The books were there for the reading as I grew up, even spending many nights at home away from home, where the books were in their seried ranks on the book shelves in the back room. They were all over the house to be honest but still the back room resonated with the awesome power of bookness. The shelves were filled with books for boys since they dominated that place long ago. I'm not sure what my mother read growing up there but I suspect The Chestry Oak was one such. War, pilots, submarines, it was all there for the taking. Not the bitter glory stuff, that was for later. We didn't read Leon Uris until we were in the 3rd grade and Exodus was a book one didn't put down.
I currently have them all. The ones I need to read. Lee's Lieutenants and the hundred other books that made up the professional reading of a West Point man prepping to fight the Cold War even as the Korean War raged around him.
One could learn so much from reading history. I'm surprised nobody does it anymore.
5 comments:
My library is about 500 volumes of printed material, approx 10,000 e-books. Some are for pleasure, some left over from my days in the Corps. Of the 500 printed, I have read approx 75% of them. As far as e-books, my Kindle is a constant companion and hard telling how many...but many.
Love history, love biographies.
I am constantly saddened by the lack of interest in history. Or the perversion of historical facts to meet some agenda.
Graduated in '74 with a History Degree. I read recently history majors are down to 3% from 15% in my day. I am currently ready a book on Irish history, a bio of Walt Whitman and a survey of WWII of over 500 pages. Never get tired of it.
There is a tv in most rooms. The only time it gets turned on is when want to watch something on netflix or prime. I still retreat to a quiet room where I can read and get sucked into a world an author has written. For some reason, I can't do that with another person in the room. A personal failing.
That said, I'm still willing to watch tv. I like Buffy, SG1 and Eureka. The books remain as they always have, like a frigae to take me worlds away.
wel, youknow typos it's still a frigate.
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