Somebody Get That Woman A Medal!

I am sure many of my faithful readers have been wondering what became of my quest to read An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't, which, it turns out, I began a year ago this month. This was the Buy a Friend a Book Week gift I bought for some family members that didn't go over all that well, so I decided to read it myself.

You may have thought that I stopped reading the 678 page book because I haven't mentioned it here since May 17th. If so, you obviously don't know me at all. No, I stopped talking about it here because my professional and booky lives are so very, very full that I had many other things to write about.

What I'm getting around to telling you is that I finished reading An Incomplete Education this morning. And, no, I didn't read every word because I'd have to be insane to do that, wouldn't I? But I read lots. Lots and lots.

Here's what I've retained: Henry IV (Henry of Navarre) is the king of France who said, "Paris is well worth a Mass."

The end of the book included a vocab section with lists of words that are used improperly by many people, including myself. I've decided that I just won't use any of those words anymore.

The next improving book I plan to read is Herding the Ox: The Martial Arts as Moral Metaphor by John J. Donohue. I'm looking forward to it because even though it includes the words "moral" and "metaphor" in the title, it is only 133 pages long.