Who knew N. Idaho was readerland?
As your teachers used to say …
“Back to the books!”
Hopefully, you read Wednesday’s column discussing our poll to discover North Idaho’s favorite books.
If so, you know that I was gobsmacked (fun British word) by the variety of your choices, and the enthusiasm displayed for reading in general.
That’s something pretty close to my heart, so it was great fun to discover I have plenty of company.
Besides the books that received the most support — which we tried to cover on Wednesday — there were plenty more entries worth noting.
Several readers, for instance, got so excited while cheering for a favorite book that they submitted almost complete reviews.
Some were emotional, too.
Barbara Beauregard offered up a book called “Cancer: Step Outside the Box,” by Ty Bollinger. Barbara lost both parents and a sister to cancer, and her brother’s cancer is currently in remission.
That is what I call reading for your life, and it was brave of Barbara to share her story.
THERE WERE many other readers who suggested that certain books held them together, too, and maybe put them on the proper path while handling the day-to-day challenges we all face.
An allegorical classic called “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez clearly touched quite a few people.
It’s a story chronicling seven generations of a family living in an imaginary town founded by the patriarch, and contains what we now call “magical realism.”
The book has sold 30 million copies and been translated into 37 languages.
This novel is considered one of the most important books ever written in Spanish, but obviously the English translation touched quite a lot of you.
MOVING ON from such serious themes, I really enjoyed the fact that many readers couldn’t pick one or two books, but admitted they loved everything written by a particular author.
Amy Lyons, for instance, was paying attention in English class, because she’s enthralled by Jane Austen and all her works.
Jerry Gehlen said he gravitated to the books of James Alexander Thom and his historical fiction, but also regularly sought out supreme crime story author James Lee Burke and even the works of Bill O’Reilly.
That’s a wide net, Jerry.
Several readers mentioned the Western action of Zane Grey and some admitted addiction to the more current adventures of ex-Army MP Jack Reacher (Lee Child).
In the detective-with-some-smiles category, Terri White loved “Plum Luck” by Janet Evanovich — but she also mentioned “This Perfect Day” by Ira Levin, a terrifying look into the future where all humans have their choices made for them.
Shudder.
Terri wasn’t the only reader with varied taste, which is a pretty neat trait.
I ENJOYED the entry from John and Marcia Howard, which named just three books: “Tom Sawyer” (Mark Twain), “The Godfather” (Mario Puzo), and to complete the set, “The Firm” by John Grisham.
You can easily picture John and Marsha poring over their Amazon selections or, better yet, spending four or five hours in a used book store.
Some readers did send in a single selection, though — like Kristy Johnson with “The Power of One” (Bryce Courtenay), and Dave Hofstadter, who not only submitted Erich Segal’s tears-and-tissues “Love Story,” but added the information that it was the rare case where the movie was done before the book.
Obviously it’s impossible to list everyone who voted, or all the great books you mentioned.
But doggone it, I think there was something for everyone.
And yes, here in the land of the American Redoubt, we did get a single vote for “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” by John Wesley, Rawles. (Yes, readers, he has a comma between his middle and last name.)
Did you think I’d leave it out, Don?
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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA