"Lilly The Cat" by Destiny Conley, An Early Reader Book With A Kentucky Connection

Recently I strayed into a copy of an early reader book for K-2 or so readers with a strong Kentucky connection. The title of the book is a bit confusing since there is another more widely known book for children by the same title and written by a different author. If you go hunting for a copy of this book online, be sure that you are locating the book which has been written and illustrated by Destiny Conley and published by STARS Publishing. It was also an outcome of a project by Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative. But a search of the websites of both the publisher and KVEC failed to locate any information about the book. And to further complicate any history or sales information about the book, it was actually printed by a third organization, Minutemen Press in Lexington, Kentucky. The publication date was 2016. The information I was able to find about KVEC identifies it as "...one of eight education cooperatives in Kentucky consisting of 27 member school districts. The organization serves 161 schools with over 53,000 students and nearly 4,000 educators." The website shows a mailing address of 412 Roy Campbell Drive, Hazard, KY. It's listed members serve a large geographical area in the watersheds of the Big Sandy, Licking, and Kentucky Rivers. The book appears to have been chosen as a result of a contest for students being served by KVEC, and it seems that the author and editor was actually a student in some program served by KVEC. The primary character in the book is a cat named Lily who loses her favorite ball of yarn and finds it in the possession of a mouse. When the mouse refuses to surrender the ball of yarn "Lily comes up with an idea" and asks the mouse if they can share the ball of yarn. The story ends with both Lily and mouse remembering "that sharing is caring". It is nice little book written in age appropriate language for early learners, and the author/illustrator was apparently at roughly the same age as the target audience when she wrote the book. It is a nice little book for both teachers and parents to utilize in the effort to teach and reinforce sharing behaviors in young children. However, considering the fact that I found it difficult to learn more about the book, it might be a bit of stretch to locate more copies. But the internet is always a great place to find almost anything. Good Luck!

Thoughts On Reading (Fully) Books I Don't Like

Many times on this blog, I have written about books, buying books--especially used books, reading books, reviewing books, and sometimes about books which I have not liked at all. But I'm a bit funny about how I deal with beginning a book I turn out to not like compared to how many other readers deal with such books. I almost never throw a book out without finishing it even when I have decided that I don't like it, that it is garbage, never should have been printed, and is almost totally a waste of time for everyone who has ever been involved with it including both myself and the author, the publisher, the printer, the printer's devil to use an old typesetting term, the mail man or woman who dropped it off in my mail box, the low paid and under respected worker at the Goodwill Store where I might have bought it, right down to the eventual garbage man who will dump it along with the other contents of a can into the yawning and cavernous jaws of a garbage truck. Yet, I like to acknowledge the fact that the author who spent the time to write it, get it accepted for publication, and sold made a commitment to do the necessary work to produce whatever 100, 200, or 2,000 pages of drivel I have attached to myself and my psyche much like the man or woman working on a county road gang has been a participant in the process of attaching a ball and chain to their leg and placing a Pulaski or weed blade in their hands. I have also made a commitment to the author, publisher, editor--if there was one half asleep at a desk the day they approved that particular epistle for publication, and that same belittled and beleagured Goodwill employee who rang it up, added the tax, and then had the gall to ask me if I wanted to round up so the same corporation who is robbing that person of their services and scrape extra money from me so they can move on to the next belittled and beleagured employee who has no other employment options at the time. If the author took themselves seriously enough to do the work to produce the book, put in on the market, and hope for its success much like a poor mother wishing her very ordinary child can become president some day, I owe that author the common decency to shut my mouth, put my negative opinions in my pocket, grit my teeth, and ride this flea bitten nag of a book to the end of the line where it may or may not be noted with the words, "The End", "Fini", or simply "Sucker, You Had It Coming". Authors are a weird lot say I who have also launched a couple dozen short stories into the world without ever herding them and a few others into the covers of book much like poor, bedraggled cattle into a muddy, dung spattered holding pen until the truck arrives to take them to the stockyard. Why on God's green earth, you are probably asking yourself, did I feel the need to take the time to give this nod to all the poorly educated and trained scribblers who have created so many overpriced wastes of paper and printer's ink? The answer is that I am currently involved in reading two books simultaneously which I would not have been willing to pay fifty cents for the pair if I had known in advance what they contained...or failed to contain. I am always reading at least one book, generally two or three at a time, because my wife and I are engaged in a long term habit of reading a novel together which I usually read aloud day after day as she washes the dishes. Then I rinse those dishes. We have also for a year or two been reading one short story from some collection or other in the evenings after supper. Thank God, as I have been involved in reading two bad books at the same time, we have also been reading a collection of short stories which is composed of 28 fine stories by 20 or so authors of some repute. Without that short story of quality each day, I would be pulling my hair out. Thank God for Guy de Maupassant, O. Henry, Richard Connell, Frank R. Stockton, and Jack London.

