Do You Know Any Big Magazine Readers?

A good friend of mine, we'll call him Frank, does a lot of reading, only he doesn't read all that many books. In fact, I doubt if he's cracked one open since we graduated from high school together. That might be an exaggeration. I'm sure Frank has read from the Bible, and he probably keeps a few books around at home. Most of his reading is done from the magazines he subscribes to, and I know this because he then passes some of them on to me. I don't read his Popular Mechanics because I can barely hammer a nail straight. I used to change my own oil, and I took a great deal of mechanical pride in it. But Frank would just roll his eyes and shake his head at me.

Frank also enjoys reading Smithsonian Magazine which I also like browsing through during my slow times. I believe he must read every word printed in SM. He's always telling me all about the articles he's read. Of course if he's already given me the good parts (we'd call that a "spoiler"), then I might feel less inclined to read the articles for myself. I think at one time he also took Field & Stream, but I haven't seen that magazine of late whenever I go visit him. At a different time, he was into organic farming and pored over those type of journals for planting tips and ideas.

I used to leaf through the well-thumbed magazines while I was hanging out in my doctor or dentist's waiting room. Nowadays I usually take in my Kindle with me. I recently told Frank that his favorite magazines are probably now available in digital format, but he scoffed. He's too old school to update his reading habits. Maybe he likes the crisp, crinkly feel to the paper between his fingers. He knows I'm a writer who has written published some novels, but he's never tried to read one, and I'm fine with that. We'll just talk about what he's read in the magazines because it's all interesting stuff to me.