Books

I love to read. The first book I actually remember reading was in the 3rd or 4th grade at Grant School in Mpls. The book was the telling of the story of King Arthur and His Knights Of The Round Table. It left such an impression on me that to this day I still seek out stories of King Arthur. My collection consist of about 58 books. Some old, some new. I have also added movies to the collection as well as postage stamps. While still in grade school I graduated to adult books. Then - the 50's - adult meant books that were written for adults versus books written for kids. My favorite hangout was the Sumner Branch Library on Emerson Ave and Olsen Highway. There were two librarians there who were just fabulous with kids. Unfortunately I do not remember their names. But I can still picture them in my mind. My first adult books were written by the same author: Mika Waltari. "The Egyptian", "The Roman", "The Etruscan", The Adventurer", and "The Wanderer". Whle I still continued to read books written for kids, I continued to read more and more adult books. Mom encouraged that. She loved to read - especially True Crime magazines. It was as a rsult of reading adult books that I fell in love with ancient history. "Gods, Graves and Scholars", by C.W. Ceram hooked me on aracheology and taught me that the old stories were in a lot of cases true. And that was my goal in life - to be an archeologist. Unfortunately, my Mom and Dad did not have the money nor was I ever encouraged by anyone to go to college. At that time I thought college was for the rich and exceptionally smart and I was neither. So college never happened. The Army did, then marriage and then a Daughter. Life goes on. Some dreams are just that - dreams. At the same time I was reading books on archeology and ancient history, I became hooked on Science Fiction. I can still remember the first book I read it. It was in the Central Avenune Branch of the Mpls Library. Just walk in the front door (the front desk was straight ahead), make an immediate right then another. On the wall facing Central Avenue was a rack of Science Fiction. I picked one that told the story of Earth's first contact with aliens. there were actually two books in the series. The first delt with an alien crashing on Earth and the second when Earth was invited to be a member of the Intergalatic United "Nations". The alien's name was Clonar. Anyway from then on I was hooked. Science Fiction and Ancient History - what a combination!. I read about two books a week and always have about 3 books on the library waiting list. I mean what would happen if I was snowed in with nothing to read? Horrors! But I am not the only one in my familty to read. My Sister and older Brother read a lot. As did my Mom. I say "did" because she has macular degeneration. My Daughter is an avid reader and is passing that along to her son. Last year for my birthday, my Daughter and Grandson gave me a t-shirt for birthday. It has a picture of an older man sitting in a chair reading to a yhoung man who is sitting on a stool in front of him. It is title: Real Men Read Books. My autobiography is titled: Bookreader. That sums it up.

Winter Woes

It snowed again yesterday. About 3 inches or so. This is the fourth snowfall this month! Now you would think that as I was born and raised in MN that I would look forward to winter. Not so. I dread it. What can you do in the winter unless you have places to skate, sled, ski, or snowmobile? Where I live the weather is normally not cold enough nor has enough snow for that. In fact the most popular skating rink is inside! As I shoveled my driveway and sidewalk this AM I thought: "Will Spring ever arrive? Will Winter ever end?" Normally Winter is pretty much over by early March. In Fact, the first couple of years I lived here, I would prep the lawn including fertilizer. I always used to call my younger brother (who still lives in MN) and brag to him that while he was still buried in snow drifts with another month or so of Winter ahead, I was enjoying Spring. Not lately though. Last year it was still cold when we left to visit our daughter in FL. Also, it seems as if Winters are starting earlier, getting colder and lasting longer. But maybe that is just another part of growing older! Maybe I should petition my congressman for funding so that I can move to a warmer location!

Too Little Time

I'm depressed. When my pictures were not ready at the photo studio the other day, I decided to kill some time at Barnes and Noble - the bookstore. At one times I used to buy all of my books but only paperbacks (the story was just as good in that format as the hardbound variety). Then, about 6 years ago I decided that buying books was pretty dumb. The library here is very good in that it buys just about anything in print, video, audio, and music. The downside is that I may have to wait awhile for a recent book to be available but that is ok. The book will be just as good later as now. I normally check out the best seller list in the Sunday paper and order books from the library that appeal to me. Of course, there are a whole lot of books that never reach the best seller list that are really great. Maybe not up to Oprah's standards but great anyway. Hence a periodic trip to Barnes and Noble or Walden Books. The reason I am depressed is that during my recent visit I saw so many books that appealed to me but realized that no matter how many I read, I could never read them all (I guess if I gave up sleeping I could - maybe). Books are published faster than I can read. Brad Thor, Wilbur Smith, James Twining, Raymond Kourhy, Clive Cussler, Jack Whte, Bernard Cornwell, Stephen Lawhead, John Chrisham, Stephen Coonts, Dale Brown, W.E.B. Griffith, Harry Turtledove, and so on. And, I have not ready by James Paterson or Sandra Brown!. To make matters worse, each author has written not just one good book, but many. What is a person to do? Just read as many as possible and hope I live a long, ling life.