Bibliopath ping.
Posted on 01/11/2006 12:04:15 PM PST by MplsSteve
This thread is probably almost dead so I'll take this opportunity to post my vanity....since you gave me a lead- in........
.......Genius
My father had the mind of a genius…
The soul of a poet…
The call of the wild…
At twelve he was set upon the desert to tend the sheep - alone, over fifty miles from the nearest town with a puppy and Rudyard Kipling to occupy his mind. He memorized Coleridge’s “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner,” as he gazed upon his herd and kept the coyotes at bay.
And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
'Ah wretch!' said they, 'the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!'
His grandmother paid him for verses he could recall by rote; verses of poetry, verses of the Bible, verses of song. He developed the voice of calm and reason as he recited tome to walls of rock, and forests of sage.
And now there came both mist and snow
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
At 18 he went far away to college where numbers filled his head and he engineered cities in his mind…and in his heart he was on the range. To still desire he drank and when he drank he sang the songs of the ancients, he told tales as old as the earth…he was the earth.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
He found himself aboard a ship, during the second time the world warred with itself. He was the Ancient Mariner left with the souls of his shipmates, haunted by his own survival. Adrift upon the swells of longing and emotion that only a bottle could soothe.
The souls did from their bodies fly, -
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!".
His survival was his destruction. The schools, the sea, the desert were left behind in a haze of alcohol. The longing remained and tore at his throat and rasped the voice of calm and reason, it stilled the recall of wonder and beauty, the words of the poets, and it left…the call of the wild.
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is a curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
Bibliopath ping.
I'm also reading Mark Helprin's short story collection The Pacific. His novella, "Perfection," about a Hasidic boy playing for the 1958 Yankees is incredible -- it belongs, I think, to the same universe of his novel, Winter's Tale.
I'm also reading a collection of plays by William Wycherley (1641-1715), Felipe Fernandez-Armesto's Millenium: A History of the Last Thousand Years, and James Twitchell's Preposterous Violence. I'm also continuing my slow progress through Will Durant's Our Oriental Heritage with the intent of reading his entire Story of Civilization over the next 5-10 years, as well as the Berlin and Brettler Jewish Study Bible.
I recently put Kristine Kathryn Rusch's SF novel, Alien Influences in my reading bag, but I haven't started it yet.
As soon as my wife finishes reading it, I'll be reading the first draft of an untitled novel I recently completed, in preparation for rewriting it -- and a huge rewrite that will be.
The Witches of Karres was the novel that got me into SF, when I was eleven. I'll probably reread it every few years.
If you don't mind a preview, I'm glad I read the The Wizard of Karres but it's probably not going to get as frequent rereads -- they nailed the characters, at least, but it misses a certain spark.
My job requires me to read virtually all day long; various reports, statistical trends, policy papers, etc. The last thing I want to do is read when I get home. However I have a reading program in going through the Old and New Testament once a year that I have been on for about seven years. I also have just started as of last month trying to go through Proverbs each month.
Most of my time is spent in researching various topical articles that are of personal interest to me. I just completed The City of God by Augustine among others but rarely do I have time to sit down and read a book from cover to cover. High on my list is Luther's Bondage of the Will but have yet to order it. (I feel like I've read so much of it in researching various topics I might as well read the remaining five pages.)
I'm reading two:
A Patriot's History of the United States by a Freeper (Larry Schweikart)and Michael Patrick Allen
Path Between the Seas by David McCullough
starting = started
Thanks for the book recommendations! *Scribble* *Scribble*
"What kind of business do you have, if I may ask?"
The one I'm doing marketing for is our new venture; a computer sales, service and support company. We've been in business for a year now, so now's the time to hit it hard as we have steady customers for recommendations, and the banks will finally give us some money for further expansion. (That first paragraph needs work...I've sent R. the copy to change it...too run-on.)
http://www.johnsoncreekcomputers.com
And I'm looking at ways to expand my bookselling business, too. I think I'll do that through consignment selling. I firmly believe that every home, apartment and trailer house in my community is filled with books to unleash on the general public. ;)
http://www.amazon.com/shops/brandywinefarmbooks
"The Reckoning" by Charles Nicholl, about the murder of Christopher Marlowe. I've read it 3 or 4 times, but it's good enough to come back to every couple of years.
Next on the list is "The Colony," by John Tayman, about the exile settlement for victims of leprosy on Molokai in Hawaii. I don't know whether this will be any good, but the subject is certainly interesting.
"Parish Priest," the new biography of Father McGivney, founder of the Knights of Columbus, should be arriving from Amazon by this weekend.
And my library reserve list has several books about hunting in different parts of the world. I'm trying to interest Anoreth in something besides fantasy!
Can anyone recommend a book about modern espionage techniques or technology? Bill has been reading some James Bond-ish type spy fiction (only without the girls :-), and I'd like to find some nonfiction on the subject for him.
BTTT for library list!
Edith Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross by Maria
Ruiz Scaperlanda
and
The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living by John Zmirak, Denise Matychowiak
after that....
Spin Sisters : How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness --- and Liberalism --- to the Women of America
by Myrna Blyth
Recently finished "Against The Gods" by Peter Bernstein and "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America" by Bernard Goldberg.
Phil Sommerville--40 Days of Prayer
Ungh, Rick Warren Lite. But if the pastor's going to be taking his sermons from its lectionary, he wants us all to read it. Besides, I need some prayer discipline.
Ron Gilster--A+ Certification For Dummies
More Certifications = Higher Wages.
It is the biography of Ira C. Eaker.
Very interesting!
"The First World War" by John Keegan, former senior lecturer in military history at Sandhurst. I'm just now coming to the Battle of the Marne.
I'm also in the process of restoring a WWII vintage radio that was used in several bomber and transport aircraft including the B-17 and B-29, so this has been on my workbench:
"Handbook of Maintenance Instructions for Radio Receivers BC-348-J, BC-348-N, and BC-348-Q" (Mine is a Wells Gardner manufactured 348-Q)
"another about a giant asteroid that hit the earth 35 million years ago, near the mouth of what is now the Chesapeake Bay"
hmmm... title?
What I'm reading currently
- Worldgame - a Doctor Who novel
- National Review
- Money Magazine
- Journal of Accountancy
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