The quiet joy of reading...

I can't believe it's been something like 5 weeks since I last updated this blog and I don't want all 4 of my diehard fans to feel as if I've forgotten them. Indeed, that could never be the case, Susan, Maggie, Teresa and Tom! In point of fact, in between musing about the nature of time and the beauty of the Lowcountry, my wife Maggie (a diehard fan due to her love of great literature and of course legally inclined due to our South Carolina marriage certificate) and I introduced our second child Eleanor into the world, are doing some renovations on the house and are in the process of trying to buy some real estate! We are happy and grateful but in all this chaos I've neglected my literary sensibilities and I can feel this neglect as a soft downward tug on the soul, like a test bite on a fishing line or that sinking feeling one gets when the captain of the plane gets on the intercom and starts talking about how there are "just a few" in front of us on the runway. Regardless, an apology and a rectification are in order.

In all the insanity I have found a few blessed moments at 4 AM in which I can sit down and read in solitude (for those wondering, Moby Dick by Melville; it is as incredible as everyone said it would be! Also, SPQR by Mary Beard. Absolutely magnificent history. And Modern Times by Paul Johnson. How he cuts through to the heart of complex historical issues is incredible. And Icelandic Sagas...because they are austere, Nordic epic works of literature that are truly thrilling to read.) I'm making slow progress all around but it's been a real tonic when life gets crazy. To that end, I read a great Wall Street Journal editorial on reading about a month ago and thought it worthy of sharing on this illustrious blog. Please don't all click at one time. I don't want to crash their website. Enjoy and happy reading by crackling fires, candlelight, headlamp, Christmas tree lights or whatever else you have readily available when the opportunity arises to escape for a little while from the necessary minutiae of the busy worlds in which we live and the peace of solitude is beckoning our harried souls.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-need-to-read-1480083086