What to read next?

I am a slow reader and haven’t read fiction in decades. When I buy a book it needs to be useful. It may be a wisdom classic like The 4 Agreements or the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. I have bought 20-minute meals cook books that never leave the shelf and admittedly I keep more than a few books on my shelves just for show. They are there to suggest to the occasional visiting bookshelf voyeur that I am erudite and know stuff. Among those are the likes of Joseph Campbell's ‘Mask with a Thousand Faces’ and Richard Feynman’s ‘Pleasure of Finding Things Out’. Are you impressed?

One dusty shelf is the home to books written by my father and brothers and a few clever friends. Mostly self-published and that makes them keepers. There are the some 1000 Favorite Poems type books and the inevitable know-it-all books like ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ that I cannot stand but hope my kids will pick up and become overnight tycoons. Actually, it’s gotta go.

Anyways, not a big reader over here. If and when, I delve into non-fiction. Generally novel avoidant.

Not anymore!

A podcaster I admire mentioned his favorite book of all time. Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”. With a billion books out there, I find that very helpful. And so I ordered it and have spent the past 2 weeks lugging this ginormous paperback and eating it up like a most delicious meal.

A whole new posse of friends and acquaintances are now etched into my consciousness. Augustus McCrae is my epicurean hero, and Woodrow Call, the Stoic leader of men, Josh Deets, tracker extraordinaire, Lorena Wood my broken daughter, Clara Allen, my Amazonian muse. I want more. Fortunately there is a prequel and a mini-series.

All this is to say, I have newfound confidence in my reading skills, and am a late convert to fiction.

What should I read next???