IF I had a New Year's Resolution....

I have started reading Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik. It's fairly interesting so far. So far being about 25 pages. It's about his time in Paris from about 1995 to 2000 when he lived there with his wife and young son. Also on my reading list for the new year are a book of short stories by Bernard Malamud and A Farewell to Arms by Hemmingway. I have already read A Farewell to Arms in college but I thought it was time to become reacquainted with Hemmingway and Fitzgerald along with some other authors I have neglected for the past 30 years. The book by Gopnik was just a happenstance, something I stumbled upon while roaming the bookstore and decided to pick up as well.

I love bookstores. They are so much better than libraries. I mean libraries are wonderful places and I have spent many many hours in libraries in my life, but the bookstore is where you really are set free. There is nothing like the smell of a new book. And when you find a book you truly love, it's a joy to own it. I only hope someday I can make a library of my books in my own home. Complete with large leather chairs and dark wooden shelves. Maybe even one of those rolling step ladders so that you can reach the books on the upper most shelves.

Anyway, IF I were the sort to make New Year's resolutions, which I am not, I would guess that my resolution this year is to elevate the level of the literature I am reading. Is that too elitist? I don't think so.

Happy New Year one and all. I hope this year is the best ever for you. Read something. It will make you feel so much better.