I’ve been reading up on Washington D.C., browsing blogs for interesting places, checking news sites, and searching for weekend events. The latter led me to the Washingtonian, online and in print. It’s a great magazine for restaurant ratings and other guides for the newcomer, with lengthy profiles and features for the resident already immersed in the ways of D.C. In other words, you might find a Washingtonian reader walking down the escalator on the left or obliviously standing there, absorbed in its pages.
As the July issue explains, the true Washingtonian might not even need to read the full article to absorb the information. The trend is the Washington Read, “by which, through a form of intellectual osmosis, a book is absorbed into the Washington atmosphere.” Even if no one has thoroughly read the book, it’s talked about enough that it becomes part of the culture. That is one of the reasons why I so glad to find a book club here. It holds be accountable to read some of the books that I’ve been meaning to read, and it gives me a way to talk about them.
Hiking Mountains from the Metro 