#yearofthebook

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 111: In honor of #recordstoreday2018 today, let’s dig out a few examples of why long-playing record collections became known as “albums,” just in case you don’t already know. The first recorded discs (from about 1910 on) played at 78 rpm, which meant that a full-sized record could only hold about three minutes of content. In the 1930s, record companies began to sell collections of these records by the same artist in books similar to photo albums, with multiple paper sleeves to hold the records, and the name stuck. Some, especially those for children, even had a 12- or 24-page book bound in. Here are a few examples from my record library, including a Louis Prima collection from Majestic Records (3 discs), the soundtrack “album” from the Broadway musical “High Button Shoes” starring Phil Silvers (4 discs), and a “Little Nipper” story book album from RCA Records featuring a couple “Winnie the Pooh” tales excerpted from the A.A. Milne books (with the original, pre-Disney art), both “told by” a young Jimmy Stewart. This album is especially cool because it is two-sided...when you finish reading with one story, you simply flipped the album and the attached storybook over and let Jimmy tell you the next one. Ah, the beauty of cutting-edge technology. #recordstore #78rpm #jimmystewart #disney #winniethepooh #aamilne #oldrecords #recordalbums #book #bookish #booknerd #bookgeek #bookstagram #yearofthebook #childrensbooks #1930s #oldbooks #booklover #mycollection #louisprima #philsilvers #broadway #soundtrack #rsd

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 142: George R. Stewart was a thorough man, and he wasn’t afraid to question the status quo or what is regularly referred to as “common wisdom.” While visiting Gettysburg, Stewart formed the idea of writing a micro-history of one specific action of that battle, and “Pickett’s Charge” was born. GRS was not prone to hyperbole, so I love his intro to the book: “(If) the Civil War furnishes the great dramatic episode of the history of the United States, and that Gettysburg provides the climax of the war, then the climax of the climax, the central moment of our history, must be Pickett’s Charge.” Well argued, GRS. The book was first published in 1959, and remains in print today. #civilwar #history #americana #pickettscharge #book #georgerstewart #bibliophile #bookish #booknerd #booknut #yearofthebook #mylibrary #reading #oldbooks #firstedition #signedbook #bookaddict #bookstagram #bookworm #booklover #historybuff

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book -Day 130: 149 years ago today, on May 10, 1869, a ceremony held at Promontory Summit, Utah, celebrated the driving of the final spike connecting the East and West coasts via transcontinental railroad. “Nothing Like It in the World” (2000) by Stephen Ambrose is an excellent book on the planning and building of that road. When I was in third grade, my mom chaperoned a trip for my brother’s 5th grade class, and I got to tag along. We boarded a steam train in Sacramento and rode it all the way to Truckee, near Lake Tahoe, to take part in a centennial celebration of that event. It was my first train trip, and it was also one of the first times history really came alive for me. I was so enamored by the event and the celebration that I got my hands on a railroad spike and spray painted it gold, in honor of the one they tapped in at the ceremony in 1869. The real one remains on display at Stanford University, and as you can see, I still have mine. History doesn’t have to be boring. :) #history #railroad #goldspike #unionpacific #centralpacific #book #bookish #westernhistory #booklover #mylibrary #firstedition #bookstagram #yearofthebook #stephenambrose #bookworm #transcontinentalrailroad #bookaddict #west #roadtrip #traintrip #booknerd #booknut #reading

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 121: By the early 1950s, George R. Stewart had a successful teaching career and several best-selling books in his rear view mirror. But GRS was never one to rest on his laurels, so in 1953, he combined his passion for the open road with his desire to study America and Americans with yet another type of book; a linear journey thru the nation via what was then known as “America’s Highway.” Route 66 may have had better theme songs (from Bobby Troup and Nelson Riddle), but Highway 40 from Atlantic City to San Francisco, and GRS took us along for the journey with short, insightful essays and dozens of self-taken photographic milage markers. The great Erwin Raisz colorful end papers and several fine illustrated maps. And though sections of the highway still exist, “U.S. 40” is a marvelous journey through an era long gone. 30 years later, Tom and Geraldine Vale retraced Stewart’s tire tracks for their “then and now” book, “U.S. 40 Today,” a fine study of the ever-changing U.S. landscape using GRS’s original photos juxtaposed with “new” versions. Ironically, 35 years have passed since the Vales took their trip, so it may be time for a volume 3. Collectors should note that the true 1st has a mis-cropped photo, although the corrected version also carries the “first edition” tag. #americanhistory #roadtrip #book #georgerstewart #highway40 #1950s #rarebooks #firstedition #bookish #bookgeek #mylibrary #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #yearofthebook #favoriteauthor #bookworm #bookshelf #travel #route66 #booknerd

