Just read...
As I regularly review Civil War books for The Free Lance-Star, I don't get to do much "pleasure reading" nowadays. Don't get me wrong, it’s not that I don't enjoy reading these books; it's just that I rarely have time to read something "just because." This Christmas, I received several wonderful history books, and for the first time - in a long time - I have made free time in my schedule to read FOR FUN.

The title that I have selected is "Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography" by Jack Hurst. Now, I will be the first to admit that I hope to glean some insights from this title in regards to my own project on Forrest, but my overall intention is to simply read.

This is a very difficult process for me, and I imagine that many of my fellow writers and historians share the same dilemma. Simply stated, we forgot how to take pleasure in a book. We always have to be taking notes, or cross-referencing information, instead of just sitting back and enjoying that narrative.

I am hoping to break that mold myself (at least with this title) and I’ll let you know how it goes. I suspect I’ll get into Chapter 2 or 3, and revert back to my old self, but until then, I’ll be trying to recapture the joy of reading that I see in my children. They still know how to have fun, and maybe some of their youthful enthusiasm will rub off on their old man.