Every once in a while, I fall in love with a particular publisher. The first time I remember it happening was with Soft Skull Press. Then, the New York Review Books. There have been other, more fleeting crushes, of course, but when I'm fully in love with a publisher, I haunt their website, constructing long wishlists of titles. I consider how many books I'd have to buy at once to get the wholesale discount. In bookstores, I look for a certain spine dimension, color scheme, logo. Right now, I am in love with Melville House Publishing -- specifically, the Neversink collection. So when I was at the library, but NOT to check out books, as I already had one overdue and was in the middle of three more, and I turned around to see the familiar graphics of a Neversink cover design on the New Titles shelf, I knew I was doomed.

Of course I took it home with me.

I did not give myself permission to start reading it until I finished at least one of the books I was reading. Still, it was like a ticking time bomb sitting on my shelf. I have let too many library books go overdue lately. I finished 400 Years of the Telescope, and immediately replaced it (in its place in my purse) with The President. Still, chances to read it kept slipping by for one reason or another until a Friday, I finally got to dip into it during a short lunch at Zoup!

I read the rest of the book on Saturday.

I don't even know when was the last time that I got to sit down and read a whole book in one day, but it's something I've been missing. Especially over the holidays, as that was exactly the sort of thing I would do when I was young and had no kids. It was hard, at times, due to my lack of practice, to fully devote myself to the book. Through no fault of The President, which I loved, I would read a few pages and my mind would wander. One page -- "Wait, should I go check the laundry?" Three pages -- "I wonder if there are any new pins on Pinterest?" Two pages -- "Oh! Now I need to make a new cup of tea!" And so on.

I did get better at shutting out these wandering thoughts as the day wore on and this book moved closer to its conclusion. I was supremely satisfied when I reached the end, yet I find I am struggling to articulate the reasons why. Every attempt at summary seems a gross over-simplification to my mind. Though I do feel compelled to list some of the themes it touches on -- retirement, death, power, ambition, reckoning...

Suffice it to say, it is a tragedy that this book was out of print for 40 years, and I cheer Neversink for bringing it back. This book is wonderful. I plan to read it again, perhaps many times, later in life.