Not sure as always when I start what I want to write about. I found a new little book store on Friday. You know the kind that used to be everywhere that sells used books for a reasonable price. The Little Shop of Wonders a very nice clean store and organized in a fashion that you can find what you are looking for. I bought two new books Marjory Stoneman Douglas' The Everglades: River of Grass and Washington Irving's The Sketch Book. both caught my eye and both right inside the door.
They have a section of Florida books and that is where I found the first book for less than a dollar. Yes, it is yellowed with age but so am I and the price is right for a book that I have wanted to read for a while. Written in 1947 about a place I have only driven through but would like to visit. As humans I find it sad what we do to nature to suit our needs. Our need to live in beautiful weather year round. Our need to live beyond our means. Our need for our own little slice of heaven on earth. But in the process we dry up places that have been wet before white men came to this country and flood areas that have never been wet. We kill off entire species so we can live in the beautiful place that we found beautiful because of the plants and animals. When we invade we are like the Brazilian pepper tree impossible to get rid of once it has taken root. I have only read the first chapter but she starts at the beginning with how the Everglades got it's name and explained that it is a river that ebbs and flows. She also shows that in the 1940's some of the smarter than average humans had already started to notice the damage we were doing but still today we argue how to resolve the problem but she fought her whole live to make the Everglades back to the natural wonder it once was. I know we can't undo all of what we have done but it makes me happy to see that there are still people trying to preserve the natural beauty and give us the ability to visit parts of the River of Grass without ruining it further.
Now off of my soap box and the second book I selected a less than $4 purchase and it to published in the 1940s but it is a compilation of short stories written by Washington Irving in the 1820s. I read 4 of them so far one called The Voyage about an American going to Europe for the first time and as he cruises across the ocean how the trip cleanses you from where you are from and opens you up to what you are about to see. The one thing I have noticed about great writers is they use five or six words to say what could be said with two. You just don't say that it is a beautiful day. You say something like I woke to cool breeze that smells of fresh laundry hanging to dry and the sunshine on your face warms you from the inside out. My words not his. He would be much more poetic. The second was called Roscoe. He writes of going to a library of the day in England and meeting William Roscoe a person he feels is an icon but here he is in place where others gather to read and catch up on the news and Roscoe is just a normal person. For those that have never been to a library he is describing a scene you might find on morning in Starbucks of today (just guessing because I have only been in one once.) The third was called The Wife now if you are a married man and you have lived through some hard times and the person that got you through those times is that beautiful bride you picked for yourself a long time ago you will appreciate this story. He describes her as poetic as first love but with the hard times comes a sense of stability one might not feel on their own. She is the voice that says everything is going to be ok, even when she is not sure that is the case. She makes you face what you are not willing to face alone and she stands by you even after the worst has happened. Makes me kind of proud to be The Wife. And the last on Rip Van Winkle. I remember the story from my child-hood a less than ambitious man goes off for a walk on day and decides to stay for the night in the woods is better than facing his wife. He loses his dog and meets up with a strange small man and then doses off for the night. When he wakes and heads home nothing is quite the same as it was and he doesn't see any people he recognizes and he is starting to wonder if he is in the right village when he comes across his own house and it was in poor shape when he left yesterday but today it is abandon. What could have happened he wonders so he heads over to one of his favorite resting spots and inquires where his friends are and he is told they have been dead on 18 years. When he inquires of himself now not even sure who he is people tell him the story of how he wandered off one day and never came back. As he explains who he is they are amazed by the tale he tells.
When they say they don't write them like that any more that is no joke. Great little story that you can't put down. I didn't plan on doing book reviews today but maybe someone reading this on their computer will be inspired to pick up a book and enjoy.
