As I am writing this opener I am humming the song "Miami" by Will Smith, which has the right beat but needs a lyric re-write to reflect my bookish Miami area trip this week as I ducked down there for a couple of days for some meetings and store visits. Okay, I confess that any opportunity to get into the sun and someplace warm this time of year works for me thus making this trip something I did not need to be talked into. It was quickly planned, so I did not get a chance to inform most of the usual suspects that I was coming into town. Who knew that all I would have to do is go to a bookstore to see many of the people I know in the area?

I love the trivia that I can find on the Internet. There is no lack of material to enable procrastination. A few weeks ago I was on Art Garfunkel's website and saw a listing there of all the books he has read since June 1968. Then this week I saw an article in The New Yorker called "The King of Reading," which is all about his list. Now I wonder if The New Yorker writer tripped over this list online while procrastinating, or where the tip for this piece came from. Well, I confess that Art and I do not have the same reading taste, but reading his list gave me more insight into him. And it got me to wondering about the “college essay” and “job interview” question --- “What are the books that define me?” I never could answer that one.