books: what are you currently reading?

[Caleb]

Larry -

I really enjoyed your posts. Thanks for the glimpse into your world.

And, by the way, I'm still reading the Bible as well. I'm currently in the Gospel of Luke, but I try to grab a chapter out of the Proverbs each day as well.

[Danny]

Larry -

I really enjoyed your posts. Thanks for the glimpse into your world.

And, by the way, I'm still reading the Bible as well. I'm currently in the Gospel of Luke, but I try to grab a chapter out of the Proverbs each day as well.

As I am in Matthew. Finished Revelation a week or so ago. I also read other passages from the Bible daily. Unless I just miss it for different reasons.

   (I still look forward to your review of "Gone are the days")

[Caleb]

Here's my review of Gone Are the Days by Annalee Burns. Again, I'd like to thank Danny (dependan) for the very generous and gracious act of buying me this book and mailing it to me on his dime. I showed some interest in the book in this thread and out of nowhere he picked up a copy for me. Such random acts of kindness are things that make life beautiful, and they are the things that spread goodness and cheer in this world. I hope those words don't embarrass him too much, but they are true and from the heart.

About the book:
This book is only 95 pages, but Mrs. Burns said a ton in relatively few words. It was published in 1960. It's basically just a personal memoir of her life and life in the small community of Utopia, Texas. The dedication page reads: To Mother and Father who gave us a happy childhood. O that my own children can one day say the same thing, and O that more children in this world would be able to say it as well.

The first chapter is about how "Summer Kin" would come and stay for a week or two. This never happened in my own childhood, since life was pretty much work and my family never took the time to go and visit relatives. But this was apparently once a huge part of country living, and it was something to be looked forward to. I could picture an old house with creaking wooden floors full of relatives catching up on the goings-on of the year as the smell of fried chicken and fresh baked pies filled the air. I could picture the sound of children running and laughing outside in the yard. The sound would have bled through the open windows of the old house. Family was huge to those people and you could sense the joy Mrs. Burns had writing about it.

It was interesting to read how the "thrasher" would move from farm to farm as the oats were harvested. The hosting family would feed the entire crew of workers. I grew up around farming but I never experienced anything like that. I could picture everyone pitching in and helping. And even though some were being paid to be there doing the work, those things made the communities closer and stronger than our fenced in, blinds-drawn society of today.

The chapter titled "Play and Pastime" really struck me as well. She pointed out how kids used to just spontaneously play and make their own fun, but how now (then in the 50s and 60s) the fun is all "organized" like a school prom. She made some great comments about all the time and effort taken in setting up a school prom and how many of the kids just stare at their shoes all night as the bewildered parents that went to all the trouble stood there dumbfounded. Speaking of the prom in particular she wrote: "I love young people and I deplore the situation.  They think they're having a good time, but where is the spontaneous fun of the Sunday afternoon Kodiaking and violet-picking excursion and the Saturday night parlor party? Are we parents at fault for having hatched up too much planned activity?"  I guess I'd never thought about it before since I'm a Gen-Xer and have pretty much had most of my fun planned for me all my life. But I can see the point she was making, that something beautiful is lost when the parents decide what will be "fun" for the kids. But if you leave the kids alone they'll make their own fun that would be more meaningful to them anyway. I think most parties and activities really are more for the parents anyway. Looking back at some of my own kids' birthday parties I can see where I went all out just to make a big show. I'd just never thought about it before.

I liked the chapters about old-time religious tent meetings and all the homemade remedies of the day. It made me want to live out in the country and raise my own food and kill my own chickens and teach my children to do the same. I started thinking about how disconnected we all are as a society from many of the things that make up our lives. Like growing our own food. For most of us, we go to the market and get our produce and meat. Children probably have never stopped to think that those things actually came from somewhere. To them that stuff is just there each time they go to the store and there's always more than enough, so you just pick the best and move on. But surely this has robbed many of us of something very human and very humbling. Surely it would do us all some good to have to kill our own food from time to time and to tend a garden and hope (or pray) for rain enough to see the crops through. Surely our plastic world has stripped us of more of our humanity than we know. These are the things this book made me think of. I wept inside as I looked around at my life and how cheap it is compared to what this lady experienced. I was sad to know my own children will likely never get to experience those things. But at the same time it made to take stock and see how I can simplify my life and put some of those things into action in the midst of my city life. And who knows, maybe one day I will make it to the country.

After reading the chapter titled "I Remember Father" you could tell that he planted the seeds of creativity in her life. I loved this line: "He loved and appreciated music, poetry, and good literature. He had wings to fly, but a very small sky." That's powerful stuff. I like how he refused to let being "country" make his world dull and lifeless when it came to art. And he managed to pass that on to his children.

