Books

Reading

   I’m done with Katharine Graham’s autobiography. A very long, well written, and immensely interesting book. When I now read of the deeds of the Washington Post I wish there were a narrative that bridges the Graham period to that of Jeff Bezos, the current owner. Unlike some of my friends, I’ve never followed the Post, being a NYTimes addict from way back, while also trying to keep my newspaper reading within limits.

  I was rummaging Kindle possibles, when I clicked on Kory Stamper’s “The Secret Life of Dictionaries” a subtitle, instead of the “Sample” I was aiming to get. So, I’m reading it. Interesting enough: I’m learning quite a bit. The future will tell whether I stick with it to the end. (It is no doubt an age phenomenon, but while in earlier years, I felt that I had to read a book to the end—though I did not always do so, always with feelings of guilt—I have gotten over that inhibition.

   So much so, that I have now interrupted that reading with Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, which just arrived in the mail. This book about New York’s fabulous (take that label literally) Robert Moses mimics its subject in being just short of two inches thick—and immensely heavy. It’s a good thing I don’t read in bed these days. I’ll no doubt report—eventually.