Old Missoula

11/27/17

Books, Rules and The Escaping business

I was asked a few years ago, what books do I read. I didn’t quite know how to answer that. When I see people being queried about what they are currently reading, I am often surprised at how easily they seem to be able to answer. If I were/was[1] asked that question now it would take me a while to answer. I seem to start reading different things and then put them away in what I guess I would call my second-look pile. The second-look pile seems to have gotten out of control. I like to have a stockpile of items that I can easily go to when I am between first-read items, but I do not regularly visit that stockpile and have become a little embarrassed/disappointed at my lack of tenacity. Revisiting them seems less important all the time.

In the same vein, I used to read a lot of what I guess you can call classic authors. Mostly American, but not all. Start with Nobel prize winners I thought, as they certainly carry some heft. I cannot think of any that I read that were not impressive and would recommend that as a starting place for anyone. Same with National Book award winners – at least the ones I’m familiar with.

Then there is a lesser, but fascinating, group that grabs the imagination, lighting it up like a torch. Maybe they didn’t win the prize of the day, but they nevertheless achieved a place somewhere in the highly regarded readership spectrum. Several books did that for me. One in particular was Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

I was extolling this book to my son one day when he asked me what is it about. I was stunned because I had almost completely forgotten what it was about. If it was so good why didn’t I remember it? Good question.

What I distinctly remembered was the effect it had on me at the time, not necessarily the story in particular. It was embarrassing to have to answer that way, but that was the only answer I had.

Not long ago I resolved to remedy that and set about rereading that book. Was it still so impressive after about a 50-year lapse? It wasn’t quite the same, but it is still an impressive story and Conrad’s prose is always a delight. His ability is particularly impressive when you consider that English was a second language for him. He is in that rare company of authors whose story has a quality that set it apart before he even wrote the first sentence.

Several other books did that for me. Shane by Jack Schaefer is one. Another is Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. If I were/was asked the question – what should anyone be reading now – I think I would refer them to a little essay by Montana author Archie Joscelyn called The Lost World of Books. He aptly points out that people have forgotten how to read. Although he doesn’t say it in this essay, somewhere else he has said you should read everything you can get your hands on.

Growing up I seemed to notice that several people around me were often reading books. One neighbor friend in particular seemed to read books by the cart load, yet he didn’t say much about them. Later, he explained to me that it was a source of escape for him. I guess you could say that many good authors are in the escaping business.

I am currently rereading Wah-To-Yah by Lewis H. Garrard. It’s an impressive account of the author’s trip to Taos in the 1846. He was still in his teens on this trip, but his writing has a quality beyond his years. I’m rereading with a dictionary close at hand because he uses words and terms I’m not familiar with.