My 12th-grade self would be appalled to learn one of my most closely guarded and damning confessions: I read very little fiction. These days, I instead help myself to a buffet of nonfiction, mostly essays with the occasional journal article. This would have bewildered the high school senior who once voraciously devoured novels like Their Eyes Were Watching God and Frankenstein. The change in my reading palate is not accidental. I enjoy constantly learning about what Thomas F