"Bradbury Stories" by Ray Bradbury, Thoughts On Reading 100 Short Stories By The Master

This massive collection of Ray Bradbury's short stories was first published in 2005, seven years before the author's death, and contains an introduction by Bradbury himself. The book is 893 pages and contains stories which Bradubury wrote and published in a multitude of magazines and a few of his own books roughly between the years of 1945? and 2000. Much of the world, even the literary world, think of Bradury as a "science fiction writer" which he was having written two of the best novels ever in that genre, "Farhenheit 451" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes". But Bradury was much more than just a science fiction writer or even "one of the best science fiction writers". It is much more accurate to say that Bradury was "a writer", period, the end. He wrote in many genres, and nearly all genres of stories appear in this collection. If you love the short story as I do, you need to read this book. In terms of time from the first published story in the book to the most recently published story, it covers roughly sixty years in the development of the American Short Story. In terms of genres of short stories, it covers science fiction, mystery,suspense, coming of age, humor, and nearly every generally accepted type of short story in the American oeuvre. My wife and I often read the same books together with me reading aloud while she washes the dishes in the morning, and then I rinse the dishes becasue it requires more motion and she is in a wheelchair. We usually take turns choosing a book to read in the mornings which is customarily a novel with an occasional work of nonfiction. But we have also, of late, decided to read a single short story after supper each night, sometimes from an anthology, sometimes from a complete collection by one author such as this one. This is the most massive collection of stories we have ever attempted and, at one story a day, it naturally took nearly four months since sometimes we are out and about and just don't have time to read a story when we get back home. But this collection was well worth that time. It contains many of the Bradury stories you might have heard or seen mentioned in magazines, books, and on television as being among his best. It also contains some others of his best which don't usually get mentioned in those common settings. In the introduction, Bradury specifically mentions several which I assume he considered among his best, or simply his favorites. One of those is "The Laurel And Hardy Love Affair" about a man and woman who both love a particular scene in a Laurel and Hardy movie, The Piano Movers Scene as it is generally known. They reenact some of their favorite moments from the work of Laurel and Hardy as a part of their love affair and that love for the two comedians helps bind their love for each other together. Actually, Bradury's love for Laurel and Hardy is the subject matter of more than one of his stories. Other stories also highlight parts of the lives or works of other Bradbury heroes, great writers, great actors, great politicians, and all of the stories which fall into this subset are among his best. There are also seveal stories which fall into a genre known as Coming of Age Stories in which teenage boys are the protagonists. Those stories, much like the novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes", leave you believing that Bradbury must have had a wonderful childhood. One of those stories, "All On A Summer's Night", is about a young boy who lives in his grandmother's boarding house with a broad collection of both men and women; some young, beautiful women; some single men who often buy gifts for those young, beautiful women; and one somewhat older, less attractive, female librarian who has helped the young boy to enter the wonderful world of books. That story is typical of several others in the collection which are set in the literary world or feature literary authors or their worksHe watches the older males buy gifts for the beautiful young women on the Fourth of July, heads off to the store to spend his savings on fireworks for the night's celebration, and changes his mind after he gets to the town's commercial district. He decides to spend his savings to buy the ignored librarian some perfume and to ask her to go out with him on the town that night to observe the celebration. It is a touching story and one of Bradbury's best. There are also several stories set in an Irish pub owned by a man named Heber Finn and peopled by a group of local men who typify the Irish whom Bradbury met during time he spent working in Ireland on a movie script. They are a fine group of local characters including a well offman with a fine collection of wine who directs in his will that the wine be opened and at his burial and poured into his grave. Heber Finn and his customers, including the local priest, find a way to both carry out the man's directive and subvert it simultaneously. The humor of the Heber Finn stories is among Bradury's best. The book contains stories which have been published in "Playboy", "McCalls", "Collier's", "Saturday Evening Post", "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", "Harper's", "Weird Tales", "The New Yorker", "Esquire", and at least a couple of dozen others. Few writers in American literary history can say that they have been published in such a wide ranging collection of magazines. But then Bradbury wrote and published over 600 short stories in his life. Who else can say that?

