Today’s treble T is books that surprised us. But first, a trio of teases from…various CJ Box books.

“You don’t want to give mixed up with them,” Joe said. “They’re bitter and they’re well armed and they hate the feds.”
“They sound like my kind of guys,” Nate said.

“The way they tell is, the whole place is full of intransigent locals who don’t respect their authority.”
“Probably just me,” Joe said.

“He’s happy and he lives with a great woman who keeps him on the straight and narrow, [Liv] said.
“Which is a good thing for everyone concerned,” Joe said. “Left to his own devices, he tends to hurt people or sit naked in trees.”

And now, “Books that Surprised Me”. This will be very off-the-cuff, hit-`em-as-they’re-pitched.

(1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling. Although my generation grew up with Harry Potter, not until the seventh book was released did I give in to curiosity to read them. (My HP remarks were some of this blog’s first posts!) I was ‘bewitched’ immediately, roaring through the books so quickly that I could participate in the frustration of waiting for a chance to read Deathly Hallows, since it had just been released and was quite popular with my university’s student body. My move to university coincided with Harry discovering his own new world, so I think that

(2) All Quiet on the Western Front. Read this in middle or high school (same building, so memories are muddled) and was surprised to realize the main character and friends were German. I was still young enough that I’d neve r been exposed to analyzing or experiencing a situation from different points of view.

(3) The Pigman, Paul Zindel. I don’t know what led me to reading this, but I was young for it and it would be my first time encountering serious themes like loss and regret in literature. It was the first book that ever made my eyes leak. It’s the story of two teenagers who make a game of calling random numbers in the phone book, and then competing to see who can get people to talk the longest before hanging up: John and Lorraine (how do I remember those names?) accidentally befriend an old man, though, and things develop from there.

(4) The Art of Living, Sharon Lebell. During an emotionally rough time at college back in 2008, I read The Meditations and decided to begin reading the Stoics in general, beginning with this translation — or interpretation — of Epictetus’ Handbook. I can still remember being tucked into a corner of the library scribbling quotes from this into my journal/commonplace book at the time. I was surprised by how approachable Epicteus’ approach to life was.

True philosophy doesn’t involve exotic rituals, mysterious liturgy, or quaint beliefs. […] It is, of course, the love of wisdom. It is the art of living a good life. […] Philosophy is intended for everyone, and it is authentically practiced only by those who wed it with action in the world toward a better life for all.

(5) The Jungle, Upton Sinclair. I’d expected this to be an author tract, but was surprised by what was for the most part a compelling story with a sympathetic main character who — unfortunately — disappears in the last fifth by the tedious propaganda.

(6) The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand. I approached this with a similar attitude as The Jungle, expecting nothing in it but long speeches. I found this story of a man’s fight for individual integrity, especially artistic, to be fascinating, as were the architectural sidebars.

(7) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs. This book upended my political worldview before I was a third of the way in.

(8) The Music Shop, Rachel Joyce. I didn’t expect this to ignite a fiction-heavy 2024.

(9) Open Season, CJ Box. I obviously was not expecting this book to result in two entire months being hijacked by a game warden.

(10) Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity. This book included (among other things) the story of a scientist who was taught to paratroop drop so he could raid a German radar station.