Friday, April 16, 2010

What I'm Reading

I've been floored by the recent "What I Read" trend among bloggers/pundits. As in, I assume that if I see you on tv, you are incredibly more well-read than me. But it turns out that might not be the case. For example, here's Tucker Carlson's typical day. Which, if you poke around the other "what I read" links, is fairly typical. (guilty pleasure alert: i kind of LIKE Tucker Carlson)

I'm amazed that these people get paid a lot of money to pretty much read the same fucking blogs over and over and regurgitate shit. I mean, they don't even pretend to do otherwise. You write books, you're a political pundit, and you spend a chunck of your day reading the Huffington Post? Really? How did this fucking happen? This is also why I will always give Marley more credence than anyone else. The dude has read more books than I'll ever see.

There's a reason I will always read Matt Yglesias, who on any given night will have read some 500-page book on Keynesian economics and sum it up in a post the next day. Unfortunately to this day, the smartest person I've ever met is still Brothatime!!, who will read an 800-page book on the history of the Japanese automobile industry while watching Beverly Hills 90210, and remember every word of both.

Over the last two weeks I've read The Glass Menagerie/A Tale of Two Cities/The Importance of Being Earnest/Drugstore Cowboy/Reading Thackery, and I feel like that's not enough, I feel like I'm an idiot.  Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson has been reading fucking Huffington Post. Sometimes, I start to wonder that I'm not the dumbest person in the world.

2 comments:

Gina said...

I found this man's daily literary itinerary at once shocking, amazing and disturbing. Sure he's got the scoop, but when does he find time to poop? Where and how does one file all of this information AND find time for...well, whatever else he does for enjoyment. To every man his own. Don't compare, Xmas, It's like...like pitting your personal hygeine and housekeeping habits against the likes of Felix Unger. hey- By my standards you've already read dang well enough to qualify you a spot on that site. Does that makes me really dumb? Sadly, probably yes. Most probably!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU9_Q7PJuNQ

Gina said...

the avid reader monopolizing the family toilet- another reason to remain single.