A Very Rewarding Visit With My Surgeon!

In previous posts (post #2) over the last few years, I have discussed a couple of visits (post #1) I have had with two of my doctors, a surgeon (post #3) and a cardiologist.  About six years ago, I discovered that I had a life threatening blockage of one of my carotid arteries and a surgical procedure was recommended which I finally accepted about four years after the original diagnosis.  During that four years, I engaged in a serious regimen of exercise, mild medication treatment, and a stringent change to my diet, all of which resulted in serious reductions in my blood pressure, weight, overall health risks, and even my opthalmic pressures in both eyes.  I had the surgery roughly two years ago and have been fine ever since.  Immediately after my original diagnosis by a local general practitioner who is friend of mine, I began to see these two specialist and have done so ever since.  About three months after the surgery, I was put on a program of one year follow up visits with both doctors and see each of them once a year and once a year only unless some future serious change in my health requires closer treatment.  

 

When I have any serious appointment for any reason, and especially for medical visits, I always carry whatever book I am reading to the visit since waiting room and even examination room waits can be longer than  just a few minutes.  I always read during those waits unless I sometimes become engaged in a positive conversation with another patient.  As I had said in two of the blog posts linked above, during those particular visits both of these doctors noticed what I was reading and engaged me in conversations about the books at those times.  This is not a very common practice among doctors and, right or wrong, I have always considered the fact that they did so to be a compliment to the quality of my reading material.  I never read what I call "light reading" or "drug store fiction", and neither do most doctors.  They are universally too busy.  But I learned long ago that nearly all doctors have been engaged, like me, in a lifetime habit of reading or most of them would never have become doctors in the first place.  This past Friday, September 13, 2024, I had my regular annual visit with my surgeon and went to the visit reading "The Road To Unfreedom" by Timothy Snyder whose works I have written about on more than one occasion on this blog, and about which I will most certainly write more in the future.  Snyder is one of the best historians, authors, and political thinkers in America today.  He is a professor of history at Yale University and holds an endowed chair there where such a guaranteed lifetime position would be one of the most competitive jobs in education in the world.  Snyder writes in about a half dozen languages, reads in about four or five more, is an incredibly diligent researcher, and an author any high level reader has to respect.  This particular book is the third of his works which I have read and I will write about it in the near future when I finish it.  

As my surgeon entered the examination room, he glanced at my book, asked me "what are you reading today?" and turned to my wife Candice to say, "he never lets me down when he recommends me books".  The first ten minutes or so of our conversation were about Timothy Snyder, his work, politics, and books in general.  Then for about two minutes, he said, "your ultrasounds are great. You're perfect.  Your arteries are perfect."  and we returned to our conversation about politics, literature, and travel since I had told him I had bought "Black Earth: The Holocaust As History And Warning" by Snyder at the El Paso Holocaust Museum in 2017.  When we finished our conversation and he was ready to move on to his next patient, he actually walked with me to the front desk to tell the staff when I needed to return and we ended our conversation there.  I won't see him for another year unless some catastrophe strikes and I need his medical expertise on short notice.  But I know in advance that I will carry whatever book I am reading then, hopefully a biography of Kamala Harrris, President of the United States, and we will discuss it and whatever we both have been reading shortly before the visit.  And he will continue to provide me the same excellent, potentially life saving medical expertise he always has.  Then both of us will go out to order whatever book the other has recommended.  That is the kind of doctor I wish all of you could benefit from on a regular basis.  

Since originally completing and posting this blog post, I have become engaged in a long and rewarding messaging exchange with one of my former high school teacher whom I have been in regular contact with over the last several years.  Our exchange this time was prompted by this blog post and she said during that exchange that We need you to stay around and get our country back on track.Those kinds of compliments about my writings on politics are what keep me writing on this blog and in other venues,  both because I know that if we don't save democracy in this election we may well lose it forever, and because I know that I am correct about this situation in America today and my writing just might change a few minds in the right direction. 

