The only argument I can raise in my defense is: at least I am not a crack addict.
You know my familiar lament. I have all kinds of things to do to get ready for my move to Mexico now that I have a tentative date. (More on that soon.) The top two being fix the house and learn Spanish.
And I have been promising to get right on that --just as soon as I finish reading one more book: The History of Mexico. As we all know, I am up to Porfirio Diaz. The book was published in 1938. So, I just need to exile Diaz, read about the revolution, and get Cardenas on his way to nationalizing anything that moves -- and I will be done.
Or so I thought. On one of my late night book-buying binges, I ordered a stack of books that showed up in the hands of the ever-responsive USPS. Jennifer Rose occasionally publishes books that arrive at her home. Here are mine:
- Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish -- Joseph J. Keenen
- Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World -- Thomas Cahill
- What the Gospels Meant -- Garry Wills
- Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith -- Anne Lamott
- Western Mexico: A traveller's Treasury -- Tony Burton
I once propounded a theory that I could delineate the details of a person's personality simply by looking at the person's reading list. If that theory was correct, you might surmise that I am a liberal Catholic Democrat (perhaps, a crypto-Unitarian) who enjoys traveling, and is desperate to learn a new language. To paraphrase Meatloaf: 2 out of 6 ain't bad.
With the exception of the Spanish book, the rest should go on my reading table. I may not be able to read them until I get to Melaque. Kim of Boston recommended the Keenen book as a good learning tool. I have read the first chapter, and that appears to be a good assessment. Lots of language tips.
At least that book fits into one of my major tasks. Now, if I could just read about fixing up houses, rather than paying to have it done in the real world, my little cloud cuckoo land would be practically perfect in every way.
