New Books as Christmas Gifts

I received a gift card to use on books for Christmas and settled on these three, plus a couple e-books. (I’m not a big fan of e-books, but the prices were so good, I figured I could get over it.)

“And There was Light” is good so far - it reminds me of some familiar parts of Lincoln’s life but brought up stuff I did not recall, and has provided good perspectives on his thoughts on slavery snd his struggles with colonialization, how to deal with freed slaves, and his views on the relationship between the races in society and politics. It’s certainly neither hagiography nor a butchering of the President

Hopefully I can do more reading this year. I’m still researching and writing, but more reading would be good too. 

New Appreciation of Biographies

I have reviewed a couple of biographies of Civil War-era people this year and the book I’m currently reading is another biography. This is not new - I’ve read many biographies over the years, but reading these so closely together has somehow made me appreciate this genre better.

This is all an accident, certainly unplanned on my part, but if it is good fortune.  Perhaps I am lucky just to have picked 3 especially good books to read, but reading these - one on Basil Duke, one on Mary Lincoln, and the third I just started a couple of days ago - has been a great experience, helping renew my enthusiasm for reading, which I had not recently done as frequently as in the past. Reading so much about these individual lives helps me see the war as more than just military strategy and tactics, and even helps me as I also work on my own family history, a narrative I am attempting to create. History is about events and dates, but also about people, including non-famous happenings in their lives. I see that more clearly now.

I always have a few books set aside as “to be read,” as I suspect  many Cavil War enthusiasts do, but do I now change what books I might conquer next? I was thinking about reading a military title next, but should I find another biography instead? I did receive a biography a couple of weeks ago. It is of someone who died years before the Civil War, but whose life and influence helped shaped the nation in the decades before secession and fort Sumter. Maybe I should pick it as my next read. 

It is an interesting question for me to ponder. I have really enjoyed these biographies, but should I focus on the actual war and the politics surrounding it? The Duke book did involve some military matters of course, and other biographies can too, but the writing in a biography is different than in a military study. 

I am glad to have such choices and the ability to express and explore my thoughts in a platform like this. Maybe reading about the lives of other people can help me view my life, or my ancestor’s lives, differently.

Back into the Reading Mode

One reason my posting has not been as frequent in recent weeks is I have not done as much reading. I cannot offer any good explanations as to why, other than using my Ipad more often and not being very comfortable with e-books yet (though I have finished most of one such book, though in very piece-meal fashion over several weeks.)

I am, however, ready to get back into doing more reading and finding more ideas for discussion. The book I just started is The. H.L. Hunely: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy by Tom Chaffin. It is a nice coincidence that I started this just before the recent news about the submarine's spar was revealed.Hopefully I can get through this book in a timely fashion and offer some thoughts on it, and maybe even try to analyze how this recent news may change or affect what the author offers in this book.

I also have Mrs. Lincoln by Catherine Clinton on my shelf. I have had it for quite a while, but my recent viewing of Lincoln has made me curious to read this account of the First Lady's turbulent life. That will probably be the next one I read (though I still have quite a few that have been sitting on my shelf for a while.)

Also, as I walked through a Barnes & Noble's store a few weeks ago, I saw they had copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin for sale. I did not buy one as I have at least one copy at home, but I think maybe I need to read this again. I read it in college, but that was about 20 years ago and though I'm not a big fan of reading the same book multiple times (or seeing the same movie more than once) this may be a book worthy of an exception to that ideal (just as Lincoln may be the exception for movies). I think I still have my college copy here as well as a nicer hardback version like the one I saw in the store, so maybe this will be another one I read this year.

After those three, I still have many more on my shelves, and will probably look for other purchases too. I just hope I do actually read them and not just let them sit on the shelf, looking pretty and collecting dust.

Any Civil War Fiction Recommendations?

I have been thinking recently of trying to add some Civil War-related fiction into my reading, to help expand my perspective on the perception and "image" of the war.

A couple of months ago, I did read a modern novel called March as part of a program at a local library. I also read some bits and pieces of other works in an anthology for that program and with my fairly recent introduction to the concept of Civil War memory, I am starting to wonder what I am missing by having read so little fiction over the years. Is there more to be learned or gained from reading that style of writing? Creating A Confederate Kentucky offered a couple of examples of works of fiction that reflected the feelings of many Kentuckians about the state's role in the war. Such books may not create imagery or memory of the war, but if they reflect what people feel, is it important to try to understand those reflections?

