Hilary Booth... of course!

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I just finished reading Bob Greene's Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen. It's about a small town in Nebraska that decided to open up a canteen for US soldiers during WWII. The troop trains would stop for ten minutes and the canteen would provide coffee, sandwiches, cigarettes, magazines. The book is littered with remembrances of war veterans and canteen helpers and locals. It's about an America that's disappearing. It's also a love story about trains or at least how they impacted the small towns they passed through. The saddest parts of the story aren't the war stories as much as the disappearance of the train station. I heard about the book when I was temping at the SEC and Harvey Pitt, the then-chairman, mentioned the book favorably in a lecture. That's what I love about books. You discover them in interesting ways, whether they're recommended by a friend or spotted on a bookshelf. There are the books you have to read for class and there are the ones you kick back and read on a weekend.

I also read Irene Nemirovsky's "Fire in the Blood" which was short and unsatisfying. Given the author's tragic history, that criticism is hard to give. Who knows how that book would have turned out if she'd had more time to revise it? That makes me look at my own works with a different eye. If I left tomorrow, if I couldn't write anything more, what would I leave behind? A lot of unfinished ideas and convoluted plots. Theoretically it should galvanize me into working harder.

I read for enjoyment. I read for escape. But I also read for knowledge and history and understanding. I want to visit places I will never see. I want to pack my bags for that great adventure whether it's Narnia or Hogwarts or New York or wartime London. Reading is a tool, but it's a great joy too.