Five Points and Other Fun ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

       Foraging through my bookshelves one might be apt to find French books (from my college days) as well as other foreign books (from my wife's late husband's collection).   There are some fantasy books even though this is not one of my favorite genres.  Also there are funny books such as joke books.  I've always tried to hone my humor with jokes, but alas I've always had a hard time remembering and telling jokes well.  At least reading the jokes entertained me.  Then there are the fun books.  But using the term "fun" to describe books might seem redundant.  All books have some element of fun don't they?  If nothing else, I have fun looking at them.  What about fiction?  Yes, I have a lot of fiction left in my collection.  Many of those books I gave away or got rid of at yard sales.  I rarely buy fiction now, but you'll see a lot of fiction listed in this post and others during A to Z.  

       Here are some books with the 'F' theme.  In some, the letter starts the title while others have an author's name beginning with the letter 'F'.  Do you know any of these books?

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

       In high school I became interested in Ben Franklin.   Something about him seemed so interesting from my studies of his life.  When this paperback was offered at our yearly book fair in 1968, I bought a copy.  I eventually read it in the seventies.  Then I read it again this past fall.  It's a wonderful book about an amazing figure in American history.  The price on the paperback is listed as $1.25.  Sounds cheap these days, but back then minimum wage was less than $2 an hour.  

One Second After by William Forstchen

                 This book came into my possession when I needed to add to my Amazon order so I could get free shipping.  I knew nothing about this book or author when I ordered it, but the story description was just my sort of thing.  I like stories about doomsday scenarios and this did not disappoint.  Though I purchased the book a number of years ago, I finally read it while flying back to Tennessee this past November.  It was an ideal book for that occasion.  The book reads fast and is riveting.  I'd like to eventually read the other books in this series.  It's not great literature, but it sure is fun reading.

Five Points by Tyler Anbinder

          I thought Gangs of New York was a very interesting movie and I found out about this book while watching the special features on the DVD disc.   When I saw it offered in the book club where I got most of my books back then, I immediately ordered it.  This book did not disappoint.  Now I list it as one of my favorite non-fiction history books.  Rich in detail about the way things were in the 19th century and full of stories about the people who lived in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City, this book transported me to another place in time.   Five Points gets a five star rating from me.

Fun with Your New Head by Thomas Disch

        This short story collection was something I ordered from the Doubleday Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club in 1969 when I was a high school senior.  Even though I knew nothing about the author, I couldn't resist the title.  And back then I would typically buy short story collections.  The one story here that stands out--one of my all-time favorite short stories--is "Descending".   I'm fascinated with the story premise:  A man in a department store finds himself on a descending escalator, but becomes trapped in his descent as he finds that he has missed his floor and there is no way to go back up.   I've read this story many times over the past 50+ years.   Maybe I should go back and reread the rest of the stories.

Is there anything here that catches your eye?   Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?  Have you read any of the other books in the "One Second After" series?