In Which I Take Stock of My Reading Pile

As so often happens when I can't quite settle on one book to read, I find that I end up reading way too many at the same time and still check titles out from the library.

Here is a sampling of a few that are crowding my tabletops right now.

Beside my reading chair:

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith - This is the book I pick up at two in the morning when I wander down my hallway to the living room knowing sleep has deserted me for a while. It is the modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic. I am sort of familiar with the basic premise. (I saw the movie.) Anyway, I love AMS and being in his company in the middle of the night is soothing.

(If you haven't read my account of meeting Mr. McCall Smith, you can do so here.)

Plum Pie by P.G. Wodehouse - This is a collection of short stories or it may be selections from a few of his books, but in any case, I am always happy to be in Mr. W's world. This is also a good one to pick up in the case of insomnia. In between the stories, he writes short (undated) commentaries on what is going on in the news of the day under the title Our Man in America. One is an item from a small town in North Carolina about the theft of 25 church pews and the pulpit. He wonders how the thieves plan to fence these hot pews. In another, he bemoans the discontinuation of the autumn Woolly Bear Hunt in which specimens of the caterpillar of that name were collected and examined in an effort to predict the mildness or severity of the coming winter. 

When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning - Although I don't belong to a book club, a friend's group is reading this and he thought I would be interested in it. I am, but I have barely read past the introduction. It has to do with the free books sent to American troops during World War II. There were 120 million small paperback books - known as Armed Services Editions - printed for the reading enjoyment of soldiers and sailors. I wrote about a similar book, As You Were that was edited by Alexander Woollcott. It was one of my best used book discoveries ever! (You can read about that here.) My friend has invited me to attend the club's meeting and bring my vintage find. A sort of Show and Tell.

Beside my bed:

Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart - I remember reading Mary Stewart's suspenseful books in high school. Her novels seem to be making a comeback. This was her first and has all the characteristics that I remember: a young woman in a perilous situation not of her making, terrific place descriptions, and excellent prose. I have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy her sensory details - the song of the cicadas of an evening, the aroma of a morning cup of coffee, the glint of light on the river - and not rush along to find out what happens next. 

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome - This is my second reading of this classic comic novel. It's difficult to describe the events and meanderings that go on here but basically three fellows take off on a holiday in a boat up the River Thames. There is also a dog. You will just have to read it to get the full effect of this wonderful adventure published in 1889. It is as fresh and lively as ever.

Anything interesting on your reading tables? Are you enjoying one book or, like me, many? 

Robie Books and Berea, Kentucky

Berea College

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as visiting a small college town. Berea, Kentucky boasts Berea College with its shady, tree-filled campus, a historic restaurant and hotel, shops full of hand-made Kentucky art and crafts, art studios and galleries, and some very friendly folks.

On our visit to the town on Tuesday, a friend and I enjoyed a tasty Southern delicacy, a pulled pork sandwich topped with creamy coleslaw, at historic Boone Tavern.  We had a ball as we wandered in and out of shops and galleries featuring watercolor and acrylic paintings; photographs; pottery vases, mugs, and plates; woven scarves, blankets and rugs; wooden bowls, boxes and puzzles; metalwork; blown glass; and, beaded jewelry - necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings. All items are hand-made by Kentucky artisans. 

As we drove into town we noticed large, artistic painted hands in front of stores, on street corners, in small parks. These, we learned, were part of the public art project "Show of Hands". Very colorful and so fitting for a town that promotes hand-made objects.

Show of Hands

The town itself has a population of about 14,000 and the college has an enrollment of 1500 students. The college was founded in 1855 and every student attends tuition free. It draws mostly from the Appalachian region of the state giving the lowest of low-income  students with high academic qualifications a chance at a first-rate education. Many students are the first in their family to attend college.

Each student works at least ten hours a week on campus either in Boone Tavern and the hotel which belong to the college, in one of the college departments or offices, or in the student shop creating  jewelry, pottery, or woven pieces to be sold.

Of course, the trip would not have been complete without a visit to the local used bookstore Robie Books. The shop, located on the edge of the campus, is presided over by owner Avena Cash who greeted us from behind the front counter. She was surround by stacks of books on the floor that she was processing into the store's inventory. 

Robie Books was originally founded by a Mr. Robie (now deceased) and his wife. Avena and her husband bought it three years ago. There are no coffee machines, comfy chairs, or cats. However, there are plenty of books which is what makes a bookstore a bookstore. 

I rummaged through shelves of historic and classic fiction, mysteries, and children's books. Gardening and nature books and histories and biographies had rooms of their own. 

At one point I had in my hand a sweet little hardcover edition of Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell but left without buying it. I don't know what I was thinking. I must have been getting sleepy from my lunch. Oh, well. I can always call Avena and have her send it to me.

Robie Books owner Avena Cash

Anyway, I did pick up As You Were edited by Alexander Woollcott which contains short works by American writers and poets collected for servicemen overseas during World War II. A real treasure, to be sure.

It is a rare day that I enter a used bookstore and leave with only one book but, although it is a struggle, I am trying to keep my purchases limited to hardcover copies which helps keep my expenditures and TBR piles down.

As You Were edited by Alexander Woollcott

I love the drawings on the dust jacket of the soldiers
reading as they go about their military business.

This is my prize from yesterday's trip to Berea, Kentucky. I found it in Robie Books, a used bookstore on the edge of the Berea College campus. It was published in March 1943 as Alexander Woollcott's present to the troops overseas. Measuring just 4.5-by-7 inches, it must have fit nicely in a soldier's knapsack.

From the dust jacket:

Some people knit for the troops and some bake for them. Experts design their shoes and scientists balance their meals. But until Alexander Woollcott thought of it, no one had tried to make a book of entertaining reading just for them. As You Were is built like a jeep - it is compact, efficient, and marvelously versatile. Its purpose is recreation - in every sense of the word. It offers humor in abundance - from broad laughter to gentle mockery - as well as melodrama, suspense, and romance.

For being 70 years old this volume is in remarkable condition. Thank heavens, there are no bloodstains or bullet holes! For the reading enjoyment of a fella in the forces, there are nineteen fiction selections including stories by Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Ring Lardner, and O. Henry. 

The American Verse section includes forty-one poems by writers such as Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Walt Whitman. 

Twenty-five selections under American Fact include an essay by E.B. White, three speeches by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "A Talk to Young Men" by Robert C. Benchley, along with President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural speech, the Declaration of Independence, and the 1936 Thanksgiving Proclamation by Wilbur L. Cross, governor of Connecticut.

This book was actually published two months after Mr. Woollcott's death. During World War I, he served as editor of the military newpaper Stars and Stripes so he must have had some knowledge of what might entertain the soldiers. He also asked for recommendations from Carl Sandburg, Mark Van Doren, and Thornton Wilder. 

I am so glad I found this book. It seems to be a remarkable collection of just the sort of American writings to soothe many a homesick heart of soldiers overseas.