You Are What You Read
05/21/03
As a nice old lady discovered the hard way on a recent flight to Philadelphia, I am a real snoop.
That is, when it comes to what people read.
Books are my passion. What people spend precious hours of their life ingesting fascinates me. Forget "You are what you eat." The slogan should be "You are what you read."
(And I mean that.)
About that lady and Philadelphia. One would think a grown man could mind his own business on a plane, right? Not a chance. Asking a book lover to keep his eyes locked and in their upright position with readers all around him is like telling my son not to smell the candy in Aisle 12 at Raleys. By the time we landed in Pennsylvania, I knew what 82.6% of the passengers were reading. (The other 17.4% were Laker's fans; they don't read.) Sometimes a quick peek did the trick, and on other occasions I had to engage in subterfuge--or worse. I hope the bruises on Ethel's arm mend quickly. Can you imagine the nerve of that woman, trying to stop me from seeing the title of her trashy novel?
Recently, I got together with several friends for libations. After conversing about kids, work, kids, politics, and the kids, the conversation gravitated toward books. The enthusiasm with which they recommended (or panned) particular titles intrigued me. Avid readers take the exercise very seriously. Most juggle more than one title at a time and value books right up there with oxygen and food. Movie aficionados, while similarly obsessed, are not quite as ardent as ink enthusiasts. Books can and do change lives. How many times has anyone told you that a movie altered the course of their existence?
One of my friends suggested I ask Telegraph readers to reveal their favorite books, and why. The demographics of the area suggest we read in these parts. And so that brings me to the substance of this column: what are we reading in El Dorado Hills? Am I living in a region surrounded by Ethels devouring bodice-ripping fiction, or are more than a few souls here in the foothills reading "Moral Visions in the Histories of Polybius"?
My small "beta group" of friends was composed mainly of men, so it came as no surprise that most of us were reading non-fiction. (Women buy and read more fiction.) Two were reading the recent Pulitzer Prize winner "Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 (Holt, 2002), by Rick Atkinson, one had just finished "Dereliction of Duty," by Robert Patterson (Regnery, 2003), and another was in the middle of "The No Spin Zone" (Broadway Books, 2003), the ubiquitous Bill O'Reilly's mammoth best seller. (I can't tell you what Frank was reading because this is a family newspaper.)
My reading list is, by careful design, limited to a few select areas of interest. I always have four or five books going at any given time, scattered around the house for, shall we say, strategic and efficient use. Most are historical non-fiction, but I enjoy an occasional novel. I just finished reading "The Punic Wars," by Adrian Goldsworthy (Cassell, 2002), a fabulous account of the titanic Roman-Carthage wars waged from 264 to 146 B.C. that changed the course of history. A novel in the "I cannot recommend this enough" category is Ken Follett's epic "Pillars of the Earth" (which my editor has promised me she will read).
Let the "conversation" begin! I will start. I love biography, and my favorite is "Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth," by Gitta Sereny (Vintage, 1996). This is one of the most insightful, gracefully written, and thoroughly intriguing biographies of one of the most likeable--and chillingly evil--men of the 20th Century. In the fiction category, Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" (Signet, 1996) wins without contest. Rand's masterpiece is one of those life-altering tomes that validates how you look at the world, or lifts the wool from your eyes. You either love it or despise it. It has never been out of print (55 years).
And now, readers, share with me what we are reading in El Dorado Hills. I need to know. Don't make me bruise your arm.
