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GAZETTE

         From one reader to another, let me tell you about some of the books in our home, not on a recommending note, rather a curious note, and also a revealing one.  They reveal the people who live in our house.  I'd wager to the maximum that no one else in the entire world has the identical books in their home that we have in ours.   You could probably say the same thing about your books.  Looked at altogether, they are like fingerprints.  They identify us.

         As long as I'm lying here for a moment on the couch, enjoying the warmth and comfort of being indoors during a cold Minnesota morning, with a pencil and notepad in my hands, let's begin here in my living room where five big old hardcover books are planted on the east mantel of the fireplace.  This area and my Gazette office are the first to fill with sunlight every morning, and it's touching the mantel right now.  I never look at these books anymore except as color-coordinated pieces of decor.  Their grouping is pleasing to my eye.

         The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 47th Edition ©1965 was a gift to me from the Chemistry Department at Briar Cliff College for being the top chemistry student.  I used that handbook until I graduated in 1969 with my chemistry degree.

         I purchased Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Fifth Edition for 25ȼ at a used book store in Sioux City, Iowa, and used it throughout college.  This worn and tattered ©1936 leather-bound dictionary served me well.

         Webster's Unified Dictionary and Encyclopedia ©1953 must weigh over ten pounds.  I've never used it.  Maybe it'll come in handy tomorrow.  Sometimes I wonder if Google Search contains the information in this book or in my set of The American People's Encyclopedia ©1950.

         Standard Mathematical Tables ©1964 is Allan's book, used when he was at the University of Minnesota studying to be a civil engineer, 1965-1969.

         I don't remember how I acquired The New English Bible with Apocrypha ©1970 but it was probably to learn more about the apocryphal books after I joined a neighborhood bible study and people didn't agree about the number of books in the Bible.

         American Highway Engineers Handbook First Edition ©1919 is an old birthday gift to Allan from former neighbors Kenny and Sonja Huber.

         On the west mantel I've got Vor Herres og Frelfers Jesu Christi Nye Testamente ©1878.  We can't read a word of that old Orsen family New Testament since it's all in Norwegian, but the light still shines on it, since it daily catches the evening sun.

         There's also The History of Lyon County ©1912, Minneota A Centennial History 1881-1981, Saint Eloi Parish Centennial 1881-1993, and Centennial History of Hope Lutheran Church 1872-1972.  All of those places are located in southwestern Minnesota where Allan and I grew up and went to high school together.

         Upstairs in our bedroom is my personal library containing hundreds of books that I've read in the last 25 years.  My interest in books of a certain nature was sparked by reading a book from Father Elstan Coghill entitled The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton.  It whet my appetite for more of the same, and so I've since steered away from romance novels and other fiction.  Nothing compares with the continual discovery of truth and the history of God working in our world.  Life is short and there is so much to learn.

         I would say that my favorite books include everything written by C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Pope Benedict XVI.  I've got almost all of it but would cite in particular The Abolition of Man ©1943 and The Problem of Pain © 1962 by Lewis, as well as The Everlasting Man ©1925 by Chesterton, and God and the World ©2000 by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,

         A few of my other favorite books -- those I reread -- include The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan 1628-1688, The Great Heresies ©1938 by Hilaire Belloc, and The Imitation of Christ first composed in Latin by Thomas a Kempis 1418-1427.

         I'll spare you the titles of all my favorite little books in the bathroom.

         Now, you might be wondering if Allan is a reader.  Yes, he is also a reader but his foray is in an entirely different direction

         Some recent books on his shelf include A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity ©2008 by Bill O'Reilly, Pillars of the Earth ©1989 by Ken Follet, Winter of the World ©2012 by Ken Follet, Riding the Divide ©2003 by Al Quie, Waiting for White Horses ©2004 by Nathan Jorgenson, Killing Lincoln ©2011 by Bill O'Reilly, and Tell My Sons ©2013 by Lt. Col. Mark Weber and David Murray.

         Longtime readers of the Gazette might recall that when I'm interviewing candidates for the Victoria City Council every two years, one of my questions asks about their favorite books or current reading.  Replies tell me much about the candidate, and maybe they're also revealing to you.  After all, we are what we read, or we become what we read.  Makes me want to sing ... Let the sun shine in, face it with a grin.  Open up your hearts and let the sun shine in.

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March 2013

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