Chuck’s Big Stack o’ Reading

We have these cart/table thingies in our house, they’re like end tables on wheels. I don’t know where they came from, they suddenly appeared one day. Perhaps the cart fairy dropped them down the chimney. Wherever or however, I like them.

In the cart above I have my current stack of reading materials. I like the wheeled cart because whether I’m sitting on my favorite recliner (the one by the fireplace, natch) or the couch (the north end, of course) I can wheel the cart over to me.

On the cart, from the bottom is:

BBQ USA by Steven Raichlen. We watch him on PBS. I was strolling through the library the other day and saw this book. I’ve just started it, but so far it’s quite the good BBQ read.

Next is a spiral bound notebook for me to take notes in while I’m reading my way through all this.

Next comes Spain, A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali. Another PBS series we watched. You’d think it would be a little silly, but there are so many interesting recipes in that book. All about simple food prepared simply.

Then The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Eldest son Josh said I needed to read this, and it shows up on book lists everywhere. I’m about a quarter of the way through. I’m undecided at this point. It’s a bit leaden and heavy-handed, but I tend to agree with what I think she is critical of, so I’m accepting so far.

Then the This Old House magazine. I’m enormously disappointed in this magazine and I’m letting the subscription lapse. If I could be anyone in the world I’d want to be Norm Abrams, and I see the magazine diverging ever further from Norm-ism.

Finally, or penultimately, The Gift of the Good Land by Wendell Berry. I don’t know how I spent 53 years on this earth and never came across Wendell Berry. He speaks directly to me and will inform whatever years I have left.

So, that’s what I’m doing these cold snowy days.

Well, except for the stack of books in the wire basket under the sofa table. That’s yet another story.