Bliss of Reading

The Bliss of Reading

at first by the brilliant color illustrations, I leafed through Black Beauty, Tales of King Arthur, Tom Sawyer, A Thousand and One Nights and A Christmas Carol, all editions in yummy-looking caramel bindings, compliments of the American Heritage Library. Later, I actually read the texts, and when I realized that, for instance, Scheherazade actually told as many tales as the title promised and that my edition was a children's digest version, nothing could satisfy me until I had checked out the entire 1001 Nights from the local library. I don't remember if I read them all, but I spent a delicious few weeks trying. This, friends, was virtual reality without threat of hard drive failure; I could be an Arabian sheik or Lady Guinevere; I could weep over the little match girl, freezing in the snow, or chortle with the dread Jabberwocky of Alice in Wonderland fame.

When I lost myself in a book, it was as if I actually became the words that were used to spin out the story. The budding of a writer?...”

Ms. Dove graciously grants us permission to reprint the above praise for libraries and reading which she used as an introduction to a poem, Alphabet by Victor Martinez. You will find his works and Rita Dove's featured in our upcoming April celebration of National Poetry Month. But right now, at one of the best public libraries in the United States (your Central Rappahannock Regional Library -- we're #5!), you can find the wonderful classics Ms. Dove shares above along with other ripping yarns. We are honored to provide access to this rich body of literature and to be held in such warm regard by Rita Dove.

Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope, Fic Hop

“If, like me, you've run out of Errol Flynn movies to watch when your heart is set on swashbuckling, try this terrific tale of Rudolf Rassendyll, an English gentleman transported from a comfortable London life to fast-moving adventure in the mythical land of Ruritania. It's a pip...” - James Mustich, Jr., A Common Reader

Once and Future King, T. H. White, YA PB/YA Fic Whi

The most readable of the King Arthur stories; you will recognize “scenes” from the Disney flick, The Sword in the Stone. Be transported to Camelot and the Round Table where you will enjoy Merlin's tutelage on subjects as seemingly diverse as love, war, peace, and friendship; and wend your way through battles to the death with knights in armor and the search for the Grail.

Time and Again, Jack Finney, Fic Fin

Artist and veteran Si Morley is recruited for a government-sponsored research project on time travel. Morley is trained to step from the 20th century into 1882 New York City and return with sketches and photos for increasingly uncertain reasons. Part mystery, part romance, and part science fiction, Finney (also a screenwriter) has us walking, and at times hiding, with Morley in 1882.

The Little Match Girl, Hans Christian Andersen, J 398.2 Pi, J 398.2 An

The heart-wrenching story of the impoverished inner-city child who enters her warm and happy fantasies on a cold winter's night.

High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes, Fic Hug

Written in 1929, “an adventure story -- for adults -- about children kidnapped by pirates on their way to England from Jamaica, this singular work of fiction is enthralling... The tale evokes in the reader the eerie anxiety one can feel while tossing sleeplessly in the small hours of a warm, wind-animated summer night: the dark outside the windows is alive with heat and storms and mysteries, and every breeze is ominous, tantalizing, sensuous -- a threat and a promise. An extraordinary, unsettling, mesmerizing book.” -- James Mustich, Jr., A Common Reader

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J. K. Rowlings, J Fic Row

see also: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Reader, take note: these are not for children only and you'll miss a great read if you let the juvenile literature label sway you! Poor, mistreated orphan Harry Potter finds himself, quite beyond his control, enrolled in Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardy and the key to the solution of his parents' untimely deaths.

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas, Fic Dum

“D'Artagnan leaves the country to fulfill his dream of becoming one of the King's Musketeers. He arrives in Paris and takes up with Musketeers Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who bring him along on their series of swashbuckling adventures. This tale of panache and derring-do, beloved by readers for a century-and-a-half, made the legendary cry of “All for one, and one for all!” a staple of our lexicon.” -- from the cover of the Gateway Movie Classics edition

The Homesman, Glendon Swarthout, Fic Swa

It was not unheard of in the 1800s that pioneer women would go mad from the strain of work and isolation. When that happened, a “homesman” would shepherd them back East, back to their families. Swarthout's homesman is a nontraditional character who gets the job by process of elimination. Accompanied by a ne'er-do-well saved from hanging, the homesman gets the four mad woman back to St. Louis against the wild prairie landscape and against the odds. You'll sit bolt upright during the first seven pages and the best is yet to come.

Use our WebPAC to reserve any of these titles or call your local branch to check them out today.

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