I often devour books. From the time that I learned that words morphed into stories, I’ve been a reader.
In the past, it wasn’t unusual for me to read three or four books a week. I’d love to say that I still keep that pace of reading, but it seems to come in spells – based on what’s happening in my personal and business worlds. I’ve never kept a book log but I’m contemplating using Good Reads this next year to track ’em.
I don’t really do many book reviews – maybe because I kind of like…pretty much everything I read. Well, most of what I choose to read. My tastes are heavy in mysteries, spy novels, and romance. I ready just about everything put out by Catherine Coulter, David Baldacci, the late Vince Flynn, Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Andrew Gross…
My favorite fiction books are usually parts of a series. I love diving into characters, learning what makes them tick and seeing how they shift over time. I want to see the good triumph over the bad. I want to see the characters fall in love and nourish a relationship. I want to witness them being desired and cared about….
The drive to Chicago is a little over four hours, so I had two long bouts of dedicated reading time during the drive. I read two books – The Escape by David Baldacci and Private: India by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi – and I’m over halfway through the latest Michael Connelly book, The Burning Room. All of these are series books – characters I’ve come to know and like and root for…
What started me along this path of discussion this morning was the book sitting on my coffee table: America Farm to Table – by Mario Batali and Jim Webster. Though I joke that I can read a cookbook the way I would a novel, the real truth is that I am drawn into cookbooks the same way I am drawn into novel – with story. The personal stories of the chef about what shaped his love of food and his approach to creating a recipe or a meal. America Farm to Table is filled with paired stories – it begins with a chef and one of his favorite farmers and tells a tiny vignette of their dance together.
