Back to Basics

 When one is learning to write again, after decades of being in the dark, you are faced with several intriguing questions of where to go…me, I’m going to try and seek out my old book of Bartlett’s “Quotations,” maybe just randomly open it up to a page, close my eyes and slide my finger down the page, and see where it lands. I know for sure I am not getting an eBook or any such thing like it. I’m all about books—God forbid they disappear (did the New York Public Library completely store all their books away and switch over to digital or did some wise scribe stop that?). There was an unfortunate day many years back when mom and I purged some beloved books from my personal collection, but fortunately I have managed to hold on to the true gems, including a worn, old paper book copy of Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” Still hunting for my copy of “The True Believer” plus some choice works of Noam Chomsky.

I’m eager to just head to the attic and plunge headfirst into all the literary treasures up there…but again, wait. Let’s not spoil our appetite, shall we? No, I think we go back to basics and start with some ancient saws to guide me along this new, exciting (?), perhaps scary (?) journey I am undertaking.

I would like to state firmly and emphatically that none of this would be going on if I had not completely broken away from the clutches of social media (guilty parties shall remain nameless). Perhaps I might return to social media someday but from this point forward it will be on my terms. I’m realizing that I was down a “rabbit hole” for not days, but years—and to say I’m somewhat seething would be an understatement. But be that what it may, I hope you’ll join me on this exploration of what books I currently have in this abode—and of course what books I plan to acquire in the years to come!