the library and the shelves were all empty. I asked the librarian and she told me I had read all the books, thus fulfilling my quest. A dark shadow passed over the skylight, heading for Lonely Mountain.