NEW BOOKS

SO somebody asked me if I'd read all fifty books I bought while on vacation. Duh! Of course not. (By the way another six books have arrived by mail and there are a few more that I have to order before my special discount runs out.) Anyway, not all the books are the kind you read through. Several are commentaries, books you use for the study of the Bible. You consult them as needed. I have used three of them already for the Bible study on Mark we're doing at church.


I have, however, read several of the books. First, Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. The book was written for the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Exhibition which I never saw. It contains eight lavishly illustrated chapters on various aspect of Franklin's life as a scientist, a politician and statesman, a printer, and as a possible abolitionist. The later chapter is interesting because at one time Franklin was a slave holder, but in 1787 he became president of the Pennsylvania society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery. What changed his mind? Historians don't seem to know what made the change, only that he did change. This is quite different from may of today's politicians who brag about never changing their positions of anything. It has been just that sort of prideful stubbornness that has gotten us into such trouble. We could use some more practical statesmen like Franklin.


I also read the children's book The Magic Shop by H. G. Wells in an edition illustrated by François Roca. I didn't know this short story at all, but the essence of the story is a magic shop that turns out the be a real Magic Shop.


Next on the completed list is Chicago Originals: A Cast of the City's Colorful Characters by Kenan Heise and Ed Baumann. I have to grant that New York has produced more famous people than Chicago, and certainly there are more movies stars in LA than Chicago. (Although, Chicago was a great movie making center in the silent film days.) However, Chicago has had per capita more characters than any other great city. There's Al Capone, of course, and the notorious Everleigh sisters, but also Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini (now a saint) and Louis Sullivan. But it's the politicians that give Chicago is character as the "Windy City": "Bathouse" John Coughlin and Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna, "Paddy: Bauler and Richard J. Daley–Hizzoner. The book is far from complete lacking "Big Jim" Colosimo and Jane Adams and Colonel McCormick and William Wrigley and Oprah Winfrey and Studs Terkel, but it's a start.


Speaking of Studs, he passed away while I was in Chicago at the tender age of 96. Among other things, Studs was the popularizer of oral histories. I picked up to of his books, Hope Dies Last and The Good War. I also bought Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation of which I read about 60 pages so far.


The final book for now is one I haven't exactly read, but I've listen to. It's a collection of three of the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries by Dorothy Gilman. Mrs. Pollifax is an older woman (sort of like a Miss Marple) who works for the CIA. It's quite an accident that she began in this role, but she looks like the least likely person to be a spy so who better to send on missions? I stumble in the series a few months ago and have been listening to recordings of them in my car as I travel around. I have listened to A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax and am in the midst of Mrs Pollifax on Safari. I picked up this collection in hardbound for $1.00.

There are more books to report on, but they are of a rather heavier sort, so I'll leave them for another time.


May you enjoy a good book or two (or a dozen) on your pilgrimage. May the days of Advent prepare the Way. And may the Lord bless you on your journey and welcome you on your arrival.


Wayne


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