A Free Bookstore; Government Works; And My 100 (or so) best books

Books are too expensive.  That being said, the small bookseller is being frozen out by the Barnes and Noble's, Cole's, Books-A-Million, and so forth.  Well, a small bookstore just opened for the right price:  The Prosecutor's Office Totally Free Bookstore.

The terms are simple - No LImit - No Returns - Pass It On.

We're not going to break the big boys.  But it's a modest start.  Located in front of the Assistant Prosector's desk at the Barbour County Courthouse.


Governement works:

Today was "President's Day," a legal holiday.  The following were taken at 2:00 PM:

The 100 Books:

For some strange reason - probably in reaction to something on Facebook - I was looking at a "100 Books to Read" list.  Then I googled "100 books" and it turns out that EVERYBODY has issue the 100 Best Books.  So what the heck? I read a lot, so this is the first installment of MY 100 books.

There are about 140,000,000 different books that have been published.  Unsurprisingly, picking the best hundred or even the favorite hundred is at least HIGHLY subjective.  

In fact, my 100 Best List may be  more or less than 100.  It will certainly take time to write a little about each book.  I feel cheated every time I read a 100 Best list that doesn't say WHY the book is good.  And my list is not in order of best to less best, or anything at all other than my unfettered whims.  Feel free to publish your own list.  I'll look at it, particularly if you say "why".

Number 1 - 

The Frontierman's, by Allen W. Eckert.  

This is a favorite book primarily because it introduced me to the "fellowship of readers," that group which will approach strangers and recommend a book.

  I was about 20 and was at the Mall in a small bookstore.  Oh, at that time, there was only one mall in these counties, and there was only one bookstore in it.  At that time, I was all about mass market paperbacks - Hardbacks were too expensive.

An old guy walked up to me, somebody I didn’t know.

Now, at that point, “an old guy” had the meaning of somebody over, say, 60.  Now, the definition is different, and I would consider him a young man in the prime of health.  But, then, he was an old guy.

He was carrying a book, The Frontiersman.  He told me, hey, son, you might like this book.  It’s an accurate history of the late 18th century from the Blue Ridge going west.  It’s written with dialogue by an historian who backs up the dialoge with historial letters (“He and I talked about thus-and-so.”) And he told me, again, I’d really enjoy it.

That was an important place in my “reading life.”  From that old guy, I learns that people are supposed to share what they have read that they like.  It showed me that there IS a community of book lovers.  And then, I felt a part of that community. 

Later, when chat rooms were all the rage, there was a book group on AOL.  While its vanished on line, a group of us who met 20+ years ago still interact - about books and life in general - on Facebook.  I’ve not personally met but a couple of these people, but they still are some of my dearest friends.  We’ve shared life’s ups and downs, and mourned some folks who’ve passed away.  

And a lot of the credit goes to that old guy.

OK, The Frontiersman.  This is the life of Simon Kenton, who was prominent in the westward push past the Blue Ridge.  He walked places I have walked.  He spent a winter where I have spend a night, at the confluence of the Elk River and the Kanawha River.  (When I spent the night there, it was in a Holiday Inn located right on his campsite.

Eckert talks neutrally about the American Indian. [See note 1] Some were noble; some savage; some both..  Some were smart.  Others, not so smart.  Like everyone.  It is, to quote Rumpole, "A whacking good read."

Note 1 - “American Indian” is what Russell Means called native Americans when he founded the American Indian Movement.