If the truth be told, I’m not a very good reader.
What makes this detail all the more amazing is that I was an English major in college. Well, a BS Ed in English and history education, anyway. Still, I took a whole lot of upper level literature classes and wrote all of the papers just like the folks who got a BA did.
But, man, that reading load really killed me. There were lots of classes I went to where I was not current on the reading schedule and just did my best to pay attention. I mean, when Moby Dick is assigned to read over a weekend, what’s a guy supposed to do? Yes, I know I should have started it earlier, but on other nights I had other books to read and other assignments to complete. As one who ended up later in life teaching some college comp as both a teaching assistant and an adjunct, I know I wasn’t alone in not completing assigned reading. I saw plenty of blank stares on the faces of my own students.
I have a bit of a personality complex about reading. If I can find a book that really rocks me, like Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer or an Arthur C. Clarke science fiction novel, I’m good to go. Love ‘em. But most times I’m on line reading stuff, listening to music. And in the evenings, I’m a whole lot better parked in front of the tv watching Red’s baseball or Rachel Maddow.
Still, hope spring eternal. Cindy Lou and I subscribe to lots of magazines and we always buy each other books at Christmas. What that means is that most of the time I’m looking at a pile of stuff set aside that I’d really like to get to. Occasionally I’ll pull something out of said pile, but more often than not I look at things when it’s time to recycle. So it is.
Today I thought I’d write about my current pile of stuff to read. Even though I don’t devour everything, it is good for me to have these publications around, and in some odd way, they warm me just knowing they’re available. If I didn’t care about their contents, they wouldn’t be there.
Choosing Gratitude: Learning to Love the Life You Have, a book by James A. Autry: I heard Autry talking to Bill Moyers on his PBS show a month or so ago, was impressed, and so bought two copies from Amazon. One for an old friend who works hard at loving life, and one for some meditational time of my own. It will accompany me on our next vacation.
Orion magazine: I will take time with this one. Orion is one of my all time favorite environmental publications. It has no advertising and makes its non-profit living through subscription and generosity. Great writers, too, that promote a world view I aspire to. With contributing editors like Wendell Berry, Scott Russell Sanders, Barry Lopez, and Terry Tempest Williams, what’s not to like?
Friends Journal: The Magazine of the Air Force Museum Foundation: Local stuff from the birthplace of aviation, my home town. The issue that awaits is one with a piece co-authored by a friend who flew missions over Turkey during the Cold War looking deep into Soviet air space, keeping track of missile launches. I love listening to Jack tell his flying stories.
Audubon: I’ve been an Audubon fan for years now. And with all the volunteer stuff I’ve done with the local chapter, state office (while it existed), and the camps in Connecticut and on Hog Island in Maine, it’s good to see that Audubon is not just about birds, but solid environmental reporting.
Psychology Today: My subscription actually started as one to New Age magazine, but when that folded, it switched to this one. As a student of human behavior, PT pretty often sheds light on mysteries of human behavior that intrigues this retired educator.
Macworld: As a dyed-in-the-wool Mac/Apple guy, I like to see what the writers who watch the folks from Cupertino are finding out. Unfortunately, most of the time I don’t know what the editors are talking about. Too many apps I don’t want to mess with and new features in the OS that I doubt I’ll ever use. But it makes me feel like I’m trying to keep up, and that will have to do.
The Sun: A gift from an old friend, The Sun provides inspiration to writers. But with so much other stuff I find myself writing (like blogs, poetry, the occasional essay, and my book on Hog Island), I never take up the challenge to contribute. Even our defunct writers’ group never took a crack at one of their prompts. Still, The Sun is about writers for writers. It’s good having it around.
Desert Call: I’ve been lucky enough to have contributed to this little Christian contemplative magazine out of Colorado a few times. The upcoming issue, I’m told, has a pic of mine in the centerfold. Good folks put this one together at the Nada Hermitage in Crestone. I count them as friends, and am downright tickled they like my work.
There’s more stuff stacked around, like a new copy of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety, Shakti Gawain’s Living in the Light, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Space Chronicles. Plus my current ‘meditative’ piece parked out by the wood stove, Matthew Fox’s new book on Hildegard of Bingen. I’ll try to spend some time with her during Lent.
The written word can be overwhelming, no doubt, but having lots of books and good magazines around makes me feel good. It’s kind of like my affection for Emily Dickinson: I might not read or understand everything, but having the ideas and concepts in my space is somehow a good thing. I know I’m not alone in the world, that’s for sure. The written word, of which I am a part, keeps me grounded.
Today’s elder idea: The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Dr. Suess
image: My office floor this morning
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