The Mystery Solved*

I have always considered myself a literature snob. Since high school at least, or the beginning of it at some place along the walk to St. Thomas Aquinas.

But my first love of books came in grade school, the days of long walks to the library and the selection of books from the Adult Section where I had special permission to go. My first loves were the combination of animals and books: Black Beauty, Lassie Come Home, The Black Stallion, anything by Terhune and Farley. That is how you learn the names of authors. Of course there were the Nancy Drew mysteries. Oh, and the My Friend Flicka set. I went to school with black bags under my eyes.

But then I graduated. I took up the things of the classics and the literary books. American literature, English literature. Hawthorne, Poe, Steinbeck… I even tried to read Emerson. That reading is different from the earlier things, of course. I learned to read and think, then read and think and write. (N.B. all over the place—such a pedant.) Now the books take some time to digest. It’s the stopping to think and consider. They aren’t the type of books to take to bed with you and have “one more page” until you’re up all night. Well, you might be, but not for the reading of it. I have a Berger that I’ve had for years and never finished, and still love.

Fast forward to now. Now and the power outage. The power outage at night meant candles and flashlights. I also had the good fortune to have a laptop easily chargeable by car battery. Reading by candlelight became tedious and annoying. Ergo, the laptop and Kindle. Somehow, from curiosity mostly, I ended up trying an Outlander book, by Diana Gabaldon.

And that’s how it began—again. The story…the plot; the plot…the story. Reading all night. I didn’t go to swimming all week. I did nothing online. I didn’t practice piano. I didn’t write. I just read. It’s hardly literary meat for the starving. But it’s damn good entertainment.

Do note this, the books are not trade paperback but mass market. These very long books (800 and over 1000 pages) are in very small print. I’m sticking with the ebooks. And I just ordered another: The Fiery Cross.