I have never read a lot of fiction or historical fiction. In college, I did read Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Killer Angels and enjoyed both. I am thinking about one of those as a possibility, though admittedly Stowe's work is not technically a Civil War book. Would re-reading these be worth it? That was over 15 years ago, so I certainly would have a different approach upon re-reading those then I did so long ago.

Red Badge of Courage is a famous book that I've never read, yet have heard is a very good book. Maybe I should find a copy of it and add that to the list of ones I have read.

I do have a book of short stories written by Ambrose Bierce and I did read some excerpts from him in the anthology mentioned above.

What other such books should I consider, either older books, such as late nineteenth century, or even more modern novels like March? Are there any "must reads" or classics that I'm not aware of or am forgetting? I think I'll still focus mostly on non-fiction, but maybe adding at least an occasional bit of variety into my reading can give me a wider perspective not just on the war, but on how it is portrayed and remembered as well.

Should I take notes while reading books?

One thing I've found myself wondering about lately and now try to express in writing is what type of approach I should take in reading books. Specifically, I wonder if I should be taking notes, or notating pages or making more of an effort in marking or identifying passages that catch my interest somehow, or if I should continue just to read the pages and not leave marks all over them.

Currently, I simply read the book and occasionally remark or think to myself "wow, that's a good point."  I do also rarely dog-ear certain pages, but even if I do that I'll sometimes go back to that section and question which page I was marking - the one that the corner is folded down on, or the one it's folded away from. It's also sometimes a challenge to find which passage I wanted to note or remember.

With this in mind, especially since I sometimes do book reviews for this blog and have found myself enjoying that challenge, I ask myself if I should do more than a rare fold in the corner of a page. Should I keep a pen handy to underline certain lines or to put notes in the margins? Will that benefit me at all? Will it cause harm to the book, perhaps in resale value (though I have no intentions at all of ever selling any of my collection, so why do I wonder about this)? Will it help or hurt if I re-read a book (though, again, I have not gone back and re-read any of the books I have, so why would this be a consideration)?

I have taken that approach in one book, a paperback copy of Look Away by William C. Davis, While reading it (long before I started this blog or did any formal book review) I found a lot of fascinating comments and observations, often about "states' rights" or something similar. 

The issue, though, is that I have never gone back to that book to review those notes or markings, so what good did it do me? Perhaps I have a slightly better memory of the topics in that book, but is that much of a benefit?

Part of the issue is related to a blog entry I made last year in which I wondered how to label myself in regards to my enjoyment and learning of the Civil War. Buff? Historian? Enthusiast? Student?  I'm not sure I know the answer to that yet, or how much it really matters, but it seems like if I'm going to try to be a serious student, or even a historian of some sort, I need to take a serious approach to my reading, and is making these kind of notes part of that approach? Would such notes make my book reviews better or more credible or would it help my understanding of the subjects or of the war itself?

Since I do now express my thoughts publicly on this blog, and sometimes use this as a forum to critique the work various authors do, I believe I do owe it to my readers and myself to make a serious attempt at expressing my thoughts and not just type out words just to kill time or fill bandwidth. 

I really do enjoy reading about the Civil War, especially when the book is really good, like the last couple I read General Lee's Army and Forged in Battle, both by Joseph Glatthaar, but would making notes and comments on the pages of these volumes enhance my experience? Would it increase my understanding of the book, or improve how well I remember it as time passes?

On the side of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," I make no pretense about being a professional historian or scholar, and am not sure I want to be at that level, so why would I need to take such a scholarly approach while reading books? Cannot I enjoy them and learn from them without covering the pages in ink-drawn lines and notes? I think I can, but something inside of me, deep in my conscience, seems to be telling me I need to do more. This is a nagging feeling that I can't quite shake.

Please forgive me if  this entry seems a bit too self-serving, but among my goals for this blog is to explore myself and how/why I enjoy the Civil War so much. How I read and understand the books I read may help me find out more about this obsession and the enjoyment it brings me.

I just wonder how others approach books they read and if I am a bit out of the norm among those who really enjoy the Civil War.