Happy 4th - and Coming of Age in 1950s Manchester, England

As Available on gear at Cafe Press

Happy 4th of July holiday to all U.S. readers out there.  I hope you are enjoying the day with your family while taking a few minutes to reflect on the history represented by this holiday.  We will be leaving in an hour to do some eating and partying with friends - a great way to end what has been a four-day weekend for me.  I won't begin thinking about all the work waiting for me at the office until I leave the house in the morning; there won't be any avoiding it at that point.

I've had a great day of reading in Howard Jacobson's The Mighty Walzer.  Imagine the unlikelihood of a novel about a Jewish introvert growing up in 1950s Manchester, England, who discovers by accident that he has a tremendous talent for competitive ping-pong.  Pretty slim chance that you would want to read this one...right?  Me, too...but it's turned out to be quite a compelling story about coming-of-age in that era and in that community.  Think Philip Roth squared and you have an idea about how this one reads.  I'm just over 300 pages into this 388 page book, so I'll be finishing it tomorrow.

I've also been able to burn backup DVDs for all the video I shot at ROMP 2011 week before last and will be working on the audio files as soon as I can get to them.  It's a tedious process, but one that has to be done in order to ensure that all my effort will not have been wasted by some fluke or accident.

Anyway, guys, Happy 4th and good reading to you all.