Greet the new year with stacks of books

Despite my failure to locate a pink plastic flamingo to festoon in red, velvet, flocked ribbons as kitschy decoration for the holidays, it was a pleasant and surprisingly fun season. Now that the holidays are well over, books for my reading pleasure are in transit, resting on tables, shelved in bookcases, or piled willy-nilly in precarious stacks. I hope you are able to enjoy some of the following as 2007 reading selections.

Having just finished A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence, I was intrigued by the depth and research devoted to developing the biography of Lawrence of Arabia. John E. Mack, the author, presented a comprehensive portrait of this distinctive individual using primary sources, citing among them the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as long labored by T.E. Lawrence. Now, I suppose, I must locate the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and peruse it.

Last summer, I read A History of the Indians of the United States, a comprehensive and detailed study of Native Americans, meticulously written by Angie Debo. I wished to know more about Debo—an incredibly gifted woman—and was fortunate enough to tumble across Hidden Treasures of the American West: Muriel H. Wright, Angie Debo, and Alice Marriott, which contains biographies of three Oklahoma women writers, as explored by Patricia Loughlin. Now I feel compelled to locate the works of Muriel H. Wright and Alice Marriott, as they chose to explore in field work much of our local history here in Oklahoma. Much would have been forever lost without the efforts of these three women.

I’ve partially completed Born Sober: Prohibition in Oklahoma, 1907-1959, by Jimmie Lewis Franklin. The disparity between the reality of wet and idealism of dry is explored at length in this book. It is an enlightening study and provides explanation of the state’s historical operation and philosophy.

There are more behind it, and I invite you to make your own resolution to read more books. Such a trip—the journey is always lively and refreshing. One little volume just leads to another and another and another—ad infinitum. Here’s wishing you a joyous new year with books, books, and more books.