Fallen Far Behind
Three months on. I need to catch up with me.
The Obama book has been read and enjoyed. By reading The Audacity Of Hope, I knew more than most what was inevitable. Barack Obama had to announce. He was born to run in this race for 2008. The ideas he presents in TAOH are so incredibly tangible, so full of promise while being entirely achievable with the space of a single Presidential term. Most of them anyway.
I started on Bill Richardson's biography, but as of today, I've progressed little beyond his first few months with the State Department. For all of Obama's formidable traits of character and drive, nobody should ever say that Richardson is lacking in diplomatic prowess. The man was making negotiation look easy before he even left college.
And finally, I have relented to Alyssa's insistence. She said over and over that I should read Christopher Moore's Lamb. I resisted, not because I doubted its value as entertainment, but because the description I'd heard all around made the book look like one long satirical riff on the Gospel story, one that hit the obvious targets that are visible even to the most pious among us.
But to my surprise, I am finding the book oddly compelling, even poignant in parts. Sure, the story is fueled by humor, by the inclusion of a carefree childhood pal into a Joshua-bar-Joseph's life, yet there remains a sweet heart to many of the little invented events of his (His?) childhood. There is one part (passage) where Joshua tastes his first cup of strong coffee. And off he goes through the crowd at Antioch, buzzing cheerfully on caffeine, bumping into person after person and healing them blatently as he goes. There is such an honest joy to the scene, and that joy seems to confirm an inner sense that this imaginary little boy is behaving just as we might hope an innocent and eager Son of God would.
"Look at how many I can help. If I try hard enough ... I can help them all."
Or maybe it is just me.
Still no more progress on the Rankin book. I'll get back to it. Soon. Maybe after the next show is done.
