I read too much, I guess it’s the curse of being an editor.

I get my weekly New Yorker Magazine. I read the New York Times (I love the subsection of sports called The Athletic), I read The Chronicle out of Lewis County partly because I worked there for about two decades, I read the Olympian and the Chinook Observer and the Peninsula Daily News as part of my scrounging around for regional news for The Daily World. I read the Seattle Times both for pleasure and for work.

I used to read a lot of books, but just haven’t seemed to find the time the past couple of years. That is, until the Fourth of July weekend.

I live in Ocean Shores, and as an example of how much I’ve changed, how old and curmudgeonly I am now, I no longer get the fireworks kick I got as a boy and deep into my adulthood. I no longer even purchase fireworks.

So, on that crazy weekend in Ocean Shores, I got the heck out of Dodge for a few days, only to come back after the sunset. I went north toward Seabrook each day, which is one of my favorite drives, with my best buddy, my eight-month-old blond female lab retriever Billy. I have found a private stretch of beach up north along state Route 109.

I was out of Internet range, had read my magazine, and was about to sit in a chair in the sand for about four hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What to do?

Then I remembered I was sent a book to review back in October of 2023. I had attempted to take it home, but it ended up under the back seat of my truck for the past nine months. The title just didn’t catch me. It is called “Radio Free Olympia,” from the author Jeffrey Dunn.

After a few strolls through the waves of the Pacific, I sat down in my chair with the book, the dog at my side busy digging holes to nowhere in the sand. She really gets into it, so I had the peace of mind to know she was fine and I could relax with the book. I hoped it was decent.

I opened the book and found a note from the author Jeffrey Dunn, who taught English literature in the Spokane area, before relocating to the Olympic Peninsula.

He wrote in his pitch for a book review, “It’s also significant with local NEWS. Early Aberdeen makes an appearance, and reviewers tell me they must visit after reading. … Just writing this note feels like home. Jeffrey Dunn.”

That sounded like a bust of a book, interesting only because of the Aberdeen connection. Then I read in the press release, also stuffed into the book, it deals with a wild, feral boy growing up in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula coast, how he finds his way to Aberdeen at age 17, found a job at a local saw mill in 1980, and includes a visit to some wild women living along the Humptulips River in Grays Harbor County.

The boy finds his way to Hood Canal with a radio transmitter setup, and the Dosewallips River, with a hike to Mount Anderson. His plan was to broadcast subversive commentary from the top of the Olympics, hopefully reaching all the way to Seattle.

When I was 10 years old I took a hike up the Dosewallips with my family one summer, with a side trip to, you guessed it, Mount Anderson, where I started my fascination with crystals that back then were plenty at the base of a glacier.

Imagine my delight. The book also has a narrative from Raven, one of my favorite animals.

I have been pleasantly surprised by this book. It is extremely well written, full of surprises and depth, even some poetry (which is not my favorite part of literature). It is spiritual and a bit anti-authoritarian, mixed with backwoods knowledge of the most rustic kind, and even some swear words and plucky fairies.

I’m only through about 40% of the book, but it’s only been a week.

So, without even finishing the book, if you like to read, and if you are from the area, I highly encourage picking up “Radio Free Olympia,” despite the title. I bet you can order it from Harbor Books in Hoquiam.

I hope I continue reading such books. My next pursuit, and I am in anticipation, is former The Daily World publisher and editor (and a true gentleman) John C. Hughes’ book “Lightning Boldt,” the story of the Fish Wars and how Native Americans earned the right to fish and hunt off their lands.

Michael Wagar is editor of The Daily News and can be reached at 360-269-7979 and michael.wagar@thedailyworld.com.