Bon Appetit

A house without books is like a room without windows.

Horace Mann
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On September 8 I wrote in this journal that I sometimes say I don't read books, I eat them. Even with bad eyesight, books are a great pleasure in my life. During my career I didn't do as much reading of books as I would have liked to because I spent so much time reading scripts, the same scripts over and over again. There was no time left for literature of the fiction, non fiction variety.

When I was a child, due to the poor and often squalid living quarters, there wasn't much of interest to see out the windows, so I was a reader. Someone gave me a book of poems by Robert Leuis Stevenson which I loved. I soon found he had written a novel called "Treasure Island" so I read that.

I made ample use of the local library. The librarian was a very nice spinster who, even into her 60's, rode her bicycle back and forth to work. When she saw that I enjoyed "Treasure Island" she recommended Jules Verne to me. So I read many of the Verne novels beginning with "Mysterious Island." They gave me a taste for science fiction and prophesy, as some of those novels have come true (submarines, rapid air travel and the moon landing).

During my career I worked part time, when I was available, recording books for the blind, under a grant from The Library Of Congress. I recorded over 25 books, mostly fiction, with some philosophy. Because it was for the Library everything had to be correct, mistakes were not allowed. As a result I read every book carefully, painstakingly, as much as I would read the script of a play I was going to perform, because recording the book was a performance.

Hence, now I treat every book with the same meticulous care, and instead of reading them, I eat them. Meaning I read, reread and return to the books I love and remember. Every time I return to a book the landscapes are different, the dynamics have shuffled and the characters have all grown up. To open a book leads me into a strange and unexpected universe where I am an invited guest into the author's imagination. It is a journey into and through small towns, city streets, deep forests, across shifting dunes and into outer space. I go in front and beckon, take the author's hand or walk behind and follow every footprint. I look where the author points and see things I never see. I hear the silent sounds and taste the fruit. I have hundreds of windows stacked up under my windows, waiting to be eaten.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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SUMMER QUESTION

The end of Summer is fast approaching, people.

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

21 interesting answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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