Wheel Of Time Reading Retreat

Cover of Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time)

Some sports fans negotiate with their spouses for spans of time when they can indulge their obsession unfettered, immersing themselves completely and blotting out anything else.  I was never a sports fan, and my wife was never a "football widow".  But I can get just as intense about my geeky pursuits.  In this spirit, I proposed the idea of a "reading retreat" to my friend Jon, anticipating the November 2nd release of Towers Of Midnight, by Brandon Sanderson (channeling the late Robert Jordan), the penultimate book in The Wheel Of Time fantasy epic.

Our wives do not read the books, and we would be poor company for the days and nights as we read, dissected and attempted to discuss the book.  Much better, I told Jon, if we were to leave them in peace and meet in a city somewhere between Chicago and Seattle where we could read and discuss to the exclusion of everything else, for two solid days and nights.

The day Brandon Sanderson tweeted that he had completed his final draft, we set our plans in motion, booking cheap tickets to Denver via Southwest and four-star downtown hotel accommodations for $80 a night via Priceline.  Our plan is to read the book lock-step, chapter-by-chapter, and blog our discussion on this very site.  We're still searching for downtown Denver restaurants with Wi-Fi, from which we can eat, read and blog.  I have my Barnes & Noble nook loaded with the reference materials we'll need to check our facts.

November approaches.  Sports fans, I finally get it.