On A Second Reading Of "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain

 

When I entered Knott County High School at Pippa Passes, Kentucky, in September of 1964, I remember thinking that the little one room library was the finest collection of books that I had ever seen. When I began to write this post, I sent a message to my friend and former high school teacher Mary Lois Jacobs who was able to tell me that the books in the Knott County High School Library had primarily been donated by Alice Lloyd College and that there were about 2,000 books in the collection, mostly fiction.  She also stated that the faculty had been disappointed in the lack of sufficient non-fiction in the collection. Prior to entering high school, the only lending library I had access to was a summer book mobile program which stopped at our country store at Dema once a week during the summer vacation from school.  I had visited the Kendallville, Indiana, library a few times during some summer visits to my sister's home there but I had never been a regular user of such a fine library.  Today, I know that the collection at KCHS would be considered woefully deficient in most public high schools in America.  The other distinct memory I have retained from that time is that on one of the first occasions I took a lengthy, perhaps epic, novel off the shelves and asked to check it out that Cloys Thornsbury, the librarian, gave me a somewhat askance gaze and asked me something to the effect of "are you sure you can read that". I'm sure I answered "yes" and I'm also pretty sure I actually finished whatever book I checked out.  Three of those first long novels I remember reading are this one, "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas B. Costain, along with his "The Black Rose", and "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas.  I don't recall that Cloys asked me that question again after I had read, returned, and could discuss those three books.  

Recently, in one of my frequent visits to some surplus store where I often buy used books, I strayed into a weathered copy of "The Silver Chalice", bought it, and committed myself to rereading it.  I can now report that the mission has been completed.  Thomas B. Costain was a Canadian born journalist and mass market writer who produced 14 novels, 8 non-fiction historical works, and 4 co-edited collections of short stories by major authors.  His major novels were generally massive works with plots, counter plots, historical settings and characters, and multitudinous casts of characters.  His works can be argued to have not been quite great works but they were well written, meticulously researched, and generally popular on the mass market.  "The Silver Chalice" is an example of all those qualities.  

The primary protagonist in this novel is a totally fictional young artist named Basil who has been sold into slavery by his uncle under Roman law upon the death of his father before he attained the age of majority.  Basil's freedom is arranged by the Apostle  Luke who does so because he has been chosen by the early Christian church to locate and hire an artist to create a frame to hold the cup which was used by Jesus Christ and the Apostles for the sacrament at the Last Supper.  The frame is to be made of silver and the cup is to be surrounded by small busts of the Twelve Apostles.  The freedom of Basil and the commission to create the frame are financed by the Biblical person Joseph of Arimathea who is the same man who is credited in the Bible with having provided his own tomb for the burial of Jesus.  As the novel progresses, Basil falls in love with the granddaughter of Joseph of Arimathea and eventually marries her just minutes before her grandfather's death.  But they have previously agreed that the marriage is one of convenience only because her father is not a Christian and would not agree to continue to finance the work after his father's death.  The newly weds leave Jerusalem for Antioch, outside the reach of Jewish law and the Jewish high priest and his co-conspirators who seek to find and destroy the cup.  Basil goes on a long journey to locate the living disciples and create their busts from actual memory after meeting them.  Along the journey, Basil decides that he has not only come to realize that he loves his wife Deborra but that he also has been converted to Christianity.  Just in case any of you want to read the novel and can actually locate a copy on some of the used book websites, I won't spoil the story by disclosing the conclusion.  Just know that this novel is well worth reading whether or not you are religious.  It moves quickly from scene to scene, from crisis to crisis.  The characters are realistically rendered, both known historical persons and those who are purely fictional.   It is filled with fascinating people including a Chinese prince who befriends Basil, Luke, and Deborra; an Arabic camel driver who seeks to become an important trader; a villain who is also a magician; and a manipulative, beautiful, and dangerous female assistant to that magician.  Basil even spends some time in the home of the Roman emperor.  If you can find it, I can't more highly recommend a historical novel.  And, I was very pleased to be rewarded by those wonderful memories from my teen years by the second reading of the book.  

 

Why Do Blogs And Bloggers Become Defunct?

