WWW.
WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly.
To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 1. What are you currently reading? The Visitor by K.L. Slater. David is an odd one. 40+ and still living at home with his mom, he only works part time and spends the rest of his time looking out the window. With binoculars. The latest object of his attention is a young woman named Holly. She just moved in with the widow next door, renting a room as she gets settled and tries to make a new start. David decides Holly will be his friend and never, ever leave. This is not going to end well.
2. What are you currently reading? Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom by Carl Bernstein. This is a love story. When, as a teenager, Carl Bernstein showed up at the Washington Star for a job, he fell hard. For all of it. The noise of the presses, ink on his fingers, getting the story from cops and witnesses, the banter among the reporters, the martinis after work (even though he was still a teenager). His first front-page story was an obituary about the woman who ran the local newspaper stand, and he seems as proud of bringing "Annie" to life as he was of bringing down Nixon. This book makes me glad that he became such a resounding success in the news biz, because his career proves the old adage: Do what you love and the money will follow.
Be warned, though, this book ends when Carl moves to the Washington Post. No Watergate juice here. Since it covers 1960 to 1966, it's a Valentine to days gone by. Typewriters ... carbon paper ... phone booths with benches ... the world of the Washington Star that he creates is long, long gone.
BTW, he confirms something I've always suspected: the biggest news story in the summer of 1963 was the death of Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the infant born to the President and Jackie who lived just two days. Imagine, a baby born to a First Lady! And then, to have that baby die. "Baby Patrick" (as JBKO always referred to him) is almost forgotten now, overshadowed by the world-changing assassination of his father. I have a feeling, though, that at the time, Patrick's birth was as big a deal here as Prince George's was in London 50 years later.
