Born to read

I've never been a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. I've always enjoyed his music, and bought or listened to almost all of it -- first in vinyl, then CDs, then MP3s and now on Spotify. Even created a playlist or two. But I've only been to one of The Boss's concerts, and even that was as part of a charity fund-raiser.

Yet, for some reason, I really wanted to read "Born to Run," his autobiography. I asked for it as a Christmas present and Santa (my wife) wrapped it and presented it under the tree.

I am very much enjoying a few days of vacation now and just started reading it.

"You know," I remarked to said Santa after reading all of nine pages, "this guy can really write."

She gave me a look that said, "Ya think?"

Right.

I'm sure there will be many moments like this through 508 pages, but this riff at the end of Chapter One had me cheer and read it out loud:

Here we live in the shadow of the steeple, where the holy rubber meets the road, all crookedly blessed in God's mercy, in the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, race-riot-creating, oddball-hating, soul-shaking, love-and-far-making, heartbreaking town of Freehold, New Jersey.

Let the service begin.

And let the people respond: Amen!