 Recently, I scrolled through the rather long list of blogs on my "Reading List" on this website and found that many of the blogs on that list had not had a new post in quite some time, some of them for even a few years.  When a blog and blogger go that long without any new content it is safe to assume the blog is now defunct.  But why do they become defunct?  I'm not even sure I know all the answers but a lot of possible answers are seemingly obvious.  Some of the bloggers simply die.  Other bloggers might find new interests which they enjoy more and simply quit blogging.  Others could even have found themselves in prison.  Who knows?  I have published this blog since April 15, 2011, and it has grown steadily both in the amount of posts I have created and in the number of people who have become interested in it.  In the nearly 10 years I have written this blog, it has slowly grown from a few dozen followers to more than 150 followers.  But, I have no way of knowing how many of those followers actually actively follow the blog to the degree that they read most of my posts, read some of my posts when they are bored, or simply return at irregular times to see if I have posted anything in which they are interested.  

Over the last couple or three years though, this blog has ballooned from about 50 followers to more than 150.  This blog averages about 3,000 page views a month and has had a little over 362,000 page views in the ten years it has been active.  But, interestingly, the two highest months in page views came in September 2014 and March 2015 when it received 18,917 page views and 20,917 page views respectively.  At that time, I probably had less than 30 followers.  I have no idea why the blog received such high numbers in those two months.  The roughly one year period from February 2014 to March 2015 had consistently higher numbers than the blog average.  January 2015 was the lowest month in that period with 5,262 page views.  I repeat that I have no idea why the numbers ran so high for that period and why now, with at least three times as many followers, I usually get lower page views.  If any of you readers can explain why, I would love to hear it.  

Now, to discuss the reason which prompted me to write about this in the first place.  Over the years, I have added 32 blogs of fairly varied subject matter to my reading list and have not ever deleted one from that list.  My primary areas of interest have consistently been Appalachian Studies, Auctioneering, Travel, and Disability Issues since my wife, Candice has been in a wheelchair for more than twenty years.  Of the blogs on my list, I clearly know less than half a dozen of the creators and have only ever met one of them in person.  I have probably corresponded with a dozen or so either via e-mail or the comments sections on either my blog or theirs.  The one person I know, have met, correspond with regularly, and expect to see again in the future is Mike Brandly who is an auctioneer, real estate broker, auctioneer trainer, and expert witness in matters of auction law.  His blog is called Mike Brandly, Auctioneer Blog, and has had more then 1.4million page views due to his national prominence as a multi-faceted auctioneer.  I have actually taken my required continuing education for my auctioneer license from Mike and we are Facebook friends.  We have a couple of Facebook groups in common, two of which Mike runs and one run by a friend of mine to which I referred Mike. 

I also know, in a less personal way without any face to face contact, a woman named Heather Johnson who writes a wonderful blog called Paralyzed With Joy and has done so since November 2009.  Heather is a full quadriplegic due to a horrible car accident, not her fault, when she was 17 years old.  If she can maintain a blog for 12 years, anybody can.  And her is one of the most interesting blogs I read.  Heather, one of her sisters, and I are all Facebook friends.  

Another blogger with whom I have had extensive contact beyond his blog is known to the world as either Greenbrier Jim or Wayfarin' Stranger which is also the name of his blog which he operated regularly from February 2011,  to March 2014, and then ceased to produce it which is a damn shame since it is a wonderful blog of both his own high quality photography and Appalachian History.  Jim grew up in Morehead, Kentucky, where I attended Morehead State University years after he left town.  I suspect that Jim may be having health issues which have kept him from continuing.  But his blog is still worth exploring for the quality of his work in both areas. 

Another blog and blogger which I appreciated a great deal was called Dave's Cupboard and focused on unusual foods.  Dave, who I do not know from Adam, ran his blog consistently from January 2, 2006, until June 26, 2015.  I suspect that Dave might have either passed away or suddenly suffered a major health crisis.  His daughter was listed as a co-author on the blog and I sent a message of inquiry but never got an answer.  I love odd, unusual, even strange foods, and I miss Dave's blog a lot.  It is also worth visiting for the past reflections on many things a lot of people claim they never eat.  

Only two or three blogs on my Reading List can be said to still be active with posts having been created in the last few months at the latest.  I miss the work of every one of the authors who created those blogs and wish they were still active.  And I have to repeat, I have no idea why some of them stopped.