Thanks for Books

There will be a lot of thanks given for the love of family, friends, food, and warm, dry shelter and I, too am thankful for those things. But I am also very thankful for books; for words that writers have put together on a string so that I may enjoy, learn and expand my field of compassion and understanding. I’m especially thankful for modern medical technology and medicine that has given me sight from Macular Degeneration Wet, when as recently as fifteen years ago, I would have had darkness.

I’ve just finished reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s the true story of Louie Zamperini, his unruly youth that led him to be a record-setting runner before joining up to fight in the Pacific in World War II. The story includes how he was adrift in the Pacific Ocean before being picked up by the Japanese and sent to POW camps. It also follows one particularly brutal war criminal Watanabe, after the war ended. As in Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand does a fine job of stringing her words together.

We, as Americans have much to be thankful for.

Readers & Writers

Books without readers would be useless. Which means that readers are just as important as writers. Yes, some writers make lots of money but most writers, I think, write because the words and thoughts are within them, bursting to get out. Writing in a journal can later recall a memory possibly forgotten; to write can be healing; to write and be read is very gratifying; to write and be remembered is a star to reach for.

Books shared stretch the written word to places they may not have gone. Now that I’ve learned about Bookcrossing.com, I’m spreading the written word around. My first book about pets, has gone to Texas and then to Florida. This week I’m sending one to the Cook Islands in the Pacific. Wow. Check the program out at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/about

BookCrossing

Examining each book as it came into my bookshop and before it went onto the shelf was part of my daily routine. I was always delighted to come across an inscription inside a book and surprised when some of the locations it came from were half way across country or further. So I was especially pleased when my writing friend Jyoti Wind sent me the web address of an article Pulp In The Wild: The BookCrossing Edition by Laura K. Curtis.
BookCrossing is the official/tracking way of leaving a book for someone to pick up, read and pass along. It’s your choice of book, your choice of where to leave it and fate for whoever picks it up. This is almost like playing hide and seek as a child. Such fun. For all the hows and whys and wherefores, check out the website at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/howto.

More About Books

Also I love history. Not the dry, flaky history that used to be taught in high school although I loved history even then. But the history with real people showing particular strengths and weaknesses that I can identify with. Events that happened always had reasons. Like the mystery stories, who, what, where, when and why. Again I don’t need the play by play details of a battle fought and the individual result, i.e. bodies whacked to pieces, eyeballs hanging out, etc. Ugh.

But the inner workings of events, how they came about, the personalities of the key figures and their relationship to each other. Everyone has a story and the players in history had theirs. They are the ones who created the chronicle of their day. History wasn’t necessarily made by physical events but by individuals and their reactions to moments that happened to them. A slight? An embarrassment? An insult? A misunderstanding?

The personal is what brings history to life. The surface must be scratched to find the untold tales. After all it’s what our whole foundation is built on. Because it is a foundation we can learn from the mistakes of earlier leaders, rulers, and the average person who cared.

A Good Book

I love a mystery. A puzzle. A whodunit. Something that I can work along the lines with the author, trying to figure out who, what, where and most important, why. Challenge. But I want believable characters with common sense in settings I can visualize as everyday even if the story is set in Victorian times. Wealthy or not doesn’t make a difference. Gory details of a demented mind are not necessary to tell me when a body is dead. The author can state the weapon of choice but I don’t need a picture drawn for me. I can do that in my own imagination.

If I see the plot line and know the perpetrator of dark deeds early on, the joy is slain. No sense in finishing the story…unless it is a red herring with an unexpected twist. Ahh. The plot thickens.

Further, we are so fortunate to have more women writing novels of all genres today. This happening has all but eliminated the ‘dumb female’ character in stories. I used to choke on that depiction of a woman character, one who was running a household or holding down an intelligent job being portrayed as stupid. Ugh.

Of course even really good interesting mysteries aren’t always remembered. The authors are, particularly when they write many books and I can look for them by the author's name. The pleasure is simply in reading them. But the novels of the originator of the mystery novels Wilkie Collins and present-day novelist Sharyn McCrumb’s stories I remember. And also, of course, Agatha Christie’s.

January Lists

It is January and instead of making resolutions, I make lists. First I carry and update my lists from 2009 to 2010 files. Always when I do that, I find new lists must be made. One of the new lists is the Books on CD that I’ve read, well, listened to anyway. I first started keeping a list of the books I’ve read in my book discussion groups back in 1999 when the group met in my shop. The books reviewed for my Register-News column have always been kept on a separate list. That’s good for looking back and checking so I don’t review the same ones.

But this year for the first time since I have bought my first computer in the early 90s I am making a list of all the email addresses in my phone book. I’m trimming my sails, cutting out that $11.99 monthly AOL bill that I pay to keep my same email address even though my telephone service is Embarq. I hate to do this. It’s almost a feeling of disloyalty running through my system. And what if someone from way back when wants to contact me and I no longer answer to their email? Will they know how to get in touch? What horrors will I have to face with this change of address? Is this a life-changing thing that I plan to do?

Decisions, decisions are heavy weights indeed.

Books, People

In reading Bob Kelly’s Newsletter tribute to his friend Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, I came across this quote. You're the same today as you'll be five years from now except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read. At first I thought he meant going from romance/adventure books to more scholarly books. And he does stress reading biographies and history for healthy growth of mind. Then I realized that wasn’t the intention. How many books do we re-read? Well, all of Jane Austen’s. But other than those only a handful, yet I have a thousand sitting on my bookshelves. Each one cherished but not re-read. As for the people, I’m certain that we meet the exact people we need to meet; some to stay in our lives forever and some in passing, but indelible. Some, like the books, are “re-read” over and over never leaving the shelf or the hugs exchanged.

"The quote was taken from the November 2008 issue of THE
KELLYGRAM, and is used with permission." http://www.wordcrafters.info/newsletters.html

Quail Ridge Book Signing

One of the first things I noticed after settling into my new home were the notices in the N & O newspaper for the Quail Ridge Bookstore Guest Author appearances. It took awhile but I finally made it!

On Wednesday I drove an hour and a half to this last independent new book store in Raleigh to see Charles F. Price, author of “Nor the Battle to the Strong.” Stopping at Whole Foods located a couple doors up from the bookstore was a delightful idea for a bowl of great Beef Cabbage Soup coupled with Jalapeno Cornbread.

Allowing myself time to browse before the author arrived, I found lots of books stocked by North Carolina authors covering all sorts of subjects. The schedule of events shows author appearances and book signings several times a week, some nights have more than one writer featured. They do a fine job of promoting North Carolina writers!

“Nor the Battle to the Strong” brought me here because it’s about the Revolutionary War fought in the South. The points of view are from Rhode Island-born, Quaker-raised- General Nathaniel Greene and Scottish enlistee, run-a-way-indentured James Johnson. I’m just finishing up a manuscript that covers this same area but from the British point of view of Major Thomas Fraser of Bordentown fame. Naturally I just had-to-have this book and having it signed by the author is a bonus worth the trip to unfamiliar territory!
Check out their website at: www.quailridgebooks.com