101 Books, Number 66

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

66: Fall of Frost, 2008,  by Brian Hall (1959–)*

I loved this book by Brian Hall

About that poet (“Mending Wall”)—

The story of old Robert Frost**—

The life we know, the life we’ve lost.

And I had been to many scenes

The novel uses. What it means?

It means that I could then relate—

For places (and there’s no debate)

Are one way we can understand—

The writer, writing. From some land

These artists come. And if we know

The land? The place? Well, we can go

Inside the story in a way

Denied to those who cannot say

That they have seen a farm of Frost—

The broken walls—and what they cost.

And Brian Hall got well inside

The heart and mind of Frost—and tried—

Succeeded!—to elucidate

The work of one we know as great.

*In mid-April 2010, I arranged for Hall to spend a day at Western Reserve Academy, where I was teaching at the time. He visited classes, spoke to the student body. A great thrill for all of us.

** Robert Frost (1874–1963).

101 Books, Number 67

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

67: Dickens, 1990, by Peter Ackroyd (1949–)

I was reading all of Dickens’ books

When I found this and read in awe

As Ackroyd seemed to craft new law

For lush biography. His hooks

Were fastened deep in me as I

Read page by page in this account

(And watched the many pages mount!)—

And ended all with such a sigh

Of admiration—and regret.

The book was done! There was no more!

(Well, as they say, what’s heaven for?!?)

I felt as if I’d really met

Him—Charles Dickens, in the flesh.

The book was so alive—so rich.

Oh, yes, a writer can bewitch

When talent, art, and research mesh.

101 Books, Number 68

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

68: McTeague, 1899, by Frank Norris (1870–1902)

I read this book in college when

I hadn’t read too much before.

I hadn’t heard of Norris then—

But soon enough I wanted more!

I wrote a paper on his work—

Am glad it’s gone so folks can’t see

How much was light, how much was murk,

How much I missed in front of me.

McTeague—a dentist—not too bright.

A get-rich scheme that really flopped.

A desert—unrelenting light—

A bubble of a dream that popped.

I read his other works, as well—

He didn’t live so very long.

But, oh, the stories he could tell!

Sometimes a lifespan’s just so wrong.

But sometimes even brevity

Suffices for an artist to

Create those works that soon will be

The ones enlarging fields of view.

101 Books, Number 69

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

69: them, 1969, by Joyce Carol Oates (1938–)

This was the year I married—yes,

In 1969.

I found this book—consumed it all—

A fish hooked on her line.

I’ve read a lot of Oates since then—

Not all, I must admit.

Reviewed a few and bought most all—

I’ve never tired of it.

She’s learned the way inside, I’ve seen,

The human mind and heart,

And she records the music there—

Each bright, each gloomy part.

She well deserves the Nobel Prize—

I’ve written this before.

She's probed the human heart and soul—

And knows them, to the core.

101 Books, Number 70

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

70: Guns, Germs, and Steel, 1997, by Jared Diamond (1937–)

Some books can change the way you think—

And this was one of those.

Perhaps because I didn’t know

A lot—so I suppose.

He took a question: Why did some

Societies advance?

And why did others not progress?

(You see ideas dance!)

I heard him speak at Stanford once—

About Collapse, his next.*

And read it—and another, too**—

Kept learning from his text.

Yes, certain thinkers come along …

That card deck in your brain?

They shuffle it—a challenge, yes.

But, oh, the joy of gain!

*2005; I was visiting former Hiram College classmates and dear friends (and Stanford profs) Claude and Dorothy Steele

**The World Until Yesterday (2012)

101 Books, Number 71

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

71: Flashman, 1969, by George Macdonald Fraser (1925–2008)

Was it in 1980? I

Am pretty sure it was. A guy

(A colleague*) turned my reading eye

Toward this series that would last

A dozen books (they all went fast)—

And reading them? Delightful blast!

See, Flashman was a coward, who

Looked like a hero, through and through.

But sprint from danger—what he’d do

In every threatening sort of case—

Away from action he would race—

And later, somehow, save his face.

And Fraser puts him in some scenes—

From Light Brigade (and what that means!)—

And Flashman always wets his jeans—

Well, metaphorically, of course,

As he rides off—splendid horse—

And leaves behind the needy force

Though later claims heroics—he

Thus scampered throughout history,

Delighting many readers (me!).

*former Western Reserve Academy colleague Eric Gustavson 

101 Books, Number 72

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

72: Custer’s Last Stand, 1951, by Quentin Reynolds (1902–65)

A longtime fascination dawned

Some 60 years ago. A wand

Of Western magic waved across

My world—and mixed a saucy sauce

Of action and adventure—fights

That thrilled my days and filled my nights.

And Custer’s tale—in YA form—

Created such a perfect storm

Of interest that I’ve kept alive

Since back in 1955–

Or when it was that I first read

Of General Custer—all those dead.

Since then I’ve visited the scenes—

The grave, the homes—by any means.

I’ve stood upon the battlefield—

Where, finally, he broke and kneeled

While Western tribes swarmed over all

In victory—yes, Custer’s Fall.

I’ve read so many books since then—

They line my shelf, where this one’s been

Since I was but a curious boy

Who learned how conflict can destroy.