Question of the Day

For a project I'm working on:

What books do you remember from your parents' library? Not children's books -- the first adult books you remember taking an interest in. Maybe there was an atlas you used, or maybe a book of Civil War photography... a poetry book, a cookbook, an art book... anything that introduced you to something you might have otherwise missed.

Give me some ideas in the Comments. Thanks!

Comments

  1. letitiaJune 9, 2007 at 4:50 PM

    My mom had a book of famous paintings that I used to look through all the time. She said she found it after a house fire. One page was a full page plate of the painting, and then the other was interesting facts about it such as: "Winslow Homer referred to Sargent's painting (Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose) as Damnation, Silly, Silly Pose." The Joy of Cooking was our go to cooking reference book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 9, 2007 at 11:37 PM

    The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich, The Old Man and the Sea, and my mom's collection of Time Life Art books.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PapiJune 10, 2007 at 4:02 AM

    Most of the books in our library were reference. I remember being excited moving from our first set of kid centric encyclopedia's to the New World Encyclopedia, and then later to the Encyclopedia Britannica… And then back to the New World Encyclopedia because it was easier to read.

    There was also some reference book that I don't recall the title of. It had those wonderful printed transparency overlays that you could remove one at a time to see the various systems of the human body or different attributes of the US maps placed over each other.

    And of course there were my Dad's Chilton’s manuals that he would always pull out and explain whatever he was about to repair on our car/van. Pity none of that info stuck, as evidenced by your new $130 battery.

    ReplyDelete
  4. angJune 10, 2007 at 12:08 PM

    A first edition of Steinbeck's East of Eden (an excellent read, by the way); also a copy of The Exorcist (which scared the shit out of me just from the few passages I read - to this day I haven't read the entire book because I'm attached to my current state of mental health!); and I also spent hours perusing my parents' high school yearbooks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJune 11, 2007 at 7:03 AM

    V.C. Andrews from my grandmother. My mom was livid when she found me reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SaraJune 11, 2007 at 3:03 PM

    Fantasy & smut:

    Fantasy -- Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels and Ann McCaffery's Pern books

    Smut -- John Jake's North and South and Mom's "silly romances"

    ReplyDelete
  7. RachelJune 11, 2007 at 9:01 PM

    to this day, a current edition of webster's unabridged dictionary is wide open at the end of a long hallway on a marble table atop a beautiful bookstand. i have only seen religious books presented this way in any other home. at the age of four, if i dared to ask, "wha's that?" during dinner i would have to drag my stool down the long hallway to look up the freaking word before i could finish my meal.

    i have a copy in my own home... i just need to find the right bookstand.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Abecedary of ...

Image
... things to do in Austin with kids. I know it's a day late, but it's a good one --for everything on this list, admission is $5.50 or less per person, excluding food. A lamo Drafthouse children’s movies – last Saturday of each month (free!). Watch the B ats at Congress Avenue bridge (free!). Tour the state C apitol (free!). Watch the water rush over the D am at Red Bud Isle (free!). Swim at E ilers Park , a.k.a. Deep Eddy (adults $3, kids $1). Find f ossils at the Dino Pit at Austin Nature and Science Center in Zilker Park (free!). Play Peter Pan Mini- G olf ($5 adults, $3 for kids 5 and under). Visit the Texas State H istory museum ($5.50/adult, $3/kid over 5). Eat I ce cream at Amy’s (easily <$5 per kid). Play with the J umbo games exhibit at Austin Children’s Museum ($5.50/person over age 2). Visit K iddie Acres (admission is free, but the rides will cost you a little) (Wednesday is discount day). Also, K erbey Lane -- kids eat f
Read more

Reading/ Watching/ Listening

 Reading: The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I didn't like it nearly as much as A Gentleman in Moscow . In fact, I liked it only barely enough to keep reading. Watching: Poker Face , on Peacock. Papi and I have enjoyed watching this, one episode at a time, and not every day. It's a little formulaic, but the sets and the guest stars are fun. I like that it changes scenery every episode. Listening to: The Beatles Channel, Sirius XM. Ever since watching Get Back , the Beatles documentary, I've enjoyed listening to them with new ears.
Read more

All About the Boy

I’m never sure how much personal stuff to write on this blog, but every now and then I feel compelled to share. And so right now, even though I’d rather be writing gift guides and assorted other nonsense, I’m just going to rant. Emmet has Asperger’s Syndrome. Look it up. It’s a disorder related to Autism, but sufferers are said to be “high functioning.” Just looking at him, you’d never know that anything was wrong. But if you spend some time with him, you’ll see that he has trouble with social functioning. Asperger’s sufferers (they call themselves “Aspies”) aren’t good at self-reflection, and they aren’t good at picking up on social cues. They're also (in most cases) uncoordinated, and they tend to have a variety of tics (physical and behavioral). On top of this, Emmet has an anxiety disorder. Emmet’s life is tough. He is in trouble constantly at school because of the little tics that he’s developed, and because of his anxiety, and because he is afraid of going to the bath
Read more