Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 29, 2019

Its title: “How To Fall Asleep In Three Easy Steps”.

“Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader” or similar collections of 1- to 4-page lightweight fluff. I always have a couple in the car for waiting in lines, DMV, etc.

He looks so peaceful… you can have him buried with it.

If the writing is good and the characters relatable, I like to take my time to enjoy the author’s artistry.

Arlo belongs to the Book of The Decade Club.

Reminds me of: “Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years.”

I fall asleep just thinking about reading. It saves waking up with a book on my face.

I used to have a book like that on my nightstand. I don’t think I ever got past page six but it was sure to put me to sleep and that’s what I wanted.

Must be reading Hamlet. “to sleep, perchance to dream”.

My memory is getting so bad I have to keep starting over.

I tried to read Anna Karenina. Great opening paragraph, downhill from there.

That’s me when I was trying to get through Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I couldn’t finish three pages without falling asleep. My mistake was trying to read in bed.

Well, he get distracted a lot.

I used to keep a copy of ‘Oliver Twist’ by my bed, until I lost it in a move. Any time I had trouble sleeping, I’d pick it up, start reading, and fall asleep. I never got past the second page, and only got that far once.

Dickens was paid by the word.

I need a new copy, I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.

I have a copy of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by my side of the bed. I have read it through more times than I can remember, but it’s still a favorite and will put me down about four pages in. I can open it anywhere.

I can’t read at bedtime either. Puts me right to sleep.

I have that book, and it is a sovereign cure for insomnia.

At my age, I only have one novel. I re-read it every two weeks and it’s like brand new…

OK, in the last panel, Janis is getting an angry look and Arlo just rolled over and is giving Janis the cold shoulder.

The book is “Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust, and he’s moving right along – already well into Volume 7.

Audiobooks! Listen in the car and when cooking.

It’s either the book or a dose of Ambien.

She should feel flattered. She helps to make him so secure and happy that he is able to sleep soundly, a feat that many Boomers cannot achieve.

A sure cure for insomnia.

It is good for what he does with it.

…but not necessarily for the first time.

I read ‘Encyclopedia of South Carolina’ over lunch for a couple of years.