I think was my introduction to Loren Eiseley. I was working at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and managed to return quite a bit of my paycheck to them via their well-stocked bookstore.
One particular idea of his has stuck with me. Searching for a meaning for human beings in the world, he struck upon memory. We are the memory of the Earth, he said. We are here to record, to bear witness. Read more about Eiseley
It's a mystery to me (and a large reading public) why Caleb Carr has not followed up on his two wonderful novels (1994) and (1997). Maybe it's because the two more recent novels, and were so badly received. Nevertheless ... Read more about Caleb Carr
Full disclosure. I haven't read these. Or not very many anyway. But they are all on my list of books to read. Someday. If there's time.
- I have read this. Bought it at the Old Manse in Concord, very near the
rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
It doesn't cover Washington's presidency, but you get an idea of who he was and of how very close we came to losing that war. Read more about Dead Presidents
I must have been all of 12 or 13 when I first picked up my mother's copy of Sigurd F. Olson's and it has stayed with me ever since. Literally. I spotted that same old ratty copy on the bookshelf a couple of days ago.
Even now the chapter headings ring familiar bells, and I am almost back in my early teens, dreaming of canoes and long tramps in the north woods and magical encounters. The Way of a Canoe, Easter on the Prairie, Pools of the Isabella, Farewell to Saganaga. Read more about The Singing Wilderness
200 years old today! How's it feel? Is there an afterlife? Did you catch any of the movies? Masterpiece Theatre? Who is your favorite Scrooge? Doncha just love Gillian Anderson? and ! I wonder if she has found her ouvre. Read more about Happy Birthday, Charlie!
Saul David Alinsky. I knew the man. Slightly, it must be said - no long lunches or chats over cocktails and dinner, no strolls along Woodlawn Avenue, no meeting of minds during philosophical discussions.
Nothing of the sort. Still, I knew him. Read more about Alinsky
I haven't read nearly enough Garry Wills.
He's a rare breed, a conservative Catholic who has come slowly and thoughtfully into the light. It is his thoughtfulness that attracts me, his curiosity about how and why people and things come to be as they are, his probing search for understanding. Read more about Garry Wills
I actually wasn't a very good mother. I didn't bake cookies. Very often. Birthday parties terrified me. The first time I tried to play "horsie" with my son - you know, when he climbs on your back and you gallop around the room on all fours? - almost 70 years later my knees still remember the pain.
But I always liked to read. So I read to them. Here's one I liked to read on the first snow day of every year: .
I don't remember when I lost my love of Westerns. Growing up, I loved them. My first love was Tonto in The Lone Ranger. I was a tree-climber, and the tallest branch I could reach, the one that galloped and bucked in the wind, I called Silver. Nevermind that Tonto's horse was named Scout. That iconic silver horse rearing to the tune of the William Tell Overture was mine too. Read more about Westerns
Ah, yes. Travel plans. I don't have any yet this year. But I do have the next best thing. Travel books.
I've been lucky enough to have been able to do a bit of traveling over the past ten years or so, but Rick Steves would probably have me drummed out of any travel group of his based on the weight of my luggage alone. Oh, it's not that I pack an undue change of outfits and my toiletry kit is fairly minimal. No - and you are all way ahead of me on this one - that "Heavy" sticker on my luggage should actually read "Warning: Book Store on Wheels." Read more about Travel Plans
