Let's talk about books

[PALADIN85020]

I'm mostly an omnivorous book reader, but I favor military history and of course, gun books.

I have all of Jeff Cooper's writings, and Skeeter Skelton's two hardcover books. Dick Marcinko has written both fiction and non-fiction, and I have them all. I have an autographed copy of Gen. John Pershing's WWI memoir, and an autographed copy of Joe Foss's autobiography. In one of Jeff Cooper's books I have a letter he wrote me praising my first gun writing effort. That meant a lot to me. Here's what Joe Foss wrote -

John

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Nonfiction.

Mostly conservative political views of contemporary power brokers, but to avoid throwing a perfectly good book across the room I'll set it down and pull out one of the three books in the basket next to my reading chair: The Adams-Jefferson Letters, The Federalist Papers, and The U.S. Constitution -- to remind myself from where we came. The Founding Fathers were brilliant: their knowledge, their wisdom, their goals, and in their ability to convey their ideas in that wonderful, old-world language.

My favorite book is The Virginian, published in 1902 by Owen Wister, a Pennsylvanian who traveled to Wyoming and fell in love with the roughshod ranch life. My copy is a first edition, although that wasn't at all the goal when I went to the Maddog & the Pilgrim bookstore in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, to buy it. I also have a sleeved 50th anniversary edition, published the year I was born.

An uncle passed when I was 11, and my aunt gave his books to me. Of those Kon Tiki was the first book I read cover-to-cover, and I'm sure it fueled my hunger for nonfiction.

I still haven't read Tarzan Lord of the Jungle from my uncle's collection -- the cover taped by him, but perhaps an upcoming cold winter night will find me in my favorite reading chair near the wood stove with it in hand.

Throwing books away should be a criminal offense.

 

[Onomea]

I read a few years ago that one can buy old/used books by the foot, feet of shelf space, and that interior decorators do this...

Boggles the mind.

 

[Hair Trigger]

I love to read, and history is my favorite, but it has to be put forth in a way that isn't dry and textbookish.

I started reading books abut ten years ago by a guy who was a Pulitzer Prize recipient; he imbeds himself in the story, comparing the past events he's writing about with what it is like today. He has a singular wit, and sometimes takes along a sidekick friend on his travels to visit what he's writing about.

He's hitch-hiked 7000 miles across and around Australia and lived to write about it and followed Captain Cook's path through the Pacific. He's followed the courses of the early American explorers and conquistadors through the Caribbean and US, and travelled with a dedicated bunch of American Civil War reenactors as they go from battlefield to battlefield. He also followed the trail of Frederick Law Olmstead as he travelled the pre-Civil War South, looking for answers to why there was such a rift in the country between North and South. Olmstead wrote for what became the New York Times, and later became a landscape architect, who designed NYC's Central Park, New Orleans' Audubon Park plus many other US city parks, and crowned his achievements by designing the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in NC.

The author's name is Tony Horwitz; unfortunately just as his last book was being published in 2019 and he was on a book tour, he had a massive heart attack and died.

Google his works and just pick one to start; you won't be disappointed and will want to read more.

Confederates in the Attic-- travels with the reenactors
Baghdad Without a Map
A Voyage Long and Strange--American discoverers
Blue Latitudes--Captain Cook's travels
One For The Road--hitchhiking through Australia's Outback
Midnight Rising--about John Brown and Harper's Ferry
Spying On The South--Olmstead's travels, and the author's last book.

Mr. Horwitz's wife is also a distinguished author and also a Pulitzer Prize recipient. Geraldine Brooks is her name; I've only read one of her works, called "Horse". It is a semi-fictionalized story about a real racehorse named Lexington. He was undefeated in his time and one of the greatest racehorses to ever live. This was in the 1850's when it was not just once around the track, but a four mile race. He was the leading sire of the last half of the 19th century and his offspring include "Preakness" who the famous Triple Crown race is named for.
The book is a great read, I could not put it down.

 

[AJ]

We have six book shelves filled with books on guns, history, flowers, birds, butterflies and casual reading. Just gave five mail tubs of books to the local branch of our library to sell for new book money.

These two books are family items that were bought new by a Great, Great, Great Grandfather. He was a Justice of the Peace about this time frame.

The Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia was probably printed in late 1854 or early 1855.

The Historical and Political Handbook was printed in 1875.

While not as old as some shown here nor as nice looking. These show use and have been in my family since they were new. Will pass them on to my Grandchildren.

 

[JJEH]

Yesterday I finished reading Michael Mann's Heat 2. If you like the movie Heat you'll like the sequel/prequel. Part of the book is the criminals and cops in 1988 before the movie, another section directly following the events of the movie and another part set in 2000 as Chris, Val Kilmer's character begins a new life as an expat.

I love the movie HEAT and I do want the book as well eventually. But I'm not in a hurry since it will have to wait in line for a while...

A little off topic, but if you want to see a cool library, check out the Morgan Library in NYC.

All I want is this room. I'll take the house but this room would be just fine

I collect books too, my oldest is from 1662. Several in Latin.
I have 19th, 18th and 17th century books in my collection.

Very nice. Would you mind sharing your source/s? If not I'd understand...

Nonfiction.

The Adams-Jefferson Letters, The Federalist Papers, and The U.S. Constitution -- to remind myself from where we came. The Founding Fathers were brilliant: their knowledge, their wisdom, their goals, and in their ability to convey their ideas in that wonderful, old-world language.

Oh my, don't get me started... I agree on the founding fathers and the old-world language. I wish I would command the English language as they did.

 

[IronSkillet]

Met this fellow a couple over the years.

