As you get older, you realize you'll never get to reading many of the so-called classic books. I got to thinking about this while out jogging a few days back. Face it," I thought. You'll never have the time. Nobody wants to admit their age, but none of us are getting any younger.

For example, Moby Dick. I'll just have to be happy to know Ahab went after the big mammal of the deep. Or Faulkner. I read a bunch of his stuff in grad school. Since then, nada. Or Henry James. Never again. I know: my loss. I can live with that. War and Peace will never grace my eyes. Charles Dickens is an author I admire. I doubt if I'll get to his printed words.

Gone With the Wind may have a better chance to get read. Hemingway I have read since college. Ditto for Fitzgerald. Flannery O'Connor I've read several times. I seem to gravitate to American Southern authors (except Faulkner).

But I've made my peace with the classics I'll miss out on. Who knows? Maybe there's a big library in the sky where you spend eternity reading books. What a dream that is.

Happy reading to you and yours!

By Ed Lynskey
Twitter: @edlynskey
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