First Book of the New Year
It’s nothing earth-shattering, but I enjoyed Samuel Shellabarger’s Tolbecken last night. Â Shellabarger wrote historical novels like Captain from Castille and I’ve enjoyed his books as pleasant distractions with fun plotlines and thoughtful treatment of historical ideas and events. Â Tolbecken is one of his better books (and they are all good stuff), and I found myself crying as I finished it. Â I joke about becoming sentimental in my old age, but I actually think my tears were the opposite of sentimentality. Â The more I live, the more perilous life becomes. Â The choices really are life-altering; the consequences dire. Â The sacrifices are really heroic; the story epic. Â And so, reading of tragedies, even minor ones, or reading of losses that would devastate me: I weep.