 

[Chubbo]

Books & reading

I relish books. They have played a big part in my life. I have several bookcases, and shelves. There are books in every room, car, RV, motorcycle, shop, breezeway, out buildings, and scooter that I own.


I've never counted my books, but I’ve read 'em every day of my life, since my mom taught me to read at around age four.

I don’t mean to brag, but reading, especially speed reading, is the only academia that I ever excelled at, or even wanted too. As a student in public high school, I could surpass, everyone in the school, In speed reading. I was a constant aggravation to my English teacher, as I always won her speed-reading contests, beating her pet scholars. She surely believed that I’d devised a way to cheat. But I didn't. She was also a member of my church, and my reading skill bugged her, all her life.

Pardon my long-winded rant, but the subject is near and dear to me.

Chubbo

 

[Dashriprock]

I read on average 45 books a year. I've been collecting books for over 30 years, and have thousands. Numerous signed first editions.

Mainly nonfiction and history, though do read some fiction.

Spent 12 years of my younger days in the culinary arts and have over 250 cookbooks, some quite old and scarce.

The gun, shooting, hunting and reloading books number over 400, but 76 of those are a complete set of Gun Digest.

Wish I could line all the walls in the house with bookcases! Here's one room:

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

My wife tried to get me to convert to e-books and save space, I said one thing that I like about books is that they are NOT electronic - no batteries or cords are required.

 

[JohnRippert]

Mom read e-books for years and really liked it, but the dementia has taken away her ability to run the Kindle. Thankfully she can still read books, magazines, newspapers. Unfortunately, or maybe not, she cannot remember what she read yesterday.

 

[Paul in Nevada]

Mom read e-books for years and really liked it, but the dementia has taken away her ability to run the Kindle. Thankfully she can still read books, magazines, newspapers. Unfortunately, or maybe not, she cannot remember what she read yesterday.

Not to sound flippant but... There are several books I wish I could read all over again for the first time.

 

[03hemi]

Keep an eye out at thrift stores also.
I lucked up on this entire volume of Goethe's Works from 1870 and over half of them are 1st editions too ($$$).
$100 bucks for the whole lot!

 

[Smoke]

I've been a reader my entire life. I don't connect to Ebooks the way I connect to real books. I have a 1978 Ballantine copy of The Hobbit that I stole from my 10th grade English class. I have the Ballantine set of LoTR that I bought in a used bookstore in Los Angels in 1980. I have a copy of The Hunt For Red October that I got from a book exchange at Barr Camp halfway up Pikes Peak. I have a copy of Team Yankee that I found in a POL dump in the Grafenwohr training area during an FTX in 1988. I also have several books that I bought in The Stars and Stripes bookstore on Peden Barracks (neither the store nor the post still exist). I don't have those memories from an Ebook.

When I was a kid the school I went to had a thing called The Scholastic Book Club. The books that they sold were good Young Adult reading. I found out a few years back that those same books are available on EBay and I started collecting them, again the books connect to good memories.

When I was in sixth grade I had a copy of The Great Houdini by Beryl Williams and Samuel Epstien that I bought from SBC. I was sitting in class one day. I had completed my assignment and I had nothing else to do. So I pulled out my book and started to read. The teacher didn't say a word. He got up from his desk, snatched the book out of my hand and threw it in the trash (if that man became a teacher because he wanted to have an impact on young minds he succeeded. Just maybe not the way he had in mind).

Anyway, I was never able to find another copy of that book. Then several years ago I walked into my local ARC and there it was, in PRISTINE condition for 1 dollar. It actually turned out to be a fairly accurate and well written biography, written less than 20 years after his death.

I worked nights in an empty warehouse for three years. As long as I made my rounds once an hour the rest of the night was mine. About a year into the assignment, I decided to put the dead time to use and started bringing a book with me. I was all alone in an empty, quiet building for 8 hours with almost zero distractions, it's perfect for reading.

When I retired I decided I was going to re-read all my favorite books (and finally get through the pile of books that I'd never got around to reading) again. I read for an hour or two a day.

 

[mtgianni]

I have books owned by parents, grandparents and in one case great-grandparents. Most of what I keep are paperbacks and I do reread them.

I sought for a while to find two books that impressed me as an early reader. Olaf Reads, and Rabbit and Skunk and the Scary Rock are now shared with kids who come to visit. Uncle Shelby's ABZ book is another.

 

[Onomea]

One of my favorites:





Bought this set in early summer 2020 and spent the rest of the summer rereading it.

 

[Smoke]

Don't get me started posting pictures of books.

the Sherlock Holmes is 70 years old. it was printed before they edited out Holmes being A herion addict.

the green book is a 60 year old copy of Robin Hood that I found in a book exchange in the breakroom of the Municpal court house. the other Robin Hood was in the public domain so there's not a copyright.

 

[Rustyt1953]

My mom started me on the "Sammy the Shunter" series of pocket books when I was 4. She worked with me daily and we read them together at bedtime. I was hooked. By the time I entered the 7th grade I had completed my high school required reading list. Reading is one of life's greatest pleasures. As mom said: oh, the worlds you will see!

A few years ago my youngest daughter found these online from a used book store in England. She bought the two remaining books they had and gave them to me. I was awash in emotional memories.

JR now reads them.

 

[zeke]

If ya are waiting for the dust to get cleaned, might want to get more books to read. Got boxes of books in aux garage, the stacks in the house were getting dangerous. Mostly action/fiction type books or sci-fi. With gratuitous sex and violence. And more than a fair share of reloading material.

 

[zeke]

One of the biggest advantages of aging is being able to keep books. Read them once, and in short order ya have forgotten the story line, them reread em. When younger didn't like rereading them till at least 15 yrs, if not longer