Today is March 25th, and I have two nutty subjects to write about. The first is because of National Pecan Day. The second…well, it is rather nutty.
I have several good books about pecans. The first is “The Pecan and Its Culture” by Harold Hume, published 1912. This book tells us everything you may want to know about planting, growing, and harvesting Pecans. Shows you how to treat for insects, and what varieties are profitable. There are plenty of illustrations and photographs, including one of a tree that was hit by lightning twice. I will never plant a pecan tree, but it was enjoyable to read so much about them.
The second book is a rather rare pecan book “800 Proven Pecan Recipes”, published 1925. The author is “5,083 Housewives…in America and abroad, who in response to a request for their choicest proved pecan recipes, submitted over twenty-one thousand, covering every phase of every meal, for all seasons of the year.”
I enjoy reading cookbooks. This is actually a fantastic cookbook, ranking in the top five of all in my collection. For a cookbook almost 100 years old, there are refreshingly new ideas that revolve around Pecan nuts. I am always game on trying unusual recipes. Marked down for experimentation are: Asparagus Entre (page 211), Bavarian Creme-a type of Jello-like mold (page175), and Pensacola Pudding (page 182), a wicked type of ice cream frozen with salted ice, made the old fashioned way.
While we are on the subject of nuttiness, today I have a few books from Thorne Smith. His most famous books are about Topper (Cosmo Topper), which were made into several movies, starring Cary Grant. The dust jackets on his books were a little risqué for the time, as were the subjects inside the covers. I have nine books, and always on the lookout for more, when traveling through bookstores.
My favorite book is “The Glorious Pool” 1934. The story is crazy, An elderly man and his mistress, jumped into a pool when the naked statue beckoned him in. The statue became alive, and the other two became young again. Then began a madcap romp through the neighborhood, stopping only to have his Japanese butler/bartender mix up some more cocktails. The author answers the question “If I only could be young again!” My head spins when I read it. I gave a copy to several friends, and where my head was deliriously spinning, theirs were queasily spinning. A matter of taste I suppose.
These three books of Thorne Smith are pretty cool because each of them has three books in one. and the dust jackets are unusual. The Thorne Smith 3 Decker” 1933; “The Thorne Smith 3-bagger” 1945; and “The Thorne Smith Triplets” 1944. Thorne Smith said of his own writings:
“Like life itself my stories have no point and get absolutely nowhere. And like life they are a little mad and purposeless….quite casually I wander into my plot, poke around with my characters for a while, then amble off, leaving no moral proved and no reader improved.”
As I mentioned at the beginning of this story, it is a little nutty. Sometimes I enjoy reading just for the sake of reading, not to have to think, or remember, or to have a point, but to just read along for the ride. I encourage everyone to sometimes just read for fun. Imagination is not just for kids. And, you can build up your ‘cognitive stamina’. So says the National Library of New Zealand…
Librarytomes 