26 September 2013

A Few of My Favorite Things: B is for Books

Books
I love to read, although I read kinda slow and don’t have a lot of time to do it. I read an eclectic variety of fiction and non-fiction and have a large bookcase at home filled with pages and pages of things I’ve read, reread, want to read, need to read, and hope to read. I can’t imagine living in a time when books were not available, and count Gutenberg’s press as one of the most important inventions of all time (although moveable type was invented in China at least 400 years earlier). Even with the rise of the computer age and technology and all its attendant convenience, I just haven’t been able to talk myself into buying a Kindle. Okay, not being able to afford a really nice one like I want doesn’t help, but there really is something special about holding a book in your hands. Feeling the crispness of the pages, the smell of the paper, the permanence of a hardcover, the casual familiarity of a paperback. I read a lot of histories and biographies, and of course, the Bible, which I’ve read through at least once (meaning I’ve read it all at least once, parts of it many more times). I’m currently on at least my 5th tour of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, having paused at page 48 of volume VII to go back and pick up The Wind Through the Keyhole (not my favorite of the series, and a bit of a disappointment for a long awaited addition to Sai King’s magnum opus). However, I don’t have a paper copy of it yet, only the Kindle version on an app on my phone, which makes me grateful for books even more. Hard to read on that tiny little screen. I’m also reading a lot of material for a Hillsdale College course I’m taking on economics.

A few of my favorite books over the years include:


Oncean Eagle by Anton Myrer


Band of Brothers
by Stephen E Ambrose

Knowing God by J. I. Packer


Churchill: A Life by MartinGilbert
 

It Doesn’t Take a Hero by H.Norman Schwarkopf



Reading is like being able to look out your bedroom window and change the view.

What’s your favorite book?
”The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” – Mark Twain
 

1 comment:

Does Air Exist said...

Great topic! I haven't read any of the books on your list. My favorite book of all time is Gone With the Wind. Most of my favorites are novels, but I do enjoy a good memoir on a regular basis.