The Great White Bear

The Great White Bear
by Kieran Mulvaney

I just got my friend Kieran Mulvaney's book The Great White Bear in the mail. I bought it on Amazon.com a couple days ago. I've been meaning to get it, not because I particularly want to read it but because I want to support my friend and I want him to inscribe something clever and thoughtful on the inside cover to me. Kieran's a great guy. Soft spoken Irish lad. He's one of my all-time favorite boxing writers who I didn't know until recently was primarily an environmental writer. It's probably a good thing I knew him as a sports writer first. I'm not big on saving the world.

I've also had a manuscript from a colleague sitting on my desk for about a month. I can't bring myself to read it. It's horrible of me to have it this long. I should care enough about him to want to read it but I'm just not motivated. I used to be ok with reading. I'd slam thru a Steve Martini book in a couple nights or on a long plane ride. But now I just don't have the patience, intent or desire to read page after page. Or rather, I don't have the will to actually start. Once I dive in, I'm sure I'll finish it but it's that first step of committing to reading that first chapter that's hard. Christ, you'd think I was talking about jumping out of an airplane. It's only a book for God's sake. But honestly, I'd rather go skydiving than read a book. I realize that's an unintelligent, classless thing to say and an even more idiotic thing coming from someone who's writing a blog - yeah, doesn't make much sense. 

But tonight at 11.59p I'm going to shut down my Mac and hop into bed with Kieran's book (how salacious). I'll put on my $20 Target reading glasses, not because I necessarily need them to see but because they make me feel smarter, more learned and maybe more inclined to get deep enough into his book that I'll actually finish it. 

I must respect this guy because he has no idea how much I loathe reading. This one's for you Kieran. Now where's that Jameson...