The book..
I do not read very much. Not nearly as much as I would like. I use to like Walter Mosley until the writing style changed. I subscribed to a book review magazine that had an “interesting” billing pattern. Every quarter when they would send me the magazine, in the next day or so, I would get an offer to renew my subscription. We danced around for a few quarters with phone calls to New York until I said “Fi!” What a way to run a business!
And there was the closing of my favorite book store at the mall. That really bothered me. Early one morning I had gone there to browse around and purchase some books and when I came to the place were memory told me was the book store, there was another shop. I FREAKED OUT! I asked a person in a nearby Kios what happened and he told me the book store owner just up and moved. Just like that, mind you, “Just up and moved” and just as aggravating to me was the fact I now had two hours to wait for my special needs bus to come pick me up. At the time, I did not even have a book in my book bag to read. Needless to say, the experience was not a pleasant one.
So it was on Dkos I read about a book, “After America” by Paul Starobin, that interested me. It did not take long for it to arrive from Amazon and I started reading almost immediately. Not my kind of reading material but the book review was so well done. The word ‘exceptional’ comes to mind. This was about the time I ordered some Dominico Scarlatti Sonatas played by Vladimir Horowitz with visions of reading my newly purchased book on my back porch listening to Scarlatti. Didn’t happen.
I found out from Amazon the recording had been discontinued along with the original album “Diva” by Leontyne Price. With “Diva” they had taken most of the songs from the album and distributed them into other albums. Also true of Horowitz playing Scarlatti: You can get different albums with one or two Scarlatti Sonatas on them but not the concentration I wanted. Color me unhappy!
So, here I am still reading “The book..” and enjoying it. After reading several chapters identifying America as an accidental empire, I read something the other day that really made me sit up and read. (Smile)
To me I was like a child learning his colors or a youngster learning the appropriate silverware to use if by chance he became lucky enough having dinner in a plush “Ooo la la” formal setting.
On page 137, Mr. Starobin records words from an Egyptian educator, Sayyid Qutb, “In everything that requires brains and brawn, American genius is foremost. As it requires soul and feelings, America is primitivism personified.” Mr. Qutb wrote those words in 1949 during his travels through America. Eventhough I have gone past page 137, that passage still haunts me. I do not know why. I’m almost wishing I had not read it. Therein lie much pain; America’s and my own!
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
And there was the closing of my favorite book store at the mall. That really bothered me. Early one morning I had gone there to browse around and purchase some books and when I came to the place were memory told me was the book store, there was another shop. I FREAKED OUT! I asked a person in a nearby Kios what happened and he told me the book store owner just up and moved. Just like that, mind you, “Just up and moved” and just as aggravating to me was the fact I now had two hours to wait for my special needs bus to come pick me up. At the time, I did not even have a book in my book bag to read. Needless to say, the experience was not a pleasant one.
So it was on Dkos I read about a book, “After America” by Paul Starobin, that interested me. It did not take long for it to arrive from Amazon and I started reading almost immediately. Not my kind of reading material but the book review was so well done. The word ‘exceptional’ comes to mind. This was about the time I ordered some Dominico Scarlatti Sonatas played by Vladimir Horowitz with visions of reading my newly purchased book on my back porch listening to Scarlatti. Didn’t happen.
I found out from Amazon the recording had been discontinued along with the original album “Diva” by Leontyne Price. With “Diva” they had taken most of the songs from the album and distributed them into other albums. Also true of Horowitz playing Scarlatti: You can get different albums with one or two Scarlatti Sonatas on them but not the concentration I wanted. Color me unhappy!
So, here I am still reading “The book..” and enjoying it. After reading several chapters identifying America as an accidental empire, I read something the other day that really made me sit up and read. (Smile)
To me I was like a child learning his colors or a youngster learning the appropriate silverware to use if by chance he became lucky enough having dinner in a plush “Ooo la la” formal setting.
On page 137, Mr. Starobin records words from an Egyptian educator, Sayyid Qutb, “In everything that requires brains and brawn, American genius is foremost. As it requires soul and feelings, America is primitivism personified.” Mr. Qutb wrote those words in 1949 during his travels through America. Eventhough I have gone past page 137, that passage still haunts me. I do not know why. I’m almost wishing I had not read it. Therein lie much pain; America’s and my own!
Fighting for the dignity of my Ancestors,
God bless Bill Gates, WPFW, C-SPAN and the spirits of the unborn for the help,
BB
posted by BB at 6:45 AM
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