A Buffet of Books
Saturday mornings. I can hardly wait to get out of bed. For adventure awaits!
I make a high-quality Kalita Pour-Over coffee, usually with some exquisite beans from Ethiopia. Sidamo Guji (both a region and a way of processing the beans) in particular. It has taken awhile to find my coffee profile and it is logical that my journey would take me back to coffee's origin in Ethiopia. The Kalita is a Japanese device for making a Pour-Over. It is a bit time consuming hence why I only do it on weekends. During the week, it a stainless steel French Press with Cubano-style beans. A solid brew. I tossed my coffee-maker years ago, wasn't digging all the plastic.
After I settle down to sip the delicious brew and await the summons of the caffeine to a new day, I will often get a fire going in the pellet stove. Sometimes I will turn on the Christmas lights. It is all so festive at 5:30 AM. Then, I turn my attention to a coffee table that has been in my family for as long as I remember. I will die with it in all probability and then who knows its destiny. It has always been a bit unstable, it sways a bit. Yet, it hangs on. The books are splayed out upon its surface, touting their wordy wares. Like a cheap Chinese Buffet.
I will often hit the WIRED magazine first on the far left. I have them stacking up like flapjacks and intend to chew through them one issue at a time. I have contemplated cancelling the subscription but at ten dollars a year and super-relevant content on 21st Century culture, it is a must-read for me to help prepare teens for the future that is right around the corner, ready or not. The bastards also got access to a new credit card number of mine when I had to cancel the old number when it got hacked in an ingenious scheme. Even I was impressed by the Russian hackers cleverness.
After knocking out an article, at this pace, there will still be a pile of WIRED's on the table when I croak, I will then read the book on James. This author's book was a re-working of his doctoral dissertation on the Epistle, and he wrote the definitive tome on this neglected book. One that is the acid test of Christianity. By its internal clues, it is likely the first book of the New Testament written down and subsequently neglected since then.
Recently, I have been hammering down the Written World book which is a historical analysis of the written word. Something that we take for granted but which was an epochal step forward in civilization. Alexander the Great promulgated a street Greek (the Koine) through his conquering of near and distant lands which became the language of the New Testament and the Book of James. James, as it is noted in the book about him and his Epistle, thinks in Hebrew and writes in Greek, often creating new words by merging ideas. I find this type of research endlessly fascinating.
I'll then jump around after that like a frog on a pond's lily pads. I will usually read a snippet of City of God and often something else. I am quite promiscuous. It is all great fun. I sometimes worry when I retire that my life will lack meaning and purpose. But, when I look at all the books that I can read, my fears subside. It is food for the soul. Books literally have a shelf life when most of social media is here today, gone in five minutes, into the ether of irrelevance.
I reflect on how books have been a constant companion for me throughout my life. They have been my best friend, with an apology to dogs, who I do love but not as much as books. When I think about how much books have made an impact on me, it is little wonder than I really needed to write one myself. So I did. And even though it has hardly made a dent (t has done well in India of all places), it still helped me, despite it being written in such a hard and difficult time. It has given more than it has taken in that it clarified what I believed in the midst of confusion and chaos. I staked my claim to what I held dear and it helped me through. Just like books always have.
I am a writer who specializes on topics related to the college transition, travel, coffee, and craft beer. I wrote a book about the college transition.
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