In case you got the impression Rob Bell is all business all the time, several colleagues wanted to make sure we know another side of Bell, the quick-witted guy who quotes Caddyshack and “Bad to the Bone” rocker George Thorogood. Del. Bill Janis, who sits beside Bell during House sessions, notes that Bell likes Thai food, and that his Spanish is so good that “he could pass but for the fact that he looks like an albino Viking.”
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“He’s hilarious, he’ll have me in stitches on the House floor,” says Janis, “but I can’t repeat any of that for the newspaper.”
Bell and his wife, Jessica, watch a fair amount of DVDs, but during the General Assembly, Bell has to spend the week in Richmond, only returning to see his wife and 5-year-old son on the weekends. Especially during session, Bell is a reader, and he always tries to have a serious book and a fun book—often a thriller. “I really was sad that the guy who owned [the bookstore] Play It Again, Sam passed away, because I would routinely go in and say, ‘What do you got that’s like Elmore Leonard but set in the Northeast?’” “Wire” fans should note he keeps up with the show, as well as David Simon’s oeuvre.
Here’s what he’s read since Christmas.
Homicide, Life on the Streets, David Simon
The Corner, David Simon
Killshot, Elmore Leonard
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson
God’s Crucible, David Lewis (still reading)
