I'm sure I've told this story before, but several years back my dad--who works are the local school district--found out the school's libraries were doing a major overhaul of their curriculum, weeding out obsolete textbooks and a lot of other books that were published before 1970 or so. He got permission for our family to go through these weeded books before they were sent away to be recycled. It sounds like dumpster-diving, but actually this was located in a tiny room right off a gymnasium. It felt like a supply closet, and the shelves the books were stacked on were more suited for storing basketballs and hockey-sticks. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful sight. Books stacked floor to ceiling along the walls, books heaped in the center of the room, smaller stacks of books scattered across the floor, with only bits of tile flooring visible, like little stepping-stones, and only enough standing room for three bodies.
This was the where, when, and why of how I accumulated the bulk of my nonfiction collection. With access to thousands of books for free, we took away hundreds of volumes in those days. And I'm still going through them, reading the ones that I picked up on a whim just because the title or cover seemed an iota of interest. I pretty much grabbed every book that was about my favorite nonfiction subject at that time, which was Ancient History.
The thing is, not all those books have turned out to be about Ancient History. Take, for example, Grecian Calendar by Christopher Rand. I saw "Grecian," figured the "calendar" part meant it was one of those "a year in the life of an ancient Greek person" type books, and also saw a black and white photograph of a Greek city on the cover. I didn't read the back. I didn't read the blurb. I didn't read the author bio at the back. In fact I very much doubt I looked at more than the spine at that point. I just grabbed it.
It turns out Grecian Calendar is a "travel reminiscence"; a book recounting the events of a year when Christopher Rand made Greece his home. He talks about the "modern day" (1962) culture, sights, people, tastes, weather, and of course tourist attractions of Greece. It's not at all what I expected, yet it still is a very good book.
Another such surprise happened to me with Seven Wonders of the World by Lowell Thomas. I had thought this would be about the seven wonders of the ancient world, but after the first chapter I found myself in "modern day" 1956, as Thomas and a crew of film-makers traveled the world to shoot the "modern day" wonders of the world (despite the title, there aren't just seven) a Cinerama-produced movie.
So, basically, a companion-to-the-film book had been sitting on my History shelf for five or so years.
Honestly I did not like Seven Wonders nearly as much as Grecian Calendar. I was actually excited to find I hadn't a clue what Seven Wonders would be about, but as I continued to read I was disappointed. Thomas' prose felt less focused or polished than Rand's had been, and though there were certain parts where he described cultural or geographical points that were interesting to me, in the end I just didn't feel drawn into the film-maker's journey.
I wonder whether this is how all companion-to-the-film books end up. Their main relevance is reliant on the film or television show that they accompany. What happens when that movie or program becomes obsolete and forgotten?
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