Reading Death Comes for the Archbishop. Why? He was searching for Truman Capote's In Cold Blood for his book group and, because it was checked out, picked up Shadows on the Rock, by Willa Cather instead. It's all about being a "C." It could have just as easily been Lewis Carroll, but because he'd remembered how several years ago he'd read The Professor's House and liked it (though he can't remember what it's about) it started a Willa Cather kick. After he finished Shadows on the Rock, he tried to get the book group to read My Ántonia, but they wouldn't. Instead, now, they're reading Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. He still plans to read My Ántonia and, after that, The Professor's House again. The book group will have their resident Cather expert, whether they like it or not.
When he picks up a book he wants something that will make him think and entertains. He chooses different books depending on where he'll be reading--if he's traveling he'll get a spy novel because he knows there'll be a baby crying or something else disturbing.
His favorite book is Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey. He said the first hundred pages were impossible--really hard, but after that the book spoke to him. What was so great about it was the style, that the story is good, too, but he liked the narrative structure, how it was written in the first, second, and third persons.
It's the, "you want to take my picture for what?" expression.
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