Monday: Ex Libris

*Before we go anywhere, make sure you stop by The Wise (*Young*) Mommy today. It's the start of the He Said/She Said pissing contest. Confused? Just go. Well, not yet. I mean, read me first, right. Today's contenders are Cajoh and Irish Gumbo. There will be blood.


My bed-side table.



Some time last year I was tagged by Heinous for a book meme. I held off doing it because, while I liked the meme and I love books, I wanted to do something a little different. Last week-ish I was tagged by Mama Dawg with another meme and since I still hadn't gotten around to my own book post I figured I should just do it. Plus, she's got that accent. You know, that read the phone book one?

So, first question is what book has been on your shelf the longest?

Mack Bolan: The Executioner.


Not exactly Dostoevsky, but it eventually led to Dostoevsky. And that's something I think parents should keep in mind. If your child is reading, it doesn't matter what kind of crap they're into, all that matters is that they are reading. Don't try and push books you enjoyed and that you think they should enjoy too. Let them get to it in there own time. Anyway, every Sunday my parents would sit down in the living room with a coffee or tea and read. One day I decided I wanted to join them and my dad gave me this. From there I went on to the Africa of Wilbur Smith and the swash buckling adventures of Clive Cussler. Then my mom gave me Leon Uris' Exodus. Oy! I loved that book. Then along came Stephen King and Tom Clancey and it never stopped.

A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.):

I love history and art, so when The Book, A History of the Bible by Christopher de Hamel came out a few years back I asked for it for Christmas. Supreme Leader asked her sister to hide it in her house (like I'm a snoop or something) but she hid it so well she couldn't find it for nine months.

The most recent addition to your shelves:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I needed a new book like I need a hole in the head, but Middle Aged Woman recommended it. Yes, period. End of sentence. She is wise in the ways of The Force. High praise indeed. Well, that and I was looking for something historical.

A book that’s been with you to the most places: That would be this.



I bought it in Paris on September 14, 1990. According to a note I wrote inside it was soaked in a rain storm in Helsinki six days later. That book criss-crossed Europe a hundred times over. From Barcelona to Prague and from Rome to the Arctic Circle. It even crossed Canada in a Grey Hound.

There was one question that I didn't really like, a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.). Well, they all do in some way or another. Instead of that, how about last book finished? That would be The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon which was pretty good. It's basically a detective story that takes place in a world where Israel never became a country. Instead the European refugees of WWII are granted temporary residency in Sitka, Alaska. The story takes place 60 years later in the last few weeks leading up to the reversion when the Jews have to find another place to live. If you think that's a crazy idea, it was actually proposed to Congress in 1940.