Great Books

The activities director at my retirement community noticed on a service to which she subscribes to give ideas for each month that October includes Great Books Week. She has scheduled an activity in the library for Wednesday afternoon. She has printed a crossword puzzle game related to the theme and the participants will be making book marks. I am to gather up any books on the list she gave me for display purposes. We have less than 3% of the books; I personally have read about 5% and many of those in high school and college literature classes. The list came from Good Reads. It doesn’t spell out the criteria thoroughly but mentions that it tried to be cultural, era, and language inclusive. That sounds good, but some of the titles aren’t even transliterated into the Roman alphabet but left in Arabic, Persian, and something I can’t even identify. Obviously, my Midwestern library users probably haven’t read those.

 

I would make a distinction between great books and good books. I think great books can only be recognized over time and usually by experts in the field of literature. It is still subjective of course. Good books, however, are more personally identified, depending on an individual’s criteria. What I consider a good book may not appeal to another reader at all.

 

Writing style and skill play a part in both categories I suspect. However, some rather poorly written books do get designated as “great books”. An example would be  Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It’s “greatness” comes more from its impact and influence on society in attitudes about slavery. I think besides social impact, staying power thru generations of readers, most great books touch upon universal truths about the human condition or perfectly represent an era. Besides the Great Books list from Good Reads, I am going to throw into the display a list of “best or favorite books” gathered from librarians by Brodart, a library supplies vendor. I don’t see the list on their site anymore, but here is another spot that shows the list: Favorite Novels of Librarians It is a bit dated, having been compiled in 1999. It also limited itself to 100 titles. Our library has about 25% of these books. They are all English language books. I find it interesting that on both of these lists which are ranked in order, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice sits in the number one spot.

 

Since I have ruled myself out as being qualified to decide what is a great book, I don’t have any criteria re great books, other than I think the test of time should be part of the process. I will, however, share some of what makes a book good for me. Writing quality, character development, plot do count. I want the author to draw me into the story quickly, sustain my interest, and make me care about the characters and how they will fare.

 

Genre and subject matter do influence what I read. When in library school, we had an assignment to sample books in various genre. With a few exceptions such as Ray Bradbury, I never connected with science fiction characters. Maybe there was too much emphasis on technology and alien worlds for me. I enjoy mysteries and suspense, but I don’t want the outcome to be obvious. I gave up on Mary Higgins Clark; though she is a skillful story teller, I almost always guessed the perpetrator/cause of the “mystery” long before it was revealed.

 

I don’t consider myself a widely-read individual. Books with gore, demonology, gratuitous violence, vampires, graphic sex don’t even get the cover opened. I gave up on Patricia Cornwell as her books became more extreme and bizarre. When she moved from Scarpetta to a policewoman as her main character, the excessive vulgar language became a deal breaker. I will overlook bad language if the book is riveting enough. I read Grisham, for example, and he is no Puritan re language.

Now that I read digital books, I find a lot of mediocrity in writing skill and character development. Poor editing and proof-reading are rampant in ebooks as well. A good sounding plot falls flat. I do try new styles occasionally such as a steam-punk novel which I found to be pretty good. Being frugal, I have downloaded a lot of free books that once started don’t always get finished. I buy print books at library book sales for a dollar or two and will take a risk on unknown authors, but if I had paid $10, $20, or more I would have regretted it. 

 

I have been astonished at people who have told me they never read fiction. I am pretty eclectic as I enjoy biographies, memoirs, nature stories, historical books, and other non-fiction as well as romances, historical fiction, mysteries, fantasy, sometimes Westerns. I have grown tired of bonnet books (Amish fiction) this past year. I read several to get an idea of what my library users were reading, but very few sustain my interest. I find the story lines too similar. These days there are very few books on the best sellers lists that tempt me. I do read reviews in magazines and newspapers. My husband is more industrious in seeking out books of interest. I admire people who have the drive and passion to seek out good books for themselves.

What kinds of books interest you? What makes you think them good?

Mrs. Consumer

Today I went to a fundraiser sale held at a Christian academy. Most of the items had been in a store called Hither and Yon which was using space in the back of a furniture store. Home decorative items and furniture donated to raise money for schooling in Zambia made up most of the merchandise. They decided rather than running a store, they would now hold sales twice a year. I bought a small candle globe. We are not allowed to burn candles in Grace Village property, but I can use an LED tea light or I may fill it with shells or other items. Or I could display a candle, but not light it. For a few dollars for a good cause, it was a purchase with potential.

