Hands Off the President's Reading List

President Obama's vacation plans on Martha's Vineyard included time to read four works of fiction and one of nonfiction. In a sign of our partisan times, his leisure-reading list ruffled feathers. At the National Review, Tevi Troy wondered whether the president's interest in fiction sent a signal that he's "out of touch with reality." At Salon, Robin Black wished the summer reading list had included more women authors.

I'd hate to have my reading choices picked apart by people with agendas and biases, wouldn't you? If I read Veronica Roth's DIVERGENT, a young adult novel, it doesn't mean I want to relive my childhood, especially when childhood's set in a dystopian society. I do, however, remember how important certain choices seemed at age sixteen, especially the right-for-me college and career.

If I pick up Mary Higgins Clark's I'LL WALK ALONE, it's not because I'm flirting with paranoia but because I want to see how the woman-next-door type, someone a lot like me, copes with the fear someone has stolen her identity and is trying to destroy her sanity.

"I read because one life isn't enough," wrote author Richard Peck. Fiction helps us slip into another person's shoes and understand his/her viewpoint. Surely the ability to do so puts us more in touch with others, not less.

Robert Gray, a contributing editor at Shelf Awareness, responded to the hoopla over the president's fiction-heavy list with this: "Fiction is not all make-believe; nonfiction is not the same as truth. But we can learn from all of these variations what it means to be human."

Would You Like That Rapped?

It's Monday. Houston's under a heat advisory, so we're indoors and likely to stay there. When people acknowledge the need for an anthem, the anthem appears:

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: KANAB, UTAH

A few years ago I discovered Kanab when I went to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to volunteer for a few days. I’d wanted to go to the Sanctuary for years and working with the animals—dogs in particular—was everything I’d hoped. The real surprise of the trip was the town of Kanab, a place that hasn’t changed much since the fifties.

In the heyday of Westerns, this place was the filming location for Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, El Dorado, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Lone Ranger, and Stagecoach. When the good guys said, “Head ‘em off at the pass!” that pass is a rough-cut road in a hillside at Best Friends. The wild, stark canyons and red hills, the rock formations and stunning sunsets haven’t changed a bit since the days John Wayne and Olivia de Havilland inhabited the guest cottages at Parry’s Lodge in the heart of town.

Parry’s is still there as it always has been, the cottages ,too. You can walk across the street to the café for a breakfast of biscuits and gravy or finish off dinner with a piece of homemade banana cream pie. Or a few steps away find anything western at Denny’s Wigwam.  You might not have cell service and I wouldn’t count on wifi, but it you’re thinking it might be nice to drop out of the 21^st century for a few days in the 1950’s, it would be tough to find a nicer western town to do just that.