Reading right at hand

A title of a book on my shelves jumped out at me the other day. This is what it was, “Hey, didn’t you used to be John Dawe?” I’d seen it before, of course, I bought the book from the author. And I’d been impressed with the his candid nature and lack of conceit.
For those of you who don’t know Dawe, let me give you a history lesson. A popular broadcaster in Montreal, Dawe and his wife Shirley moved to Toronto where John worked in the airline industry before jumping into broadcasting at Global Television followed by news anchor at CBC’s Newsworld.
I’ve got two walls of books so Dawe’s reflections are in good company. There is, for example, my first book, The Moneyspinners, about Canadian banks and bankers, published in 1983. It seemed to me like a memorable title for a book, but while I was on the cross-Canada book flog, the title all too often came out of the mouths of interviewers as The Moneyspenders. I wonder how many listeners tried, and failed, to buy that book.
After that, I tried to keep things simple by having the main subject as part of the title. For example, the Eatons, Manulife, BlackBerry. You get the idea. And if I was on tour doing a five-minute interview on a Saskatoon station, for example, I’d try to say the title once every minute. If you’re flogging, you might as well just flog!
Other titles by other authors on my shelves are equally interesting. Bread Men, about the Weston food empire, by Charles Davies. Or, how about Towers of Gold, Feet of Clay, by Walter Stewart, about Canadian banks and bankers. If you recall the obstreperous nature of Stewart, you’ll be able to predict his views on bankers. 
From time to time I read a book online but I don’t find it as satisfying. I’m currently reading one of President Lyndon Johnson’s four volumes on my iPad. It’s convenient and readily portable, but somehow not as compelling as holding the real thing. Another American book I’ve just read was Ben Bradlee’s A Good Life about his time overseeing coverage of Watergate as editor of the Washington Post.
Canadian stories ready for reading include Quick to the Frontier, about Royal Bank. Also on my bedside table is How the Scots Invented the Modern World, by Arthur Herman (for the second time). My heritage deserves no less.