Positive Press

This Labor Day weekend, I went on my frequent trek to library, bookstore and lunch. As the last two were this time in a different location from my library, I mapped out the way to a different library, and it turned out to be on the way to the other two.

I live in East San Jose, and while some eschew this area, I feel privileged to reside here. There is some crime and a bit of noise here and there, but overall, people take pride in their dwellings, and the city cares well for its facilities.

I scooted over to the Carnegie Branch of the San José Library System, and was not disappointed. There was ample parking, the area was clean, and while the library was fairly small, the collection was replete with interesting titles.

One such volume was by actor Tom Hanks, about a man in the process of filming a movie. I skimmed a few pages and decided it seemed very readworthy, but having a few tomes at home I was working on, and their not all belonging to me, I took a photo of the hardback, as a reference for future borrowing.

Returning my one book, and not checking anything out today, I got to my car. Sensing I was near my one bookstore, I spied it’s very street at the corner of the library’s busier outdoor facade. I drove for about ten minutes, but all on that avenue, finding street parking at the bookstore.

I scanned some graphic novels in the pleasant environment of the shop, but they were too graphic and novel for my taste. Well done, but a little heavy on content.

Searching further, I returned to the section on Christianity. Locating a pleasant edition of a journal by C.S. Lewis, I found the entries to be interesting and entertaining, but did not pick this one out. I think in a different mood, I’d enjoy the entire book, so I hope to find it again.

Next I visited the Shakespeare section, but failed to suss out the general plays by other authors, or I might have fallen on something I had to have; I love Shakespeare, but plunged that author in the 1980’s when an actor.

I also saw some interesting books on comic strips, but the one book was huge, a lot of money, and not something I have a place for in my tiny home. Finally, I found myself in my usual haunt, the mystery section. I wanted to check in with Nicholas Freeling’s dutch detective, Piet Van der Valk, after decades apart, but the titles were somewhat racy, and they didn’t have one I felt I would get today.

I recalled really liking master writer Ian Fleming’s maiden Bond voyage, Casino Royale, and happened on You Only Live Twice; there were no less than a half dozen copies of that one book. But the one that caught my fancy was Diamonds Are Forever. I ignored the attractive blonde on the cover in a swimsuit, but discovered the writing to be at least as good as Casino’

There was a word at the end of the seminal Bond book that irked, and I’m trying to avoid bikini’s that don’t feature my wife, but I overlooked the cover and bought the little paperback for $4.



“I have left the remarkable thing about this book to the last. And that is that it is written by an Englishman, The scene is almost entirely American, and it rings true to an American. I am unaware of any other writer who has accomplished this.” -Raymond Chandler

Heading home, I stopped by the local Whole Foods Market and spent $15 on a takeout salad bar lunch box of tabbouleh, greens, zucchini with sautéed onions, pineapple, risotto with peas, tortellini, and a single dolma (spiced rice wrapped in a grape leaf). The meal was very tasty, and was specially engineered to agree with the particular health issues that beset me.



Thus was my pleasant adventure…