WHAT THIS BLOG IS ALL ABOUT

The author, in Iceland

Visitors to my living room have been known to comment that all the books lying around are at least 2 ½ inches thick, and it’s true.  Over the years I seem to have developed the pernicious attitude that if I’m reading fiction I’m wasting time.  Example: for a month I have been trudging through the early life of Richard Nixon, as related by Stephan Ambrose.  There are two more volumes (probably 600 pages each) which I intend to read, if I live long enough. 

Nixon and Lyndon Johnson probably are the most widely disliked presidents of the 20^th century.  Robert  Caro has written four volumes about Johnson, which I also intend to read.  Lord,  give me a long life, or make me a speed reader!

Oh, sure – sometimes I read a tiny fiction book between my titanic tomes – but I always feel guilty doing it.

So, you say – who cares?  Well, it’s like this.  I have begun to suspect that some of you are a bit tired of my cancer blogs.  My joints won’t let me stand for more than a few minutes at a time so, other than driving out for more beer, of necessity I spend much of the day reading, or pecking away at this keyboard.  It has been suggested that I write more about frivolous stuff – book reviews, movie reviews, rants about current events, embarrassing stories from my youth , etc. – and less about cancer.  So I’m going to try that for awhile.  If I can figure out how to do I will start a new blog.  I think I will call it something like ‘Frivolities”.  And, of course, I will subject you to it on Facebook!

Stay tuned for my review of the first Nixon volume; I am less than 50 pages from 1962.