{"id":6000,"date":"2023-12-28T16:18:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T22:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=6000"},"modified":"2023-12-28T18:34:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T00:34:21","slug":"a-quintet-of-books-arrive-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/a-quintet-of-books-arrive-at-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"A Quintet of Books Arrive at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wpf_wrapper\"><a class=\"print_link\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Print this entry<\/a><\/p><!-- .wpf_wrapper --><p>As the year draws to a close, all the presents unwrapped and the refrigerator filled with enough leftovers to get us into 2024, I once again am awash in books. This is an excellent position to find myself in, even if it means I am likely going to be purchasing another bookcase. My ambition to build a bookcase waned as the farm duties grew, and I found the perfect-sized bookcase online for less than $200. It is beginning to look like another purchase is going to be needed. The new bookcase is filled, and the built-ins behind my desk are stacked nearly completely. Christmas was indeed kind to me, to all of us.<\/p>\n<p>Joining the stack of books to read, thanks to the largesse of daughter Abbie, I am ready to plow into:<a href=\"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/a-quintet-of-books-arrive-at-christmas\/books-for-christmas\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6001\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6001 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-600x450.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-200x150.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas-680x510.jpeg 680w, https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Books-for-Christmas.jpeg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid.<\/em> It has been described as a \u201cspellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller.\u201d It tells the story of an American-sanctioned plot to kill the first democratically elected leader of Congo, which has just gained its independence from Belgium.<\/li>\n<li><em>What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World\u2019s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman<\/em>. Ackerman is a widely acclaimed science writer. Her last book, <em>The Genius of Birds<\/em> is utterly compelling and a must-read for anyone interested in these fascinating creatures. I am confident I will be equally enthralled with this book. One often hears owls out here at Three Geese Farm. It is a soothing sound.<\/li>\n<li><em>UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government\u2019s Search for Alien Life Here \u2014 and Out There by Garret M. Graff<\/em>. Ever since my 9<sup>th<\/sup> grade science project faking a UFO flying above the roofline of our house, which won a prize and landed me a part-time job as a newspaper photographer, I have been interested in UFOs. Graff is a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a previous history of Watergate. He has a strong reputation for his reporting and research skills.<\/li>\n<li><em>Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party by Jonathan Karl.<\/em> The veteran political journalist covered the Trump White House for ABC, and previously wrote two books about Trump\u2019s first (and I pray only) term as president. I recently read Liz Cheney\u2019s <em>Oath and Honor<\/em>, which I wish every Trump supporter would read. Reading yet another book about the Orange Jesus (as one congressional member of his own party called him in Cheney\u2019s book) might be bordering on masochism. We shall see.<\/li>\n<li><em>Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow<\/em>. The MSNBC star documents the failure of the legal system to prosecute a clandestine network of far-right activists before and during World War II who flooded our country \u201cwith disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort.\u201d Maddow\u2019s thesis is that failure has reached forward into our history for decades and has strong parallels to what is happening now politically on the right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>On a related note, thousands of classic books and plays will enter the public domain on Jan. 1, since they were published more than 95 years ago \u2014 the current length that a copyright now applies. Among the titles that anyone can copy, share or even expand upon are <em>Lady Chatterley\u2019s Lover<\/em> by D.H. Lawrence; <em>Peter Pan; or the Boy Who Wouldn\u2019t Grow Up<\/em>, by J.M. Barrie; and <em>Dark Princess<\/em> by W.E.B. Du Bois. There are also many films and musical compositions entering the public domain, all of which can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/web.law.duke.edu\/cspd\/publicdomainday\/2024\/?fbclid=IwAR0jKSNwRIrd1aSqE4o2pTDqaKWyfIRmqwdIxUxNj5u05bEwb6syVICplp4\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since I go back to work in the library next week and take my final graduate course at UNT starting in mid-January, I plan to devote some extra front-porch time this weekend to tackling this quintet of additions to the book collection. Plus start shopping for a new bookcase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wpf_wrapper\"><a class=\"print_link\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Print this entry<\/a><\/p><!-- .wpf_wrapper -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Print this entryAs the year draws to a close, all the presents unwrapped and the refrigerator filled with enough leftovers to get us into 2024, I once again am awash [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[76,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-76","category-columns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6000"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6006,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6000\/revisions\/6006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}