Some of you may be familiar with my main reading material. Why I have insomnia is beyond me. I just finished Culloden (the 1745 battle that Bonnie Prince Charlie lost), Mary Queen of Scots, a biography and am 1/3 through The Black Prince and the Capture of a King at Poitiers 1356. Next up is Midnight in Chernobyl, a history of the nuclear disaster in 1986. I am curious about everything.
Sometimes the weighty tomes bog me down and as I have likely blogged about before, I turn to western novels and short stories for relaxation. These are books I have read many many times over the years and I do mean years. Most of them are decades old, the covers torn, the pages brittle and yellow. Prices on the covers make me smile. One was 45 cents new, a few were 75 cents, and many were $1.50. Days long since past. Yes, I have them in e-book format but nothing beats the feeling of reading a real book.
Authors: Ernest Haycox and Louis L'Amour, in that order. Louis L'Amour books are readily available new or used. Ernest Haycox not so. I haven't seen a new one in years and the used book stores tell me if they get one in, it is usually gone by day's end. A company is digitizing them and selling them through Amazon for about $4. I now have over 20. Other authors I like but don't have many of their books are Dorothy M Johnson (The Hanging Tree and Indian Country), the best writer of western short stories in my opinion. Two of her stories were made into movies: A Man Named Horse and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. I have two books by Frank Slaughter, The Professionals and Segundo, two by Jack Schaefer, Shane and Monte Walsh, and two by Will Henry, The Fourth Horseman and The Feleen Brand.
Before I left Canada, I likely had 150 to 200 paperback Westerns, most of which my kids got. I brought about 30 or 40 with me including the ones mentioned above. I do need to raid their libraries again but it is at my own risk.
These two shoeboxes and a dozen more books are my Ukrainian paper library of Westerns. My e-library is pretty good but it is just not the same. If you click on the pictures, the titles are readable.
To all my readers, old friends and passers-by, I wish you a Happy New Year with health and happiness in abundance. May 2020 be a vast improvement (even a half vast improvement) over 2019.
Sometimes the weighty tomes bog me down and as I have likely blogged about before, I turn to western novels and short stories for relaxation. These are books I have read many many times over the years and I do mean years. Most of them are decades old, the covers torn, the pages brittle and yellow. Prices on the covers make me smile. One was 45 cents new, a few were 75 cents, and many were $1.50. Days long since past. Yes, I have them in e-book format but nothing beats the feeling of reading a real book.
Authors: Ernest Haycox and Louis L'Amour, in that order. Louis L'Amour books are readily available new or used. Ernest Haycox not so. I haven't seen a new one in years and the used book stores tell me if they get one in, it is usually gone by day's end. A company is digitizing them and selling them through Amazon for about $4. I now have over 20. Other authors I like but don't have many of their books are Dorothy M Johnson (The Hanging Tree and Indian Country), the best writer of western short stories in my opinion. Two of her stories were made into movies: A Man Named Horse and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. I have two books by Frank Slaughter, The Professionals and Segundo, two by Jack Schaefer, Shane and Monte Walsh, and two by Will Henry, The Fourth Horseman and The Feleen Brand.
Before I left Canada, I likely had 150 to 200 paperback Westerns, most of which my kids got. I brought about 30 or 40 with me including the ones mentioned above. I do need to raid their libraries again but it is at my own risk.
These two shoeboxes and a dozen more books are my Ukrainian paper library of Westerns. My e-library is pretty good but it is just not the same. If you click on the pictures, the titles are readable.
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| Should auld acquaintance be forgot. . . |
GROAN -- old lang sign! I read a few Louis L'Amour books when I was a kid, but those other authors are unknown to me. Happy New Year to you and your family and best wishes for 2020!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debra.
DeleteHappy New Year to you, Debra
DeleteI never "got" how re-reading good books was of interest . . . until I started doing it too. Now I understand. Maybe I just needed to get old enough :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you and your family!
Rereading after many years provides a whole new book. Perspective changes.
DeleteHappy New Year to you too
Ready or not, I'm back in your blog. I published a blog post today on my blog— first in a very long time. You won't get it because you don't follow "Bears Noting" any more. LIfe moves on.
ReplyDeleteHope you and Tanya (and your clan — now much too big to be classified as family) have a wonderful 2020. And if you sow any wild oat, may they be Quaker Oats — which make great oatmeal porrige.
And may you not erupt without warning.
I am so glad to see you back and if you are blogging regularly I will follow again.
DeleteHappy New Year, and happy reading. My old books are my treasured friends, too; although I find that the older I get, the smaller their print becomes. It must be shrinking in this humid Island climate... ;-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, Diane.
DeleteAge is why I have three pairs of glasses. The reading pair is for 30 cm distance
I agree, I like to have a REAL book in my hand, one made of paper and cardboard with REAL words printed on it, not one of those e-books. Actually I have never tried reading an e-book but I'm pretty sure I won't like it! I don't have many treasured novels (only in my mind), but I use the local library a lot. There's always a couple of good books on my bedside table. In fact I blog my reading list every January for the past year, check it out and see if you have read any of the same titles. Wishing you and Tanya and Lucky and the rest of the crew a very happy and healthy and creative 2020!
ReplyDeleteEbook have advantages. No shipping and instant delivery. 650 occupy 1.4 GB space. Disadvantage no impressive library and no bragging rights.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you and yours too.