Mike Walter's Book Bag for Downtime Reading

If you find yourself bored to tears during this time of voluntary self-quarantining and you have no events on the schedule till God-knows-when, I want to offer a novel suggestion (pun intended): Read a book! There’s only so much TV you can binge-watch before your brain turns to mush so download something onto your Kindle and try reading.

Here are a few of my suggestions:

Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40 Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones: I read plenty of books about bands, artists, record labels and music genres and this is probably my favorite. It is the only book I’ve ever read and then immediately re-read. When I got to the end I loved it so much I just started it all over again. I was already a big Rolling Stones fan before reading this book but now I know so much more about them and their history. Music journalist Stephen Davis tells this story so incredibly well that you’ll find yourself pausing often to go listen to a song or watch a video that you’ve just read about.

Gone Girl I vividly remember the moment when I was reading this on the couch while my wife was watching TV and when I got to the huge plot twist in the book I let out an audible “No Way!” My wife was like, “Wow that must be a good book.” And it really is. If you’ve seen the movie you won’t be as surprised by that moment, but I still recommend it. It’s hard to find thrilling books that are also well written and I think Gillian Flynn accomplished that with this best-seller.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir of the Creator of Nike I loved this book because Phil Knight not only tells the fascinating story of creating Nike but he throws in so many of the places he’s traveled in his life and the significance of those journeys so it wasn’t just a straight business book.

Where the Crawdads Sing My favorite novel of 2019. I remember finishing this book and shedding a little tear, not because it was a sad ending but because I was going to miss hanging out with Kyas, the protagonist of the book. Her story of struggles throughout her life was so well written by Delia Owens I just never wanted the novel to end.

The Power of Now I don’t read a lot of motivational or self-help books and I certainly don’t buy into a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo, but certain parts of this book have stayed with me ever since I read it. I used to be much more impatient and get frustrated when things didn’t go exactly how I wanted them when I wanted them. But some of the lessons Echkart Tolle imparts literally changed my thinking.

On This Date In Music How could I not include the book I published last year? There are 366 essays in this book, one for every day of the year, about something that happened on that date in the world of music. I didn’t write it specifically for DJs, but rather, for any music lover. But what DJ isn’t a music lover, right?

Prince aficionado and owner of Elite Entertainment in Tinton Falls NJ, Mike Walter’s multi-op employs 20 MCs and runs more than 1,000 events annually. For more advice on running your multi-op check out his advice on how to pay your DJs.

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