Compulsively Aimless

  Books Read 2019 If you're a runner, I suppose finishing a marathon is an ultimate goal.  You collect a runner's high and hold a badge of honor.  For reading, my goal for 2019  was to read 100 books.  Yesterday I finished the year with 102. If you're raised in the midwest, you're not supposed to brag but I will share this with Goodreads since the site is about sharing our reading experiences. And like a runner, there were times on the journey when I was exhausted but there were probably more moments of experiencing a reader's high. What did I learn?  It pushes you to read outside your normal area of interest but don't be too structured about what you plan to read.  Be open and go with the flow of your current interest.  Here are some stats on types of books read:   Travel/Place - 14 History - 14 Non-fiction 11 Novels - 9 WWII - 7 Digital World - 8 Art - 5 Biography -5 Poetry - 5 Memoir - 5 Photography - 4 Language - 3 Sci-Fi- 3 Philosop...

November 7-8: The overnight in Springfield, the log report the hotels were filled up with 700 Republicans.  Before leaving Springfield, John bought arctic overshoes to cope with the mud.    In the little town of Ashland, they spot American Crayon 30 Blendwell and Chroma points.  John says it boosts their spirits to see something from Sandy.   They overnight in Quincy where the natives seem to be enjoying themselves on a Saturday night. 

The crew is up at 6:30 to leave Indianapolis but not before buying mud hooks, and then buying more mud hooks.  Lynn Curtis looks very blue according to Earl.  Without road maps they rely on locals for directions.  Without good dope they go off course.  The roads turn from gravel to mud and they resort to putting mud chains on tires.  When they drive into a ditch, they are pulled out by a local farmer in a Ford truck They drive late into the night to reach Decatur, IL.  The crew's big ambition is to be in Kansas City by Sunday.  The rest of their entries are consistently succinct: Mud. Mud. Mud.

November 5: Springfield, OH to Indianapolis, IN  

Exactly one-hundred years ago today, November 4, 1919, my grandfather John Whitworth convinced three of his hometown friends to attempt a cross-country drive under the cruelest of conditions.  The men were inexperienced, the car was subject to regular breakdowns, and the highways were a series of unmapped dirt roads. This was still an era when passenger trains were the only acceptable means to cross the continent.  Anyone who attempted such a journey by automobile was likely to be considered eccentric or foolish or both. To the drivers of today, however, the four young men would be considered pioneers. During the month of November, I'll be posting excerpts from  the logbook my grandfather kept of their journey from  Sandusky, Ohio to Pasadena, California. The car they drove was a 1915 Fiat Riviera. My grandfather recorded the mileage, location, time, and comments on the road about  the people, places and things that he witnessed. He...

When my parents died, I inheirted their libraries.  One set of 28 books were from The Modern Library series.  The series was created in 1917 with the intent to provide American readers with inexpensive reprints of what were considered important European titles and a few contemporary American books.  The books were issued in compact, hard-cover with a textured cloth in two-tone finish and without dust jackets. (There are different color schemes but I've never figured out if there is a signficance to the color combinations.)  The series adopted a running torchbearer as its logo.  The Modern Library was sold in 1927 to a new publisher, Random House, lead by editor Bennett Cerf. Random House added more titles over time billing tself as “The Modern Library of the World’s Best Books” but kept its mission the same.  The series, published thorough the 1930s, reached some 280 titles and covered authors from Aristotle to Zola.   I recall seei...

Duel at the Haiku Coral Junior fought a haiku duel with the old witch and won! Beach Combing Everyone is a collection of stories and when they die their stories scatter washing up on different shores to be discovered by beach combers or stay buried under the sand. Eternity Road Driving eternity road in an 18-wheeler of flammable emotion the rest stops are shuttered except for the coin-operated machines offering heroism, selfishness, and endless confusion. Dark and Light Dawn and dusk and the boundaries are’t clear but I see rivers of darkness rushing through the night Curl away the brown wrapper and there’s a new morning Here Be Monsters Dark poetry drove sailors over the edge of the map. I Saw This in a Movie A figure on the horizon the hero waits too long deceived and disarmed but if he had acted too soon it would have been murder. Battle of the Bands : Honorable idiots vs. Imbeciles for Hire Wrong Again vs. Revenge Men Favorite Phantons vs. Real Imposters Fancy Types vs. Rus...