I've been doing more reading than usual this summer, what with my proofreading work being extremely slow and with the Texas heat being extremely hot. I decided I wanted to go back in time and read some of the novels I somehow managed to miss in earlier times of my life. Currently my book of choice is "Caravans" by James A. Michener, first published in 1963. At a mere 336 pages, it is almost a short story compared to other Michener epics such as Hawaii, Centennial, or Chesapeake. The story is about a young State Department employee stationed in Kabul at the US Embassy in 1946 who is given the task of searching for a young woman from Pennsylvania who ran away and married an Afghani citizens and now who seems to have disappeared behind the chaderi and the mystique of this ancient land. Although the 16 years between the story date and the publication date brought much change to Afghanistan, including paved roads, airports and tourism, and schools, I had friends in the 1970s who were in the Peace Corps in Kabul and their stories upon their return were no different than the stories Michener relates in mid-1940s Afghanistan. Then came the Russian invasion and the wars that our country has been involved in, so it is no longer a place where many of us would feel comfortable visiting, even if it was allowed.
But this post was originally intended to be about the physical book, not the story and certainly not a critique or a review (I leave such things to my daughter who is much more gifted in that area than I). I wasn't even sure I would find a book this old in the Nacogdoches Public Library but they did have one copy on the shelf.
As I opened the book I discovered the spine was broken and the cloth binding was in shreds. I even wondered should I take this book home with me. I discussed it with the librarian and I assured her I would be very gentle with it if she would promise that if I hand delivered it back to the front desk rather than throwing it in the return book bin that she would see to it that it was properly repaired.
She put a notice inside the front jacket with the instruction to mend. Even though Nacogdoches PL does electronically scan books that are borrowed, they still use the "return due date" slip on the flyleaf. I rather like that. I can see at a glance when I need to return it. Reviewing this slip tells me that I'm only the 20th person in the last 20 years to check out Caravans.
Even the back flyleaf includes the pocket with the original machine-stamped due date card and the previous slip to the one in the front. Isn't that quaint!
What books have you read that you've enjoyed during this long hot summer?
10 comments:
Wow, I can almost smell that old musty book smell! Caravan seems like an interesting read.
Wow the photo of the due date card takes me back. I hope your enjoying the book.
i don't read, really, but the look of that old book and due date card makes me long for a simpler time long ago...
I had the same feelings as TexWisGirl when I looked at your wonderful pictures of that book. Enjoy your read and thanks for sharing.
Now that does take me back a few years! I haven't seen that way of stamping books in ages. This is one book I haven't read. I'll have to look for a copy. I do enjoy Michener. I think my al time favorite of his works was The Source but I also enjoyed The Drifters.
I just picked up a copy of "Son of a Witch" by Gregory Maguire. I'll be starting it soon.
That due date card took me back to my childhood and I could smell the books in that old, old library. My current library does everything electronically but includes a slip of paper with the due date on, which I use as a bookmark.
I read quite a bit. This summer I read and enjoyed the three books by Stieg Larson: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It was a light and action packed series. Not serious reading but fun.
Kathy, I'm glad you're getting some recreational reading in this summer. I do miss these days. I was just talking to the librarian at the local library about missing looking books up in a card catalog. And there is nothing quite like the smell of a library. Such sweet memories. I've read so many books I enjoyed this summer...too many really...Winter's Bone, The Help, The Ghost Road Blues.
I used to love watching the librarian stamp my book! I just read The Picture of Dorian Grey. Interesting. I had never read it before. But the hurricane and no computer called for something to do indoors.
Oh, I love these pictures!!
My favorite read this summer has been This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. I just started Half-Broke Horses and I think that will be another fave.
Happy reading!
Oh, and I remember reading Michener's The Drifters one summer in high school, enjoying both the story and the enormity of the book. Probably the longest book I had ever read at that point in my life.
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