Reading Is Super Cool

They say reading is fundamental, but I say it's super cool.

If you can get interested in a book -- and the first chapter's usually the toughest -- you'll find great rewards in reading. I know I have, finding the various stories very appealing.

I was at the town library yesterday, and I must say, they have a lot of great books. If you follow a few simple rules, they leave you alone. You can look to your heart's content. And you can read all you want ... for free!

If you qualify for a library card, and most people who can show positive identification and are patient through the waiting period do, you can check out books, also to your heart's content. I've got four books right here!

No one gave me any grief while I was there. I probably could've gone in there with a scoop shovel and no one would've cared!

Summer is coming to a close. It'll be ending any day now. But while it lasts, how about doing yourself a favor, and reading!

I Don't Think It Was J.D. Salinger

When I lived in Iowa City starting in 1973, there was a bookstore right next to the bank downtown. Iowa City had a bunch of temporary buildings down the main street at the time. Among these was an early incarnation of Little Caesars Pizza, including a big statue of the Caesar. There was a sub store called "Bushnell's Turtle." And lots of other cool little shops.

At the main corner, where the bank was, just catty corner from the Pentacrest was a bookstore in one of these temp buildings. Corner of Washington and Clinton. Some brothers ran it, 2 or 3 brothers. Their last name, I think, started with B, but I can't remember the name of their store. I used to go in there all the time.*

Sitting by the door several times there was an old man on a chair. I heard people whispering that he might be J.D. Salinger. I looked at him several times and wondered. But I guess it probably wasn't, since J.D. lived out east somewhere (I heard since). He died today or yesterday. I heard about it today.

When you're young, the old man sitting there just might be J.D. Salinger. You're practically willing to believe anything.

UPDATE (Feb. 13, 2010) - I found it. It wasn't a B but an E, so the B wasn't doing me any good. The place was called Epstein's Bookstore. The brothers were Harry Epstein and Glen Epstein. There's a site here about Glen, who passed away. Over there they mention their bookstore was there from 1968-1978. I didn't find this (the name of the bookstore) by searching on Google, because I tried that. I found it by getting a subscription to newspaperarchive.com. In the Sept. 20, 1973 issue of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, page 1, it was announced that Harry Epstein was a candidate for the city council. That's the picture of him from the article.

A Kindle

There's now a Kindle in the family, not mine.

I'm going to be testing it out with a book, though, in case I want to get one. Right now I'm not a big fan, for various reasons. One, it seems a little tough to navigate to various places in a book. But I haven't really had much of a chance to mess with it.

And looking at the books at Amazon that are available, it doesn't seem like an endless selection yet. It still looked pretty limited even at thousands.

But who knows? If I get some face- and hand-time with it, maybe I'll be captivated.

Also I want to see if there's some way of brightening it up. It seems a little too dull looking for my eyes. We shall see how it works out. So far ... not much experience.

Amazon Selleth, Amazon Taketh

This is ridiculous, that users of the Kindle reading thing can wake up to find their books gone.

According to this article, that's what happened. The books were Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, which the publisher decided, apparently, they didn't want to be available for the Kindle. Which of course would be fine for future sales, but past sales??

The books were deleted and the users given a credit. Unbelievable! As crazy as anything I've heard. That would give me a reason right there to ignore the Kindle. As if I didn't have enough reasons. I like books I can get my hands on. Books that will be with me when I'm in the nursing home someday. Not here today and gone tomorrow. I thought that already in the electronic sense, with the thing breaking. But I never imagined that you could buy something and have it gone tomorrow. I'm floored really.

I've been buying MP3 files at Amazon. I hope I don't wake up to see them all deleted somehow. Not that I see how they could do that. But they could have something embedded in them to make them quit working. What do I know about an MP3 file? Let's say I sign into the Amazon and they download a code to my computer that says none of my MP3s should work anymore. Because the record company didn't want them sold anymore.

I've bought books from Amazon too. I definitely don't want to wake up at night and have Amazon going through my shelves looking for them because the publisher changed their mind. This thing with the Kindle is just as ridiculous.

Talk about Orwellian.

Notes for Bibliophiles

Notes for Bibliophiles -- The official blog of the Special Collections department of the Providence Public Library.

Tons of interesting things, stories about books and authors, with lots of cool photos of rare things.

John Wesley Hardin, Texas Gunfighter

Here's an old book I never saw before: John Wesley Hardin, Texas Gunfighter. But it was at one of the thrift stores I go to. And since books are so cheap there -- a quarter -- I thought I'd get it.

I know the Bob Dylan album, which has "Harding" with a G.

'He was a friend to the poor, he traveled with a gun in every hand, and he was never known to hurt an honest man. No one could track him down, and he was never known to make a foolish move.'

The book is a short one, 127 pages, and a fast read. It was written by Lee Floren, published by Macfadden Books in 1962. It says it was a Macfadden original book, not published anywhere else before. And the original price was 35 cents. So, getting it where I got it, that was only a dime less than original. But if it had been at Goodwill, it would've been 50 cents. So, that's a savings! But 35 cents in 1962 was of course not 35 cents now.

The book plots the movements of John, usually called Wes Hardin. He's a kid who gets in a fight with a guy -- Mage -- then Mage later attacks him and Wes kills him. Getting away from that whole situation, he needs to kill a few other guys. Then he kills some other guys. Pretty soon he kills some other guys. Then he needs to kill some others. By the time he gets done killing, I've lost track of how many it was, but the cover says, "Murderer of forty men." Whether any of those were "honest men" who were killed, I suppose it depends on who you ask.

There's a big moment when Wes is in Abilene, Kansas, and Wild Bill Hickok is the marshal there. Wes gets away with plenty -- tons -- and eventually is able to make Wild Bill back down -- called "back watering" -- and he rides away free. The book gives the story of Wes' family, a minister father, a lawyer brother, and the comings and goings of their outlaw son/brother.

There's $800 on his head, but for some reason, no one can ever get him. He's off then for a while to Florida, with an assumed name, with his wife. Then in Louisiana. Finally back in Texas, and he is caught and sent to prison. This is a good section, as he tries to escape, then has to be punished. It looks like he had the mind to drown rather than submit, when they have him in a big thing of water to torture him, and he gets out of that. He studies to be a lawyer, and he's a minister for a while.

Toward the end he's over at El Paso -- there originally on a legal case -- then gets killed by being shot in the back of his head.

It's a quick read, like I said. It marches right along and has lots of interesting things. It wasn't written for the kiddie market, since it mentions Wes' experiences with prostitutes and madams a few times, their "crib" over the saloon.

What it really makes me wonder about is how a guy could get away -- and keep getting away. It seems like all the Rangers in Texas. All the authorities. Somehow they'd be able to put the clamps on this one single guy. But, hey, I also wonder how Robin Hood could manage to elude the Sheriff of Nottingham. It can't be that hard to do: use a laser gun, a 30-ought-6, a cruise missile, something, and you can bring down these elusive outlaws!