Summer Reading - Stephen Colbert

It used to be that this time of year would bring plenty of references to what to read at the beach or something along those lines.  I haven't seen as much of it this year which is fine because I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to those list anyway figuring they were just paid advertisements in most cases.

Instead I would look for and spend my time on whatever caught my fancy.  This is generally bad for my wallet when I come in close proximity to a bookstore as many things catch my fancy...and the basement is full of boxes of books that didn't retain my fancy...don't tell my wife because most of them still catch my fancy just not at the moment...I am going to read them, I promise...just don't make me come up with a deadline.  Besides, I have learned how to flatten my borrowing card from the library instead of flattening my credit card at the bookstore.

Anyway, I am still reading like crazy and have covered a lot of different topics in a lot of different genres from a lot of different books.  Some are worth the time and effort and many are not.  I think time and experience helps immensely when it comes time to decide your reading material by judging a book by it's cover.

I got sucked in though by Stephen Colbert's 'America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't' book.  I didn't actually read this one, I got the audio book version and made him read it to me.  As this one came out in October 2012 you can tell I am not hung up on having the latest and greatest but I would like to have the greatest.  This one is sadly far from the mark.

I have enjoyed Stephen Colbert's sense of humor for quite some time now and although I don't always agree with his politics (come on people, you have to realize by now that his show is a caricature of a conservative talk show not the real thing) you could still see and appreciate the humor in what he did.  Unfortunately as the show went on he would resort to more crude and vulgar humor.  This book follows that format.

There are some good points made some of which provoke thought but then the low brow stuff is injected and you can't increase the play speed fast enough to get to the next section hoping for better.  Thankfully it is a short book.

Which leads me to wonder what Stephen Colbert will be like as the replacement for David Letterman.  It has been said that he will drop the current character he plays on his show.  Does that mean he will now have a pronounceable "T" on the end of his name?  Since it is Letterman's production company, I am sure he had say in the selection, did David pick Stephen because his politics are more closely aligned and how close will the marching orders be to keep it that way?

You can never replace what you once had and I for one do not believe you should try to.  It is like trying to do a remake of the Three Stooges, it will never match the original so don't bother.  Instead search for the new originality in the same genre and if there is enough love it just might stick.  These two are very smart and talented people who should be able to figure it out as long as they don't egos and self importance get in the way.  Right now I am giving them a 40% chance.  What they do is not easy and lately they have been slacking off a bit but I am willing to give them a shot.  How about you?

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.