When the Fog Horn Blows, You Know I Will Be Coming Home

It's an odd juxtaposition of reading material, but tonight I finished At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA by George Tenet and began The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

So far the year of "Understanding America" through reading has gone quite well and looks something like this:

• The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam.
• The Walk West: A Walk Across America by Peter and Barbara Jenkins
• Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero by (my BFF) Jeff Pearlman
• The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How We Get It Back by Andrew Sullivan
• The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
• The Eiger Obsession: Facing the Mountain that Killed My Father by John Harlin III
• Empire Falls by Richard Russo
• The Fifties by David Halberstam
• At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA by George Tenet
• Blood of the Liberals by George Packer
• Democracy in America by Alexis DeTocqueville
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

I regret to inform you that I have not arrived at anything approaching an epiphany regarding the nature of America and what makes this nation tick, but I can tell you this: I'm enjoying the journey.