What 2006 holds

Things I’m looking forward to in 2006:

Making a concerted effort to read the books on my shelves instead of rushing to the library or the bookstore in search of the newest, freshest, titles.

The Berkeley Public Library Foundation dinner with authors. Fine dining in the historic main library with an amazing array of writers. This year’s line up includes Mary Roach, Deborah Santana, Mark Danner, Yiyun Li, and others. Who could ask for more? February 11.

The one-year anniversary of Ghost Word.

Money, A Memoir: Women, Emotions, and Cash by Liz Perle. Henry Holt & Co., January. This got a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly which called it a
“remarkable sociological study-cum-memoir” on women’s relationships to money. I know Liz and she has a heartbreaking and instructive tale to tell. She’s very funny, too.

Michael Pollan’s new book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Penguin, April. He’s also talking at San Francisco’s City Arts and Lectures and I’ve already got tickets. Pollan is urbane, sophisticated and very interesting to listen to.

New York Times Middle East Correspondent Neil MacFarquhar’s debut novel, The Sand Café, an alternating aggravating and funny account of how the media rolled over for the government during the first Gulf War. They rolled around a lot with one another, too. (April, Public Affairs)

The 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. April 18, 1906. The books about the event have already come out. Now prepare yourselves for the documentaries, news commentaries, conferences, lectures and walking tours. This is the kind of thing the historian lurking inside me cannot resist.

Finishing my own book, Towers if Gold: Isaias Hellman and the Creation of California. May.

A new season of Deadwood on HBO. I guess I’m excited about The Sopranos, too.

A writer out there who I have never heard of, and whom I will never forget.

That takes me mid-year. Can’t look ahead any further than that.

Happy New Year!