On being a reader and finding some inspiration.

I have a confession to make . . . I'm a non-fiction junkie.

I have been for years.

One of my greatest fears is that this is making me like my father. He always had some strange biographical work laying around such as "The Lint Collection of FDR," or "Harry Truman's Secret Life."

I worry that I am becoming like him not because I like non-fiction and he liked non-fiction, but I worry that my taste will decline to the crap that he was reading . . .

It forces me to ask the question, why do old people watch the history channel?

How many ground breaking documentaries do you have to watch about Pearl Harbor to figure out that Japan bombed the shit out of us!

I was sitting with my friend Chris who has cable. (Mandy and I do not have cable or else we would never get anything done. Although I do miss it this time of year for scary movie marathons.)
Chris and were sitting on his couch when a new documentary about JFK came on. And we watched it. We both sat with our mouths open in silence watching it like it was The French Connection or Silence of the Lambs.

Why?

It didn't change my perspective on history. It didn't shed anything in a new light. (Other than point out how inept we were at dealing with the media, protecting prisoners and protecting the President.)

I still get upset when people idolize Jackie O and say she was going for help. No, she wasn't, she was running for her life. She was trying to get out of the car because someone was shooting at her and her husband's head just got blown off.

I don't mean to be crass, but it's the truth.

And every time I watch the tape I say to myself, there's no way one guy made all those shots . . . and where was the Secret Service? The first gun shot should have brought a flurry of agents throwing their bodies across the car to protect those inside . . . but I digress and my opinion will never change about that day.

Although it does make me want to write an alternate history story/film script where I posit the question . . . what would the world be like if JFK hadn't been assassinated?

Would we still, to this day be in the clutches of the cold war?

Would the Berlin Wall have never come down? (The only good thing Regan did - thank goodness he had a pair of brass ones when dealing with the Soviet Union.)

This is an idea I think that is worth playing with. There might be something in it that could make a great movie.

But I have digressed . . .

My original point about liking non-fiction . . .

I recently finished, My Life in France, by Julia Child.

I encourage everyone to read it.

If you are an artist or are following a dream you should read it.

If you are struggling to figure out what to do with your life, you should read it.

Julia Child is inspiring.

Her journey of becoming the woman she became and doing what she loved; is truly an amazing, heartfelt and an incredible story.

So please read it.

It's easily the best book I've read all year.

I will admit that I am very biased. I love travel literature. I love it like a crack addict loves the glass pipe. I also am a foodie who cooks (Duh, have you seen the recipes?).
So this book combines two things I love and adore and mixes it with the story of a woman following her bliss and doing what she loves and guess what? She's pretty freakin' successful at it.

Read it kids.

And yes, I have some recipes to post. I'm saving them for the weekend.


Until Next Time True Believers . . .