IF you are any bit like me, you’ll find yourself frequently complaining that you don’t get to read like you used to.

I was once a voracious reader, a shameless glutton for the written word; anything from sex to Shakespeare and between. These days, I largely read to survive. I have to know what’s in the news out of necessity. But there’s still nothing like a good book. And I have to be waiting for vacation time to complete one. Woe is me, for I am undone!

So this week, I am thinking of those few journalists who still read and will share with you a list of books that colleagues have put on the list serve of the regional Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM). Don’t take it as exhaustive. It’s obviously not. But you should find something that could take you through the summer. By the way, the views of the various authors are not necessarily those of The Spike:

. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney

. The World is What it is – The Authorised Biography of V S Naipaul by Patrick French

. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

. A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet by Christopher Callahan and Leslie-Jean Thornton

. Urbane revolutionary by CLR James

. The Struggle for a New Society by Frank Rosengarten

. Negro With a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey by Colin Grant

. Investigative Journalism: Proven Strategies for Reporting the Story by William C Gaines

. Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat

. Fidel and Che: A Revolutionary Friendship by Simon Reid-Henry

. Covering Globalisation: A Handbook for Reporters by (Eds) Anya Schiffrin and Amer Bisat

. The ACM Elections Handbook for Caribbean Journalists

. Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen and Harry Lewis

. Confessions of a Muckraker by Jack Anderson, with James Boyd

. The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler

. Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet by Christine L Borgman

. Backroom Politics by Bill and Nancy Boyarsky

. The Corpse Had A Familiar Face by Edna Buchanan

. On Being Certain by Robert Burton

. The Death of Discourse by Ronald K L Collins and David M Skover

. The Muckrakers by Fred J Cook

. A Century of Spin: How Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate Power by William Dinan and David Millar

. The Titan by Theodore Dreiser

. The Investigative Journalist by James Dygert

. The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

. The Powers That Be by David Halberstam

. Untended Gates: The Mismanaged Press by Norman Isaacs

. The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby

. There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz

. The Political Economy of Media by Robert McChesney

. Poison Penmanship by Jessica Mitford

. Field of Blood, The Dead Hour, and Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina

. Investigative Reporting: From Courthouse to White House by Clark R Mollenhoff

. Corpocracy by Robert Monks

. A Matter of Opinion by Victor S Navasky

. The Eliminationists by David Neiwert

. The Orwell Reader: Fiction, Essays, And Reportage by George Orwell

. The How and the Why by David Park

. Scandals, Scamps and Scoundrels by James Phelan

. Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

. 24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America by Rebecca Smith and John R Emshwiller

. The Rum Diary by Hunter S Thompson

. Be the Media by Various authors

. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

. Strangers to Ourselves by Timothy Wilson

. All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

. The Future of the Internet -And How to Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain Chris Zacca, Ingrid Card in the departure lounge

The Observer is bidding goodbye to two of its top associates, Chris Zacca, deputy chairman and Ingrid Card, marketing and communications manager. Zacca, a bright and affable man, who is the immediate past president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), is leaving the ATL Group after 18 years, to pursue business interests. Best wishes, Chris.

Card, a sharp-thinking marketing and communication executive, who has worked in hospitality, public relations and sales, including a stint at the Marriott in Orlando, Florida, spent time at CVM-TV before joining the Observer. She has been snapped up by the Sagicor Group as marketing and communications manager. Best wishes, Ingrid.

Earth Journalism Awards

Applications are being accepted for the Climate Change Adaptation Award, which is part of the Internews Earth Journalism Awards to be held during the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations. The focus of the winning story can be on any scale, from the personal level to communities, cities, countries, regions or even globally. For more information and to apply for the award visit: awards.earthjournalism.org/content/climate-change-adaptation-award.

The deadline for all submissions is September 7, 2009.