I thought I had no time to read.

I don’t have the kind of reading time I once had — leisure time, reclined on the couch, with a cup of tea.

But once Stephen King convinced me that I could not write well unless I read, I took a new inventory. It turns out I had plenty of time for stories …

… audiobooks while in the kitchen cooking dinner or in the basement lifting weights …

… Kindle books with the typeface turned up to LARGE while riding the stationary bike on recovery days …

… big, heavy histories and biographies during my 4-hour Focus Time on days when I’m too tired to do anything but lay on the couch with a book …

… Sunday afternoons in those dreary weeks between the Super Bowl and MLB opening day …

Now Reading

I grab different things depending on purpose, mood, and setting, so I usually have a few books underway at one time. Right now it’s a pretty good grab bag:

Helmut Walser Smith, Germany: A Nation in its Time: Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500-2000

Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra (almost done with this one)

Robert Caro, The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I (same)

Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting (ditto)

Alan Moore, V for Vendetta (just picked this one up on a student’s recommendation)

Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, & Daniel Huttenlocher, The Age of AI

Molly Huddle and Sara Slattery, How She Did It (inspiring me to train again)

Gary Zimak, Give Up Worry for Lent!