Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Packing Heat

All booklovers know the great drama that is packing books for a trip. Knowing which to choose is an art and not a science since it requires an openness to serendipty and grace that is somewhat beyond our control. Nevertheless, I try to approach it with some organization.

The "four food groups" of my vactional reading include: fiction, history/biography, spiritual, and baseball. Or, to switch metaphors and stretch the analogy, they are the four major conferences whose champions will receive an automatic bid into my suitcase.

The rulz say: I will take the top three finishers in each conference except baseball, which is given only one automatic bid. All other books have to precariously rely on an "at large" bid, which is dependent in part by their physical size, their suitability for beach reading, and of course desirability.

I already know some of the automatic bid winners:

Fiction: "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens; "Sanibel Flats" by Randy Wayne White
History/Bio: Rothman's "Early Bird", Douthat's "Privilege"
Spritual: Nash's "Worthy is the Lamb", "Blessed Margaret of Castello" by Fr. Bonniwell
Baseball: "The Old Ball Game" by Frank Deford. (There is usually very little competition in this category; only Jack McKeon's "I'm Just Getting Started" this time.)

Here are just a few of the hundred books who are battling for either third place in one of the conferences or for an at large bid:

Kevin O'Hara's "Last of the Donkey Pilgrims"

Joseph Pearce's "Literary Giants, Literary Catholics"

Waugh's "Helena"

WFB's "Miles Gone By"

Kreeft's "The God Who Loves You"

Naipul's "The Writer and the World"

Russell Kirk's "Ancestral Shadows"

The total number of at large bids varies depending on length of vacation, size of suitcase, and size of the "at large" books. Just going on the trip doesn't guarantee anything of course. Of all those receiving suitcase bids typically only three will become favorites during the week and one actually finished. Last year's ultimate winner was Joseph Pearce's biography of Oscar Wilde, which wasn't suprising in hindsight given that it contained a mix of poetry, history and spirituality - nourishing enough to contain all the major food groups except baseball. This is akin to a team having a great guy in the middle, an excellent ballhandler and a great outside shooter.