1001 Books You Must Read..Not

I love to read and my tastes are eclectic. When I came across this list of books I was really excited -- I would read them all. I went through the entire list, highlighting those I'd already read 9108 -- not so great), then I realized what was missing.

There's no Divine Comedy, no Canterbury Tales, no Illiad or Odessy. The only Gore Vidal book was Myra Breckinridge -- no where near his best work. No Norman Mailer at all (The Naked and the Dead). No Ray Bradberry at all (The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451). No William Styron (Sophie's Choice, anyone?). No Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged). And, while it included books children might have read from way back (Little Women), awesome books like The Wizard of Oz, Charlotte's Web, or The Wind in the Willows were nowhere to be found.

And some of the inclusions were odd. Dashiel Hammet had about four books in the list. The Maltese Falcon and The Red Tide, maybe, but not The Thin Man (as much as I adore the movies). I had a feeling movies influenced a lot of the choices. I don't know who put this list together, but it's missing a lot of great literature -- much of it better than what was included.

Kermit and Jon Stewart

If you ever watched the old Muppet Show (and if you haven't, you really missed out -- get the DVDs), you'll proably remember how enthusiastic Kermit was at the openng of each show.

Jon Stewart opens the Daily Show just the same way. Coincidence? I think not.

World-wide connection

This weekend I got a feeling of connectivity with people around the world that I've never had before. At the same time hundreds of thousands of people were doing the exact same thing as me. Not some animal function like eating or sleeping, but reading. And, reading the same book at that.

Nobody brings the world together like J. K. Rowling and her creation -- Harry Potter.

If the world had more writers like her, it would be a better place by far.