Clifton Fadiman's "The Lifetime Reading Plan"

Clifton Fadiman was the kind of guy I wish we had more of these days, a witty, intellectual media personality, author, editor, and for awhile, a judge with the Book-of-the-Month Club. All of this just shows my age. I used to actually belong to the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Fadiman wrote "The Lifetime Reading Plan," which I came across a few years ago at a used book sale. I'll quote from the dust jacket: "A stimulating and irresistible guide to one hundred books and authors -- from Homer to Hemingway -- which will help you, over the whole of your lifetime, to understand what the greatest writers of western civilization have thought and felt." I was so intrigued that I decided to tackle the project, although I may not live long enough to finish it.

Before tackling the ancient Greek and Roman writers, I'm brushing up on history of those eras with Will Durant's "The Life of Greece," which is Part II of his epic "The Story of Civilization." It's really entertaining reading. Who knew.

I'm sure this project seems downright quaint in our time, but what the heck. Once you hit age 61 you're pretty downright quaint anyway. I'm having fun.