Moving On

Finished P.J. and I think that about all that can be said is that he grew up, got a job, gained weight, fathered children and morphed into a republican.

There was a copy of Betty McDonald's The Egg and I in a box of books I was working through this past weekend. It's supposed to be a humorous look at egg ranching in Washington State, but scenarios of wifey washing dishes while hubby sits backs and smokes after both have spent the entire day building/plowing/whatever-farm-work make me wonder why she stayed.

I need to get back to the Alexander Hamilton bio I was working on, but I'm not sure where I left it. Somewhere in the office I think. Slogging through explanations of the development of the American financial systems is not quite what I expected, I thought he was supposed to have had an interesting personal life. You don't get shot at dawn at Weehawken by Burr for messing with the currency systems. Do you?

P.J. and the old Car & Driver

Yesterday I overlooked the fact that I'm about halfway through Age and Guile beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut by P.J. O'Rourke.

I became a fan of P.J.'s years ago when he wrote for Car & Driver under the editorship of David E. Davis. At that time there was a group of fine writers contributing regularly, many of whom moved to Automobile with Davis. The next time I noticed P.J. he had made the switch to Republican conservative, but still wrote with wit and style. So, even though I don't agree with his politics, I enjoy reading his work. I'm hoping somewhere in this book I'll find out what turned him to the dark side.

Starting Out

Right now I'm working through Braudel's Wheels of Commerce, interesting but dry.

For recreational reading I have the Library of America edition of Edith Wharton's Short Stories.

I'm thinking of looking around to see if I have a copy of Thackery's Barry Lyndon somewhere. It was featured last week on the Page a Day calendar and sounded as if it might be a fun read.

The Lantern Guy is reading another one of his Louis L'Amour books, again.