Vacation reading

Just back from camping in Northern New Mexico, for the most part out of cell-phone range, much less away from Internet access. It was a bit of a culture shock, but I desperately needed the break. Kathy and I did quite a bit of hiking, but also enjoyed a good deal of down time (some of it waiting for the blisters on my soft, middle-class feet to heal after our first, over-aggressive outing). Having read little but email, blogs, bills, and stuff from and about the Texas legislative process for the last few months, I welcomed the opportunity to do some pleasure reading. Here are the books I read on vacation that others might enjoy:

• Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, by Bruce Schneier
• Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris
• Mind Wide Open: The Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life, by Steven Johnson
• Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not, by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert
• Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity, by Siva Vaidhyanathan
• Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays, by David Sedaris

Without indulging in individual reviews, I'd highly recommend all of them for the general reader, with the caveat that Schneier's excellent book takes a heady, high-concept approach that doesn't always make for light reading. Good stuff, though, every bit of it. (I won't mention, for now, two other books I disliked, so as to better savor their eventual panning.) More blogging tomorrow or maybe this weekend, after I catch up a bit. A lot's happened, I can tell already, while I'm gone that merits Grits' attention.

A couple of recent site mentions were greatly appreciated, including Beyond Fear author Bruce Schneier linking to Grits right before I left, coincidentally, since I'd already selected his book by then for my trip. Thanks to Schneier and his 2-3,000 readers who came by while I was gone. Plus Wells Dunbar at the Austin Chronicle said some nice things about the blog, too, I was pleased to discover from several sources in my overquota email box, calling Grits "A powerful and well-researched site." Cool.

Back in Austin now to find the Texas Legislature in a second (ugh!) special session. It seems unreal that just a few days ago I could see my breath in the air every morning (not here, folks, I promise you), and still harbored hopes the Lege might have left town when I returned. No such luck, though. That's a good excuse, perhaps, to stay in the air conditioning and blog. To that end, more soon.