"And the world whistled in his ears."

If you need me, I'll be reading essays the rest of the summer.

Yesterday my copy of The Best American Essays of the Century arrived. I read the first two last night after work—"Corn-pone Opinions," by Mark Twain, and "Of the Coming of John," by W.E.B. DuBois.

Wow. I read the DuBois one in college when we read The Souls of Black Folk, but I don't remember it knocking me out the way it did last night. I read the final sentence again and again: "And the world whistled in his ears."

It's almost too much! Mark Twain. Bam. DuBois. BAM. Both essays are so good I just had to force myself to stop afterward and go to sleep. I had been planning to write, but I can't follow that act.

Quit reading this silly blog and go read those essays!