But my favorite part of the book was "School Days." She nailed it when she wrote: "I had a high school teacher who introduced me to the beauty of words expressed in good poetry.  I am always sad when I hear today's children declare that they hate that silly old mushy stuff.  They do not walk to school, or live in a house heated with one fireplace and a wood stove in winter or go through the hot summers without electric refrigeration, so they are never too cold, hot or hungry.  They take physical comfort entirely for granted and they see no reason to escape comfortable reality by daydreaming over poetry or classic tales of adventure.  Television and comics provide them with a cheaper and more easily digested version."  And THAT was written in 1960! What more could be said today?

But she wasn't angry or out to just slam the modern world, but she was just showing how there used to be a better time to be alive. Gone Are the Days is one of the best books I've read all year. It stirred me on the inside and made me want to change things. It made me THINK, which is the ultimate test for me as to whether a book is good or not.

Anyway, I said I'd post a review, so I did. Thanks again, Danny!

[Danny]

  Samuel, your review brought back the feelings the book stirred in me. You said it all very well. I read your review to my wife and she enjoyed it also.
               I believe the title is correct for the book and our country; "Gone are the days"

                    Thanks for doing such a good job on reviewing this little book

[teh]

Just started "My American Journey" by Colin Powell and already on chapter 4. Fort Benning was his first stop after being commissioned as a 2LT and that's where my son went for jump school between his junior and senior year of college.

Finished "Band of Brothers" and will start "Undaunted Coverage" next. Bought "The War" by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns and took my wife to see David McCullough speak two weeks ago. Grabbed a used copy of John Adams so that should keep me busy until Halloween.

P.S. Two gift idea for those in the military or college: We bought my son a "Kindle" for his second deployment and he can download books from Amazon. Less expensive and less hassle than mailing.

"If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude." Colin Powell

[Makarovii]

Washburn Prewar Instrument Styles by Pleijsier Hubert. Thank you Mark Demaray! 

[Caleb]

I'm on a poetry kick. I'm lost in a book of Robert Frost's work right now. I'm having a ball with it.

[ryler]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
The Power of Intention, Wayne Dyer

[Johnny M]

On Celtic Tide by Chris Duff.  It's about his kayak trip around the coast of Ireland.  Great read if you're into kayaking.

John

[Queequeg]

NATURE GIRL by Carl Hiaasen.
similar to some of the Edward Abbey novels in its outlandish silliness.

[Bailey]

Just read-- In Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day

Reading--Faith and Doubt

[jeremy3220]

'The World According to Garp'- I'm not so sure about this one. I'm starting to think it maybe full of the craziest events the author can think of to make up for the lack of substance.

[NotRevGDavis]

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain. I finally got around to reading this book after seeing No Reservations. Having worked in the food industry as a pearl diver (dishwasher), sous chef, back up line cook and bacon cooker (hundreds of 2'x3' sheets every day from 11pm to 7am all day, every day at a large casino) and all that before my 17th bday I really had no desire to read about food service but Anthony Bourdain is a fantastic guide through the food industry.
I recently bought Stiff but haven't started it yet.

[Dotneck]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig

one of my favorite books....its probably time to read it again....


Just started "The Girl in the Orange Dress". Its auto-biographical...about a woman who was adopted as a baby...and that experience and the divorce of her adopted parents led her to a relationship with Jesus after searching for "a father that would not leave."

Being an adoptee,  I like to read all kinds of books about adoption and the impact that it can have on people's lives....

[Daysailer]

Jimmy Buffet's, " Tales from Margaritaville" and "A Salty Piece of Land"

The second is a sequel and continuation of the first. 
Fun, Light fiction that reeks of Buffet's laid back style and imagination.

Also "Kayaks you can build"
everyone needs a second hobby when the fingertips are too abused from excessive playing. 

[Danny]

                 "GUITAR PLAYER REPAIR GUIDE"  3rd Edition   by Dan Erlewine

It's a tough read, but I think I'll wind up reading it over and over. In fact I have read some sections several times already.   ;0)

[leerichards]

Daysailer, is that our Jimmy Buffet? If so, well done Jimmy - talented guy.   I'm reading "The Revenge of Gaia"by James Lovelock. I've been following his writings for about ten years now and have been amazed at the rapidity that his "wacky" theory has become pretty much mainstream scientific thinking on "whole earth" ecosystem matters. Rick.

[Danny]

  Just finished "Walking With Spring" by Earl V. Shaffer, this is the man who did the first solo Thru-hike of the Appalachain Trail.
  It is a very easy read, once you get past the forward (full of facts and dates)
He walked over 2000 miles thru mountains from Georgia to Maine.

                       (Thanks for lending me the book GA_ME. I'll mail it home now)

[tuffythepug]

The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle

[Strings4Him]

It is very encouraging to see people who still enjoy the printed page, both digitally and otherwise.  I am also encouraged to see many who enjoy the Bible.  The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of God endures forever.  Press on brothers (and sisters).