While watching "The Bachelor" finale last night (Vienna? Really?), I finished Deaf Sentence by David Lodge. I often read while the television is on. I read with music playing. Shoot, I could probably read sitting in the front row of a rock concert. At least if it were an older band there would be enough light for reading from all the lighters. Do you still raise lighters at concerts? Crud, I'm getting old. In any case, I suppose you could say that I more than kind of like reading.

Deaf Sentence is an interesting book, the story of a retired linguistics professor who has developed high frequency deafness, which allows him to hear and comprehend most consonants but very few vowel sounds. It follows him through several everyday seasons of life: the birth of a grandchild, the death of a parent, the challenges of marriage, all seen through the lens of his increasing deafness. The plot line itself is not extraordinary. What would prod me to recommend this book, however, is the intelligent, gentle, vulnerable and real voice of the protagonist, Desmond. I bet Desmond could read at a rock concert. He's deaf. He wouldn't be distracted by the noise.