I recently read a book by Susan Hill called Howards End is on the Landing. A thoughtful book about the books in her personal library and her reading preferences.
A most interesting book – I could not agree with a number of her choices but more importantly it set me thinking about what I choose to read and the books I keep on my shelves. I read a lot. I have almost always read a lot. But I have not had the luxury of keeping all the books I have wanted to have a permanent place in my home. We have just moved house and country too often for that. But, I’ll now think about what is on my shelves now – and reminisce about certain books in the past and in other places.
……to be continued
Here’s the book for all history enthusiasts. In a book store in Mystic Connecticut, I found this book about the history of Maine – titled The Lobster Coast, Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier, by Colin Woodard. As one would expect, there’s quite a bit of detail about fish and the fishing industry, particularly lobsters. But there is also a lot to make one think about the rights of Native Americans and the rights and relationships between the original settlers and the subsequent waves of “newcomers”, right up to the present day transformations of land use and the questions of distribution of wealth.
I am enjoying reading this book about English history. On first encountering it one would think that it would be a pretty tough read, but no, somehow the author has made it flow. Maybe it’s because I am eager to find some of my ancestors. The author, Dan Jones, covers the years 1120-1399. I’ve been able to trace a few of my ancestors back that far.
Here’s a book for the New Year 2017. Truth Like the Sun by Jim Lynch. An interesting fictional take on Seattle’s history since the World’s Fair in 1962. I found this book 2nd hand at Eagle Harbor Books over on Bainbridge Island. It had lurked near the bottom of my unreads pile for about a year.
This is one of the books I read while I was in Glastonbury Connecticut last week. A lucky find on my son’s bookshelf. It made for grim but gripping reading. And it was sad too. We whites were the immigrants pushing aside the Native Indian peoples.
