…that some day, I’d be on the phone with my oldest son, having a discussion about Silence, by Shusaku Endo, which he had read out of his own free will…

I would have laughed and laughed and laughed.

Not that he isn’t smart – he is. Very.  Not that he’s never been a reader – he was – up until about 7th grade. And, for a couple of years before that, his book-reading had mostly been the fruit of bribery – he’d get a comic book in exchange for reading 4 "real" books, and so on. He didn’t like fantasy or sci-fi, very typical routes for adolescent male readers, and I sort of ran out of energy on that particular battlefront, at that point, myself.

Imagine my surprise a year or so ago, when he started asking me for suggestions on books to read. He’d gotten back into the habit, thanks to Chuck Palahnuik and Fight Club.  In the year since, he’s got a book going most of the time, despite the fact that he’s been carrying a very full load in school (Which is also surprising – recreational reading during college, I mean. I’m pretty sure I didn’t read a book for personal entertainment purposes between 1978-1982, myself.)

Longtime readers may recall that I asked for suggestions for him around Christmas. Frequently mentioned was Confederacy of Dunces, which I bought for him, which he read, and now, I discovered, he often lists as his favorite book. Whodathunkit.

However, after reading a bunch of my suggestions,  including The Power and the Glory and Silence, he said, "Mom, I need something lighter." Umm…I thought. Before I could answer he said, "What about Catch-22?" Great idea, I said. "I thought so," he continued. "I was going to Barnes and Nobles to get that and the Ric Flair book."

Ah, well. Reliving pre-adolescence in more ways than one.

And yes, I did send him this amusing Peter Vere post about the ways of God and wrestlers.