Yesterday Dave and I made a trip to Morgantown, WV and spent a good bit of time at Barnes and Noble. The resulting purchases reflect our current interests.
Dave wants to see the big picture of history, so his huge foldout book starts with Adam and Eve. The complexity of the charts increases as Chinese dynasties of 600 - 500 B.C. create a time line that parallels Confucius, Aesop, Pythagoras, and Daniel in the lion's den. The ending date of 2004 shows Queen Elizabeth II, the continuing Chechyna War of independence from Russia, and George W. Bush. So much of what we learned in history and Bible came in chunks that did not interrelate. Dave has always wanted such a comparative study laid out country alongside country, and now he has it.
My selection, Letters to Malcolm, marks an ongoing quest of mine to read the major works of C.S. Lewis. Currently our Sunday School class is studying Lewis' The Great Divorce, so my choice of a book testifies to the reawakening of my long-term goal.
Finally, Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly is a gift for Austyn Grace, our two-year-old granddaughter who arrives with her parents tonight. Since we live here in the woods, we see many fireflies at night. My thought in buying this children's book was to hopefully make a connection for Austyn Grace between what she reads and what she experiences.
Buying books takes thought and purpose; maybe that's why I can spend so much time --not to mention money -- in a book store.
Clearly you need to bring the thought and purpose and money to Dallas friend -- where Doug and yours truly "haunt:" Half-Price Books -- a guilty pleasure if ever there was one: a book store the size of a Lowe's or Home Depot!
ReplyDeleteI love reading about Austen Grace!