I cannot choose only THREE books that have profoundly influenced my life!!! Billy, you’re a better man than I …… wait a minute, that doesn’t sound right. . .
However, I will choose three books from childhood and three from adulthood.
(It’s my solution to the Kobiashi Maru scenario.)
You get points if you know what movie that is from.
Childhood:
“The How and Why Story Book”
Copyright 1953
This book was filled with poetry that my mother read to me, over and over and over until she was probably sick of it.
But Robert Lewis Stevenson is now hardwired into my brain.
This is a good thing.
Here is a picture from the book, which I still have.
(Not being a pack rat, this is a minor miracle)
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“A Wrinkle In Time” by Madeline L’Engle
Solo and I share this one. I think I started to believe anything was possible while reading that book. (I still believe that )
“Grapes of Wrath” by Steinbeck
Which I read when I was about 16. It was the first book that I couldn’t put down.
I learned about human suffering AND compassion.
As an adult:
The Bible
There is no wonder that it is called THE BOOK.
C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy:
“Out of the Silent Planet”
“Perelandra”
“That Hideous Strength”
(I know, I know, it’s three books…. But they GO together….see ?)
And finally,
“Innerspace” by Aryeh Kaplan
This is a book I just keep reading over and over like a mantra.
There, I feel better now. It is one thing to talk about books that you enjoyed, and another altogether to list ones that changed you somehow.
* * *
I went out beyond the subdivision into the fields today.
The wind smelled like Alaska, and felt like it too, but the sky is as clear as it ever has been. I could see the snow on the mountains to the east…. Far off, but there.
There was a hawk taking advantage of the free breeze to do some hunting. I think he was hoping the voles might come out for some sun. All the tall grasses have fallen over and the new grass is coming up, some of it as fine as hair and about 4 inches tall. The rest is some kind of broad leaf grass. In any event, because the grass is short, you can see all last years’ vole trails. Looks like they had the run of the place. It’s a veritable jigsaw of trails. They were everywhere. In the summer, even when you walk along the country road, you can hear them scurrying along in the dry grasses just a few feet from you. If I had a dollar for every vole in the area surrounding our subdivision, I would be rich as Croesus.
I am hoping the icy wind blew some of the cobwebs out of my head.
We shall see.