I was at a Waffle House in Knoxville, TN. I not proud of it, but it was late and I was hungry. So, I am sitting there with a book and the waitress comes up to me, (snapping her gum) and says, "whatja reading for?" I said, "well I've never been asked that. I think you stumped me. I suppose I read for a lot of reasons, but probably the main reason is so that I don't become some waffle waitress." Then the trucker in the next booth goes, "looks like we got a reader here." - Bill Hicks

NEWSPAPERS

My two favorite papers are the Washington Post and the New York Times. My parents get both of them delievered, so when I am at home, I get hard copy editions. While in State College, I can get the hard copy eiditon of the Times out of the dorms. I also take the time to read Penn State's daily paper, The Collegian, as well as State College's Centre Daily Times. I regularly read weekly/monthly tabloids like Voices of Central Pennsylvania, CityPaper (D.C.), Vienna Times, Sun Gazette, and others.

MAGAZINES

I do not actually read many magazines regularly. I really should subscribe to Wired, I will get to work on that. I did subsribe to Brill's Cotent, but I have not renewed my subscription. I was happy with the direction it was taking, going from a critical look at the media to stories about the morning network anchors. It is too bad that it happened. I also will look through Rolling Stone, but that magazine ain't what it used to be.

ONLINE

Now here is where most of my reading occurs, as my poor eyes will tell you. I regularly read Salon Magazine, which usually has one or two interesting stories everyday. Also, I make sure Suck.com is visited everyday, for its hilarious humor and very insightful look at the goings on in the world. My favorite piece in Suck was "How to Judge a Man by His CD Collection." Just for the record, I don't any of those CD's.

The Onion, which I read online, but is also availible in hard copy, is making the world safe for satire. I love it, they writers and editors skillfully lampoon everything with biting satire and more than just shock value (there is a lot of that though : ) ). I also love their book, Our Dumb Century, which is a look back over major events in the 20th Century as reported by The Onion. It is a bestseller, and I can not say that I am surprised.

BOOKS

Lots of my reading lately has centered around Nixon and Watergate. It just kind of happened. All the Presidents Men is one of my favorites and I read the follow-up, The Final Days at the beach this summer as well as Jimmy Breslin's How the Good Guys Finally Won. Since I read a lot of Hunter S. Thompson, Nixon comes up often too. I think I have read three volumes of the Gonzo Papers, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Better Than Sex. His warped perspective (which is aided by lots of scary, scary chemicals) is very funny and when he is serious (roughly half of his articles and 30% of his books) he says something meaningful.

Continuing with new journalism, I like Tom Wolfe as well. The Right Stuff was a fantastic book, which I can not praise enough. I have been reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test off and on, but I have not gotten into it like I did with The Right Stuff.

George Orwell's 1984 was an incredible novel, which I read in Summer 1997. That gave me a whole new perspective on things and I am so glad I read it right before my Media Studies cirriculum started. I also read Animal Farm, I think during intersession in 1998, but it was not as good.

Travels With Charley was a great book, I wish I owned a copy. I have also read about half of The Grapes of Wrath, but I lost it on a Metro train and have not replaced it. I need to get a copy of it again.

That's about all I'm going to put up now, but I will include more later.