The academy is several blocks south of my house. Just a block away, was a garage sale. There I purchased a queen quilt/comforter. My “summer” comforter in the master bedroom is looking kind of faded and limp. I didn’t even use it this year, but left the heavier one on. This new comforter is fairly heavy, but it looks like spring/summer. Maybe I will even put it on in the winter just to cheer me up. I think it will be a nice change.

Here it is draped over the bed. I tried to look it over at the sale, but wasn’t able to fully unfold it. The reverse side is solid light blue; there are a few light stains on the blue side.

 

I went from the garage sale to the Warsaw Public Library book sale. I don’t have money to spend on Grace Village library, but I purchased 7 books for $5.50. One of those, a 25-cent book, I did buy for the library and will donate. Of course, I may end up donating the rest as well once I have read them. One is on American country collectibles and decorating. That one I will cut apart and put the photos into my folder.

This afternoon the upholstery decorating ladies came from Columbia City. We ended up with a solid red called berry for the two recliners. The owner of the store did the writing up of the order, though the saleslady accompanied her. Elma, who owns the store with her husband, has been in this business for 50 years. She said she has had many fine upholsterers thru the years, but she considers her current one the best ever. The chairs will be picked up sometime in November (we won’t have an exact date for a few days) and be gone a few weeks.

Now I have started dinner. As it cooks, I will take time to relax and start the crossword puzzle my husband copied from the Wall Street Journal so we could “compete”. I also want to go thru that country decorating book. The autumn leaves are at peak now; unfortunately, we have quite a lot of wind today. Many are already dropping from the trees. My husband said that on his bike ride this morning, he had a carpet of colorful leaves. Autumn is my favorite season.

Though I spent money today, it was mostly for used items, thus saving me money while keeping things out of landfills, a better way to be a consumer.

Ebola Sadness

Reading and hearing about the ebola infections in Dallas saddens me. I had my cervical spine surgery done at Presbyterian Hospital in 2003. I know quite well where Marquita Street (where Nina Pham lives) is. Now this shocking news that the most recent ill health worker actually travelled on an airplane with a low-grade temperature. It blows my mind.

 

We had an employee at Turpin Library who returned to mainland China to see her family. While there, SARS broke out. When she returned she was not allowed to come to work for 2-3 weeks. Fortunately, she did not become ill. You can’t be too careful.

 

I do not believe the CDC when it says hospitals are prepared for ebola cases. I don’t think my local hospital would be ready. I guess now the CDC will send in a team to assist and instruct. Flying by the seat of their pants I would say. Certainly did not protect the public by allowing somebody who had exposure to fly on an airplane. The virus could be transported who knows where; we may find out within the next few weeks. Let’s pray nobody in contact with Ms. Vinson in the airport or on the plane becomes ill or we may face public panic.

 

My husband and I got our flu shots last week. Won’t help with ebola, but a good health practice. I also had my mammogram today. I know a lady who skipped mammograms; she now has stage 4 breast cancer. Don’t skip yours.

A Fine Fall Day

After some cloudy and rainy days, we had sun today. I had wanted to visit Heart of the Lakes Antiques in North Webster for some time. This is one of my favorite area antiques store. I talked my husband into going with me. First, though, we stopped at nearby Tri-County Fish and Game Reserve. I was disappointed. I had hoped to see some colorful trees reflected in the small lakes. I don’t know if I am too late or too early or if this is not a good spot or year for color. Last year near the end of September we saw more color at Shock Lake than this year. Still, it was nice to travel some country roads and walk among nature. I saw one heron take flight.

On the road to Hammond Lake we saw a few colorful trees; and on the main road to the reserve was an interesting silo.

Most of the soybeans and corn are quite dried out and brown and should be harvested soon.

I bought a few things at the Heart of the Lakes antique store including these 4 placemats. Blue, again. LOL.

Then we moseyed on Old 30 to Columbia City to eat lunch, followed by a stop at Columbia House Interiors. I had seen an ad in the Warsaw newspaper that this company is celebrating its 50th anniversary and one of their services is reupholstering. Good news is that most of their fabric is on sale or will be in the next few weeks. We checked out 2 sample books to bring home which we will return in a few days. Once we have selected a fabric, they will visit our home and measure the 2 chairs we are thinking of recovering.

So it was a busy, happy day spent together. My husband even remarked it was fun to be retired and run around.