Book Club – Page 3 – They're Just Words

Posted on December 15, 2017December 13, 2017 by Patrick

Four Damn-Good Books, A Holiday Gift

Maybe you’re looking for a good book, maybe someone on you’re shopping list would appreciate swell words on interesting topics? So here’s a bunch of good ones. I have no idea why I’ve grouped them in multiples of four, but these are all five-star books, that you’ll remember four-ever. Make sure you scroll down because there are lots of categories, things like war stories and sports and rock & roll and great Americans and the Beatles and cowboys & indians … Almost all of these reviews come with free fun facts to keep you interested, and books are a great place to meet people.

Posted on December 7, 2017December 6, 2017 by Patrick

Words To Live By? Most Of Them Are In Books

“Go with confidence. Prize tolerance and horse sense. And sometime, somewhere along the way, do something for your country.”
Commencement speech words of author David McCullough

Books are beyond words. They are a port in a storm, sea spray to the face, illuminating sunshine, clouded landscapes. They are: “That’s so true”; “I never thought of it that way”; “This scares the shit out of me”; “Who would do that?”; “That makes me sad.” They are accomplishments, riddles, something to conquer, something to surrender to, an invitation, a warning, a confession, a time, a place, a figment of your imagination, a happy ending, an extended middle finger. They are where you look for things you didn’t know before.

Posted on November 11, 2017November 2, 2017 by Patrick

It’s Veteran’s Day, Read A Book

What follows is an excerpt from my recent book, Lessons From The Good Books, What a Reading Addiction Taught Me About America, Music & Sports ©2016. The “Lessons” are set off in bold type.

“Freedom has a taste to those that fight and almost die that the protected will never know.”

Most of the people I know I met in books. This is most likely an indictment of my social skills and friend-making abilities. Oh well. I met Frank Buckles. Frank Buckles, was the last living veteran of World War I. He died in 2011, he was 110. He lied to get into the service when he was sixteen and went to Europe on the Carpathia, the ship famous for rescuing survivors of the Titanic. Today a lot of people meet other people online or through some sort of smartphone app … You’re not gonna meet anyone like Frank Buckles on some fuckin’ app. I met Harry O’Neill and Elmer Gedeon. Harry and Elmer were the only two major leaguers to die in World War II. Harry only played in a single game; he never came to bat. I met Sergeant York. On October 8, 1918, Sgt. Alvin York single-handedly killed seventeen Germans and captured 123 more. York Avenue in NYC is his street.