MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022, SIGNIFICANT BOOKS WEEK

 MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2022, SIGNIFICANT BOOKS WEEK

I have always been a reader.  As a child would visit the Cedar Rapids Public Library and take home books.  I remember the day I was allowed to use the adult library.  WOW.  (I think I spent an hour going through the shelves picking out things.  My exposure to libraries was limited - the Cedar Rapids library and the school library and I don’t remember going to the school library much.  But I assumed all libraries were just like the Cedar Rapids library.

[Aside - I don’t remember if the children’s library had records, but the adult library had records - LP - 78 rpm.   I was already playing in the school band, so checking out records and listening to music while reading or doing homework was amazing.]

Recently (like the last week), I’ve been listening to an audiobook that is well-written and provocative (at least to me).  I know my tastes and beliefs have been shaken in the past years of retirement, but this particular book really got to me - in a LOVE WINS kind of way.

So, this week I am going to look at three books (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) that were significant to me.  Today I’m going to explore some of my changing tastes in fictional reading.

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For many years I read adventure stories.  I read Clive Cussler's novels of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) - a made-up government agency that did oceanographic research.  

Somehow Dirk Pitt (Cussler’s original protagonist) managed to save the oceans and the world from some diabolical megalomaniac.  

Dirk helped raise the Titanic, found a lost ironclad ship from the Civil War (with Abe Lincoln and billions in confederate gold bullion aboard), saved the United States from a Japanese aristocrat who smuggled bombs into the United States embedded in Japanese cars.  

Cussler also added some historical books with Issac Bell as a detective in the early years of the twentieth century.  

I read a few of the Tom Clancey books - and definitely not all.  Why didn’t I read more?  Because they were just too long!!  (What I’m discriminating against an author based on the size of the book?)  Likewise, I read some of James Michener's books (Centennial, Hawaii, Alaska) but they were too long!!

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Some people have proclaimed that The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the ultimate, great American novel.  I have tried reading it three times - and just couldn’t get into the book.  Likewise, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger has been described as the best coming-of-age novel - and again, I tried to read it three or four times and just couldn’t get through it!

I read some British books - after all, we had to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens in high school.  I read Thomas Hardy, the Mayor of Casterbridge in literature class and then read most of his works.  And, on the English scene, I read most of George Orwell’s books - 1984 (of course), Animal Farm, Down and Out in London and Paris, and Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

In college, I read Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf, The Glass Bead Game, Siddhartha, and more); Franz Kafka (The Metamorphosis - where a man becomes a giant cockroach), Albert Camus, and others.  

(Obviously, the list above is incomplete,)

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In recent years (since retirement), I went big into adventure, drama, and intrigue.  On that list are Jame Patterson, David Baldacci, and Lee Child.

JAMES PATTERSON: (from Wikipedia):

Patterson has written more than 200 novels since 1976. He has had more than 114 New York Times bestselling novels and holds The New York Times record for most #1 New York Times bestsellers by a single author, a total of 67, which is also a Guinness World Record. His novels account for one in 17, roughly 6%, of all hardcover novels sold in the United States; in recent years his novels have sold more copies than those of Stephen King, John Grisham, and Dan Brown combined. (Aside, I’ve read these authors too)

His books have sold more than 400 million copies, and he was the first person to sell 1 million ebooks.  In 2016, Patterson topped Forbes's list of highest-paid authors for the third consecutive year, with an income of $95 million. His total income over a decade is estimated at $700 million. 

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DAVID BALDACCI

Baldacci has published 40 best-selling novels for adults as well as seven novels for younger readers.  In particular, I’ve read most of the Amos Decker series (a former football player who had a photographic memory), Maxwell and King series (two former secret service agents), John Pulver (son of an Army general), and Camel Club series.  

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LEE CHILD

Lee Child is the pen name of James Dover Grant. Interesting enough, he is British writing about an American former Army major (Jack Reacher) who roams around the world with not much more than a passport, a comb, and the clothes on his back.  

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OKAY - I will probably still read (or listen) to Patterson, Baldacci, and Child books, but lately, I’ve been turned off by the many deaths/killings in the books.  Yes, they are adventure novels, but maybe I’m too sensitive to wanton murders. 

Example. In one of the books by one of the authors above, the first chapter has a boat that is a couple of days late arriving at a port.  When it arrives, the crew is shot immediately.  The message is that being late is not tolerated.

Each one of the crew that was shot was a human being - maybe with a spouse, children, mothers, and fathers - that will never see that person again.  Maybe it was an engineer who kept the boat running; maybe it was a cook who helped feed the people aboard the ship; - real live human lives doing a job to help pay for a mortgage or rent, for food and clothing - killed as a message to some overlord boss.  Maybe the individuals were God-fearing people.  Only a few might have been responsible for the ship being late.  Maybe it was an engine problem - should the cook get shot?  

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Each human being (in my opinion) is made in the image and likeness of God.  Even criminals are made in the image and likeness of God.  And, yet, many authors minimize the value of human life.  Now, the authors don’t glorify violence, but it is part of the story.  Eventually, the good guys win.

I’ve read of serial killers, psychopaths, and deranged individuals who kill others for the thrill.  But I don’t need to load that into my mind.  (Garbage in, garbage out).

Thus, I am trying to find books without blood and gore.

There is some blood and gore in the three books I will be highlighting in the next few days.  Let’s see!!

If you have seen my Saturday Stories I’m trying to write fiction, but I’m not good at it.  By reading good books, maybe my writing will improve.  

I think good fiction holds my attention, has characters that I can relate to and has a plot that can’t be too far out of my imagination.

LOVE DOES WIN (even in fiction)

Karen

March 21, 2022