By Terence Smith
I have two New Year’s Resolutions, the same two I embrace every year:
1. Read More! (Especially before noon.)
2. Write More! (Preferably before noon.)
Number One makes sense because, at this stage in a long life, I enjoy reading more and more, I learn things and no heavy lifting is involved. I usually read two or three books at a time, switching from one to another as my mood changes. Right now, I have three big, heavy biographies underway:
“Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction and Intrigue,” by Sonia Purnell.
“Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom,” by David W. Blight.
“Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century,” by George Packer.
All three are terrific. Lest you think I am hopelessly hooked on biographies, I just finished a wonderful novel: “The Bee Sting,” by Paul Murray, an Irish author. It is funny, unpredictable, rambling and delightful. Murray needs an editor, but he has an intriguing technique of writing what his characters are thinking to themselves as they stumble through life.
And, just ahead: “The Newsmongers, A History of Tabloid Journalism,” by Terry Kirby, a British newsmonger himself.
Why before noon? In truth, it is hard for me to read books, much less write them, before noon on an average day because three newspapers arrive on my doorstep every morning: The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Annapolis Capital Gazette. Give all three a serious read and look up at the clock: it’s noon!
Those are my New Year’s resolutions for 2025, and my excuse for not being more productive. Just like last year.