101 Books, Number 93

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

93: The Story of Ferdinand, 1936, by Munro Leaf (1905–76)

Oh, Ferdinand, you puzzled me

Back in my wishful boyhood days:

You will not fight? Such amity?

No wish to gore? (I’m in a daze!)

You sniffed the flowers, so I read,

And had no real desire to fight.

Oh, not to fight! To sniff instead!?

Well, something really wasn’t right!

Or so my boyhood self declared

While reading this pacific tale.

I later realized he cared

About all lives, what they entail.

So Ferdinand’s a tale of hope—

The hope that we can get along—

Can with all differences cope—

Convert all human scream to song. 

*film is coming out in a few days—link to trailer

101 Books, Number 94

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

94: An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, 2007, by Brock Clarke (1968–).

I read this wild and funny tale

And knew at once my students would

Consume the thing (as students should!).

No way a book like this could fail!

Indeed, they loved it (as I’d known!)—

And Clarke then visited our class—

The time just flew (so it will pass

When you sit near a talent’s throne).

The story told of writers’ homes

An arsonist set up in flame—

Like Frost’s and others of some fame—

Like sacking one of Ancient Rome’s!

There is some satire here, as well—

Of the decline in academe

(Oh, check our world of Tweet and meme)—

But Clarke had such a tale to tell

That I could barely wait until

I read his other novels, too—

And still I read him, oh I do!

The words are wondrous, never fill

His readers to satiety

But make them wish for more and more—

A pleasure always—never chore.

At least this has been true for me.

101 Books, Number 95

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

95: The World According to Garp, 1982, by John Irving (1942–)

This book surprised me—so much more.

(That sound you hear? My jaw hits floor.)

This novel—funny, wild, and fat—

Had made me think: I can’t do that!

Some books, you know, I read and think:

I could do that (I take a drink).

But not with this one—much too wild.

I was enchanted, charmed, beguiled.

From then on? Well, all books by John

I read with speed till they were gone.

And I still read him—though I’m not

So flaming, flashing, burning hot

To burn them up with both my eyes—

And turn each page, find new surprise.

In Irving's work—much to admire—

I read and read and never tire.*

*one exception: Son of the Circus—just couldn’t get into it …

101 Books, Number 96

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

96: A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1885, by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94)

This book was in my grandma’s house—

And in our house for years.

She read to me of shadows and

Of in-the-nighttime fears.

In later years, we bought the book—

And shared some with our son.

And later still I memorized

“My Shadow” (favorite one!).

I’ve memorized some others, too—

About a horse at night,

About the creatures of the moon

And how they hide in light.

My earliest memories of this book?

Far back to toddler years.

I loved those poems—love them still—

Some still bring me to tears.

101 Books, Number 97

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

97: The Judas Goat, 1978 , by Robert B. Parker (1932–2010)

These Spenser novels? I was hooked

About the first time that I looked

Inside one. Read it. Had a ball.

And—very soon—I’d read them all.

And Judas Goat? Among the best!

(Not so, I fear, some of the rest.)

An ending with a great surprise—

Buh-buy to some, well, awful guys!

So … Parker hooked me, so I read

Them all—till he was dead.*

And not just Spenser—others, too!

His Westerns—loved them, through and through.**

His other series—ate them up.

Gobbled them—a hungry pup!

Was sad when Robert Parker died—

The death of favorites? Can’t abide.

I met him once—he signed some books

While I gave him admiring looks.

But now those days? They’ve all have gone.

So … I read others, on and on.

*Other writers are doing the Parker books now; I have not read—will not read—a single one of them.

**His other series: Jesse Stone, Sunny Randall, and the Westerns (featuring Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch)

101 Books, Number 98

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

98: Backboard Magic,* 1949, by Howard M. Brier (1903–1969)

A book on basketball I read—

Oh, in the Fifties (so I think)—

A spring from which I loved to drink:

This novel’s story filled my head.

A kid who was not good enough

To make his hometown high school team—

The sad destruction of his dream.

But then he finds he has the stuff

In a new school (they had to move),

Where a new coach and a new way

Enable him to start, to play,

To find his very special groove.

And guess who their opponent is

In the state roundball tournament?

(I do not need to give a hint?)

And guess who proves to be a whiz?

I loved those sports books, way back when.

I read them countless times, of course.

And learned about the skill and force

And about what might have been.**

*a YA title

** and wasn’t

101 Books, Number 99

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

99: 4 3 2 1, 2017, by Paul Auster (1947-)

I loved this book from first to last—

A book about a person’s past—

About how there is not one way

That we arrive here at today.

Paul Auster’s character, the main

One here, I feel I must explain,

Is changed by, well, “What if?” throughout—

And that is what this book’s about.

Some versions of a single life—
Of friends, of neighborhood, of wife—
Of economic status and
The issues which require a stand.

A moment comes; our lives are changed—

No longer certain—rearranged.

So we get versions of this tale—

And certainty is purely frail.

A feat of brilliance, this great book—

And worth a first, a second look.

I’ve loved his books—have read them all.

A wonder is this Auster, Paul!