Today is the 71st birthday of Hungarian author Peter Nadas, who wrote the extremely long and extremely well-loved book Parallel Stories. It was the best book I didn’t read in 2011. Same for 2012 and almost certainly 2013 as well.

If, like me, you are totally planning to someday get around to reading it, perhaps today is the day.

This was also the day in 1322 that Robert the Bruce won a decisive battle against England, forcing King Edward II to recognize Scottish independence. So you if you are looking for a different long but relevant project for today, you can just watch “Braveheart.”

– Michael Moats