By Jeff Orvis
A few days ago, I was challenged by
friend Dawn Pettengill to list 10 books that have had meaning for me.
I noticed that some others have chosen the classics, or the Bible.
Perhaps because I was in the business of writing thousands of words
each week, printing them and then starting all over again, it's tough
to remember some certain books.
When I was faced with this challenge,
I also remember a time when I was growing up when we would receive a
Christmas card and letter each year from a distant cousin who made
sure we were informed about what her daughter had read that year. I
suppose she thought she was being helpful for her culturally unwashed
relations way out in the sticks in Iowa. But after a while, I began
to wonder just who died and made her the ultimate authority on what I
should read.
So I am offering that as a disclaimer.
You may have read some of the books I am going to list or you may
want to read some of them. But if you think my taste in the printed
word is strange or stupid, I won't be offended.
I like to read a range of books, as
can be seen by the boxes and boxes of books and magazines I still
have in storage. Whenever I hear of a book sale, such as the one our
local library conducts a couple of times a year, I literally almost
have to hide my own car keys to keep from adding to my library!
I am currently reading a book entitled
“A Place in the Woods,” by Helen Hoover. It was written nearly 40
years ago by a lady who gave up a career as an engineer in Chicago to
move with her husband to a cabin just off the Gunflint Trail north of
Duluth. My dad loved that part of the country and loved to take
scenic photographs of the area. On one of his trips, he discovered
that cabin on the shore of Gunflint Lake. He found out who had lived
there and contacted Ade and Helen Hoover. He asked for permission to
photograph their cabin.
They became friends and on another
trip north, my dad and I found that cabin and took several pictures
of it. I still have several of those prints he framed well over 30
years ago. I also inherited several books she wrote on her
experiences. Sit down with that book and in no time you are
transported to a quieter, simpler time before cell phones, the
internet and even before color TV.
Another book that had an impact on me
is called “The Sacred Acre,” by Mark Tabb. Anyone who has
followed high school football in Eastern Iowa for a number of years
has heard about the success of the Aplington-Parkersburg High School
team and its coach, Ed Thomas. This book talks about the profound
impact Thomas had on his community, as it bounced back from a
devastating tornado in 2008. Even as his own house was in ruins, he
pledged that the team would play on its home field that season, a
field townsfolk nicknamed “The Sacred Acre.”
Thomas was gunned down by a deranged
former student in the school's weight room one morning. The book
talks about how the town rebounded from the tornado and how the
residents then had to cope with the loss of their beloved coach.
Thomas loved his family, his players, his church and his community.
This story does a great job describing this incredible man.
On a more recreational and less
inspirational front, whenever I see a book by John Grisham, I have to
at least stop and see if it is something I've read or should read.
Grisham is an attorney who writes a lot of fiction on the legal
field. But he has also branched out to one or two books on sports and
even a few nonfiction works. I recently finished a nonfiction work
entitled “The Innocent Man.” It told the story of a young drifter
who was accused of a rape and murder in Oklahoma. The book is an
indictment of the legal system in some areas of small town America.
The man was ultimately freed from his death row stay, but not until
his life was in ruins from misdiagnosed mental illness and other
mistreatment. This book should make you mad and at least will make
you think twice before you travel to Ada, OK.
I have also read several books by the
late Robert B. Parker. He died a few years ago, found slumped over
his keyboard. Robert Urich starred in a TV series “Spenser for
Hire,” the story of a fictional private investigator based on one
of Parker's characters. Another one of his characters is Sunny
Randall, another private investigator with her share of personal
crises. More recently, the character of Jesse Stone, a police chief
in a small eastern coastal town, was adapted for several TV movies
starring Tom Selleck.
Parker also wrote a few books about
the old west. Since I've not read all of those, maybe that's where I
have to look next.
I am also a fan of autobiographies of
interesting people. Some of those people have included Helen Thomas,
the former UPI White House correspondent who covered several
presidents; Barbra Walters, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Ted
Kennedy and even George W. Bush.
I also read the autobiography of
Walter Mondale. It was neat reading a book by a former senator, vice
president and foreign ambassador after I had the opportunity to sit
down for coffee with him during a stop in Belle Plaine several years
ago. It's similar to the fun I am having with the current book I am
reading about that cabin in the woods. It means more after having
seen it, even if that trip was nearly 40 years ago.
I realize that many people who have
accepted this challenge have listed the Bible as one of the books
that had the most influence on their lives. I have to admit that I
have not read that book from cover to cover. But I have several
friends who are members of the clergy who have done a good job of
reading passages to me each week. I hope to get to that book sooner
rather than later.
Some people won't read some books
because they claim they know how it ends. If you are familiar with
the Bible, you realize that it ends with the Book of Revelation.
Unless you have spent years in seminary, you may not truthfully be
able to say how it all ends.
Happy reading!
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