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 107: Tuesday? Check. Another George R. Stewart book? Double check. “Sheep Rock” (1951) is the final and perhaps least known of what may be loosely defined as the GRS “Inanimate lead character trilogy,” a grouping which also includes the best sellers and BOMC selections “Storm” and “Fire.” No metaphors here; the book is literally about a rock formation in the Nevada desert (modeled after one GRS had himself explored) and the multiple generations of people who come to live and work in its shadow. It is actually quite a study in the connection between space and place, and although it doesn’t have the pure adrenal drive of a winter storm or a wildfire (to say nothing about the post-apocalyptic world the author created in his “Earth Abides”), it is more than memorable. #book #georgerstewart #nature #spaceandplace #bookish #booknut #bookgeek #booknerd #mylibrary #firstedition #rarebook #fiction #yearofthebook #signedbook #favoriteauthor #bookcollector #reading #randomhouse #sheeprock

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 103: Friday funnies! Here’s a book that dates to an era when most kids and adults in America got the Daily laughs and adventures from the comic strips and the radio. “Comics and Their Creators: Life Stories of America Cartoonists” by Martin Sheridan, was published in 1942. It opens with a history & development of the daily strip from the earliest days up to that time, and then features short bios of the top artists and a synopsis for each of their strips, which are divided into categories such as “Old Stand-Bys,” “Married Strips,” “Adventure Strips” and more. Many bios feature self-portraits done in the style of the strips. It’s a must-have for fans of the comics and of pen and ink art. Great stuff! #comicart #comicartist #comicstrip #miltoncaniff #superman #dicktracy #alcapp #art #artist #penandink #book #bookish #booknut #bookworm #bookgeek #booklove #bookshelf #bookstagram #rarebook #firstedition #comicbooks #newspaper #newspaperart #mylibrary #mycollection #yearofthebook

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 99: It’s Monday again, so who votes for a little “Escapism”? I’ve been a fan of Yi-Fu Tuan since college, and his seminal “Space & Place” already appeared here on Day 2. But Tuan has written more than a dozen books from his consistently unique and thoughtful perspective as a human geographer, and most touch on the relationship among man, culture and environment. “Escapism” (1998) examines how safe havens from nature and society can be found in things and experiences both large and small (our houses, religion, our imagination...). My favorite chapter discusses how our frequent desire to be unique and special can also bring disconnectedness, loneliness and indifference. Tuan is never a quick and easy read, but if you enjoy pondering and savoring ideas and concepts, I highly recommend his work. But for now, I’m escaping on a nice, long bike ride with my son. :) #yifutuan #escapism #book #bookish #bookworm #booknut #booknerd #bookstagram #bookish #bookgeek #yearofthebook #mylibrary #reading #mycollection #firstedition #philosophy #booklove #booksofinstagram #booklover #bookaddict

[craighodgkins]

My Year of the Book - Day 91: Happy Easter! The content in these three slim volumes was originally presented by Clive Staples Lewis, a professor of English Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, as a series of 15 minute British radio broadcasts from 1941 to 1944. Widely popular in that medium, they were quickly published in the U.K. as “Broadcast Talks” (1942), “Christian Behaviour” (1943) and “Beyond Personality” (1944). “Talks” was retitled “The Case for Christianity” when it was released in the U.S. in 1950. Two years later, the three were collected, revised and published under the one volume title most people would recognize today: “Mere Christianity.” Trained in the classics, Lewis presented pragmatic and logical arguments about a universal concept of right and wrong, morality, ethics (which result from the cardinal and theological virtues) and other topics, attempting to explain the fundamental tenants of Christianity while seeking a common ground that all followers of Jesus could agree on. His balanced approach struck a chord with a huge audience on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, and the work remains one of the most influential “evangelical” books ever published. I’ve read all of his books (I had one class at Pepperdine where we read fourteen of them in one semester!), and I admire and respect Lewis’ ability to present even the most confusing and potentially divisive theological concepts in a fresh and logical way, always focused on Jesus and not some denominational rabbit trail. His immensely popular “Chronicles of Narnia” series (more about those later) and science fiction trilogy later presented many of the same concepts in story form. His writing has been highly influential on my personal worldview, and remains so in my continuously humbling, stumbling & bumbling walk with Jesus. #easter #jesus #cslewis #merechristianity #book #bookish #booknerd #bookgeek #bookaddict #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #mylibrary #reading #faith #bookshelf #yearofthebook #booknut #heisrisen #rarebooks