Thursday, September 5, 2013

Upon Further Review . . .

The books are piling up.  For review, that is.

But now, there's a new catch.  Evidently, as books are coming in from a variety of publishers and topics--including spirituality, preaching, academic, adolescent, as well as memoirs and novels--I am being offered options.  My most recent list included nearly forty books, and I selected the titles best suited to my schedule, interests and bailiwick.

But I always have to answer for these things.

Over a two day period, as I crated four large and heavy boxes into my office for unpacking (including a shipment of first-edition titles bearing my name on the cover), I had to answer to my wife.

"What are these boxes doing in the middle of the floor?" she asked.

"That's under review," I said (she hates puns).

"Do they have to stay here?  Can't you get rid of them?"  (My wife seems concerned about appearances since we just completed a kitchen remodel and full-scale painting of the interior of the house.) 

"It's all work," I explained.  "This is what gets me up at 3 a.m."

"Well," she asked, "How quickly can you read these?"

"I'm reading them even as you speak," I said.  "And as soon as I write my reviews for the magazines, I'll pass these books along to someone who has a life."

"Tell me you're getting paid for this."

"I am," I said.  "And I'll even buy you a White Castle burger and Dilly Bar to prove it.  We'll shoot the works."

But under further review, I do wonder about my attitude.  Being a book-reviewer doesn't land me much sleep.  And after twenty-nine years of marriage I keep looking for that box of books that will contain the perfect marriage manual.  I can't wait to review it.  Somebody out there has to have the answers.

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