An Open Book

What book are you reading right now ?

I admit I have a book problem. If only there was some type of support group for people like me. I have this terrible habit of buying my next book before I’ve finished my current book, and since it takes me about a month to read a book….well they just keep piling up. I know what you’re thinking…just get a bookcase. Alas I do have a bookcase and it’s filled with books because my second problem is that I tend to keep the books I’ve already read. Occasionally I might lend a book out to a friend or family member and sometimes I even tell them to not give it back and pass it along to someone else but the majority of books I’ve read sit on the bookcases….yes bookcases, plural, more than one. I will peruse my bookcases periodically and think I need to thin out the herd but instead I’ll usually take a book out and read a few pages and realize why I enjoyed it in the first place and put it back on the shelf to sit there, grow dusty and take up space.

There’s a simple solution in today’s modern world of digital access……the world of Kindle and e-books. My wife who reads way more than I do has completed the transformation and is now a total e-book believer. Oh at first she resisted, she liked holding a book, liked the feel of the book and of course kept a majority of the books she read, but now she’s a total convert and thankfully so as I said she reads more books than I do and faster and we would be buried by her books if she actually had the physical version of each of the books she’s read. So it’s a good thing she’s converted….she’ll sometimes tell me all the books she has stored on her Kindle to be read in the future….it’s in the hundreds or maybe thousands as I really wasn’t paying attention, and a lot of her books are really inexpensive which is also a good thing. Yes she’s a total convert, but I still like a book to hold and keep.

The current book I’m reading is called The Disenchanted by Bud Schulberg. I heard about it on a podcast I was listening to and I was able to find a copy. It’s an old book written in 1950, the story takes place in Hollywood in the early 40’s. The main character is a young writer trying to get noticed, trying to get his screenplay made into a movie. He’s assigned to work with an older writer to help him polish the script so that maybe it gets green-lighted to be made. The older writer was once very famous, he wrote perhaps the seminal book of the roaring 20’s. He was wealthy, he partied, he traveled and everyone wanted to be seen with he and his wife….they were the epitome of the time period. But times changed and the famous writer grew old but didn’t change….when he’s assigned to work with the young writer he’s bitter, forgotten about, divorced, broke and in failing health. He still talks about the old days as if they were last week and of course he talks about writing one last, great novel.

The podcast I was listening to said that the author of this book, Bud Schulberg, worked in Hollywood as a young writer and he was assigned to work with F. Scott Fitzgerald and this book is a depiction of their collaboration. I googled Fitzgerald and it’s true that he did work in Hollywood at the end of his career. The entire time I’ve been reading this book I picture a bitter, washed up Fitzgerald, divorced from his crazy wife Zelda trying to earn a paycheck and be relevant again. It’s fascinating and I highly recommend it.

I purchased this book as I now purchase all my books off the internet on a used booksite. It’s called Better World Books and they get old books from libraries and donations and sell them at deep discounts. Most of the books I purchase are less than $10 and most are less than $5. It’s perfect for someone like me who still buys books.

One more thing….on one of the first pages before the copy right page is a page that states this book is a limited edition specially made for presentation to The Booksellers of America. I have no idea who this group is or if they still exist in some form but this book is numbered 463 and it’s written in a colored pencil. I have no clue how many of these limited edition books there are but I think this is a book I’ll keep and put on my bookcase to grow dusty and occasionally pull out to glance thru and remember why I liked it…..I’m going to need another bookcase.

Peace and Love….like, comment or subscribe….tell me about a book your reading

John