2021 and the whole "New Year, New Me" thing

     I keep trying to resurrect my blog, because of my interest in writing, so hopefully this idea will 'take.'

    I saw a very interesting YouTube video recently where the host was describing his journey as he read a book a week.

    I've always been a pretty fast reader, and I used to read all the time. The interwebs have blocked that out to a great extent, so I am going to devote more time to reading and writing (blog posts.)

    So this will be the start of the journey. 

    The plan is to pick a book a week, and that is what I am going to read. I am not going to pick all my own reading materiel, however. I have already started asking friends for books to read, and now the floor is open. Some of the books suggested I know I will make fast work of, some others... well... maybe not so much.

    But part of what I would like to do is read books that I would have never picked up on my own. I already have a few Oprah's book club suggestions, some fiction and non-fiction, some history... so a good mix. 

    If you have any suggestions for me, I will take them one and all. I would like to hear stories and tales that I would not necessarily have heard. Learn things about subjects that I know very little about. 

    I still want to do the Classics plan that I wrote of before, but it was way too much reading crammed into too little time for anyone who has any kind of job. 

    So... on to... book #1. 

    "A Jacques Barzun Reader: Selections From His Works. " - Edited by Michael Murray

    Jacques Barzun was born in France in 1907, and passed away at the age of 104. Just that, think of the world that he saw and experienced. Just from my own career, he was born at the dawn of the age of powered flight, and lived until the Space Age, and even outlived the Concord. 

    He was a Historian of great acclaim, and sometimes a controversial one. 

    His Magnum Opus, "From Dawn To Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life" was published at the age of 94! This was the book that introduced me to him.

    The "Reader" is a collection of 80 of his essays, spanning from 1939 to 2000. Just his essay on the 'rehabilitation' of Shakespeare would be worth the price of the book. 

Week #2----

    This is a suggestion from my friend Kelli. "The Golden Compass," by Philip Pullman. That book begins Sunday, Jan 10.

    Cheers, all!

    Scott