re-gifting to oneself before giving the gift to one's friend

You know how, sometimes, you go to a store for a gift and decide you really want that thing, too? It's like that big blue rubber ball you get for your niece from those aisle-end cages at McGuckins Hardware? The one you simply have to spin with and bounce around the store and maybe throw at other shoppers while ducking behind the animal cracker display and laughing at your stealth? "This makes me feel like a kid again. I must have it. Ahh! I shall buy two of them--one to give away and one to keep for myself!" Like that. That's what this blog is about, except it's not a big ball, it's a book, and it didn't throw it at anyone.

I'm in the middle of a book now that is the most engaging I've read in a long time. It's called Traveling Music by Neil Peart, the drummer and the lyricist for the band Rush. Rush is one of my favorite groups of all time. Since they only put out an album every 3 or 4 years, each member has a number of other things to fill their time off. These range from mere diversion to passionate, serious work. Some of Neil Peart's passions are music (no surprise there), writing, geography, and traveling. He brings all these together, along with a fascinating running biographical sketch, in the pages of Traveling Music, which is, in part, a memoir of driving his BMW Z-8 from Santa Barbara to Big Bend National Park, Texas and back in 2003. I do not intend a book review here, but I do encourage you to check it out. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

I share a love of music, traveling, and reading with my friend Mark Pierson. In an episodic attack of “What a great idea!” syndrome (many of which are not), I wanted to get my friend something special for Christmas that would support those shared interests. It wasn’t long before Traveling Music rose to the top of the holiday shopping heap, just above Motion and Light, another intriguing and beautiful book consisting of Peart’s prose alongside his wife's black and white photography of the drummer 'doing his thing'.

Anyway, upon receiving the book in the mail (379 pages? Wow! This kid’s been busy! I was expecting 125 pages at the most), I decided I should leaf through it before wrapping it up. One page of the prologue. That’s how long it took for me to know I had to order another copy for myself. Mark, if you’re reading this, I’m on page 201 of your book and am enjoying it immensely. Admittedly, it’s a bit like kissing someone else’s girlfriend (scandalous, I know). Have no fear, though. It’s all yours once my copy makes it out from The Book Nook in Green River, Wisconsin…and Merry Christmas to all.