Speaking Volumes

The Sunday, August 10^th Hartford Courant ran an article, Pivotal Products: What Item Could You Not Live Without? Items such as tv's, smartphones, ipods, were tops on the list and didn't surprise me or reporter Zachary Abrahamson. Quirky things like a Pullman Vacuum, electric iron, cocoa butter lotion left us both scratching our heads. But nowhere on the list did I see my passion, books! Books may not quite meet the criteria of What One Item but certainly, each book I'm currently reading becomes the "Cherished One". I just couldn't imagine life without books and every nook, cranny and bookshef in my house can attest to that. I may never actually read some of them but they look good on the shelves. Take for instance, Man Against Nature, edited by Charles Neider. It has been sitting there waiting to be read for a long time. Picked up a book sale, it contains tales of true, eye-witness accounts told by the world's great explorers, and adventurers. Another languishing in a pile is The Righteous Men: The End of The World is Coming One Body At A Time by Sam Bourne. Ok, I don't even remember how that one appeared. Would you believe it's fiction and deals  with several seemingly unrelated mysterious deaths that may be actually tied to an ancient prophecy that leads to the end of the world? Sounds good doesn't it, but there it sits as others take precedence and become the choice to read. Then there's the books I collect just in case I may want to do some research or look something up. One such is The Complete Idiot's Guide to American History, 2^nd ed. You could probably open this one to any spot and learn something. Or how about  Presidential Anecdotes by Paul F. Booler, Jr? It has lots of tidbits about the men who called The White House home. I never knew much about most of our presidents but this one is chock full of great stories and lots of trivia you can use to wow your friends. Did you know that Rutherford Hayes introduced morning prayers, and nightly hymn sings  to the White House? Profanity, tobacco, and liquor vanished under his precidency. The public dubbed Mrs. Hayes as “Lemonade Lucy” due to the alcohol ban but President Hayes took credit for this himself. I like the way all these books look on my shelves. They bring me comfort and are dear to me, like old friends. I'll share a few from time to time.

How about you? What's on your shelf or to be read pile?