Ask the Elders: Books

Dear Elders, What books have you been meaning to read?
- A fellow bookworm

Casper Kranenburg
Dear Bookworm:
You say “books” plural and sign with “fellow bookworm.” Let’s start at the latest book I borrowed: “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown. I have been meaning to read it since it came out and haven’t done so yet. But any day now I’ll start, trust me!

Steve Leavenworth
I keep a journal of each book I have read since 1972. Lately I have read about 50 books a year. I have yet to tackle heavy stuff, classics. I have “The Aeneid,” “Moby Dick” and “Autobiography of Ullyses Grant” on my list. What I need is a cabin in the north woods, beside a lake, with a nice fireplace, wood stove, no TV or phones, but a free delivery pizzeria no farther than 20 miles.

Jan Stickler
Dear Bookworm,
Oh, I could say the classics or the Bible. Most people are always meaning to read them, but somehow, when I think of curling up in front of the fire, I never find myself reaching for Chaucer or First Thessalonians. It is usually something that has prompted an interest or concern. I don’t have a list of books that I should read or am meaning to read because reading is a discovery to me. If I had a list, it might become a chore rather than a joy. So one week it may be James Patterson and the next the Song of Solomon. It just depends upon where I am.

Roioli Schweiker
Dear Bookworm,
Since I do most of my easy reading while cooking or taking a bath, it is better to have expendable books than expensive ones for the purpose.
There are plenty of “page-turners,” but if you have insomnia, I can also offer “War and Peace,” or for a really bad case, “Wealth of Nations.” I don’t expect to get to it very soon. The two good books I have read recently are the guidebook to Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec and one of Edmund Hillary’s books.

Bill Twibill
Dear Bookworm:
1. My first grade primer
2. “Ulysses”
3. The Albert Einstein book the theory of relativity
4. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”
5. “Catcher in the Rye”
6. My second grade primer.
7. The entire collection of DC comics. I love extremes.