If This is Tuesday....

...it must be Tuesday Thinger Time!
And once again, I am forced to look into something on Library Thing that I am only vaguely aware of...legacy libraries.

So, today's question from The Boston Bibliophile. This week's question: Legacy libraries. With which legacy libraries do you share books? Tell us a little about a couple of them and what you share.

OK, it only took me about 15 minutes to figure out where the heck to fine the answer to this one. And I must say that I really admire the people who have compiled and continue to compile these libraries of the famous...and a number of people that I never heard of because I continue to discover how poorly read I really am. Now if you are not quite sure where to find this info on Library Thing, I will be kind and give you a link to the groups page. On there you will also find and interesting link to wiki page with a link to some very interesting proposed libraries. You can also go to your profile page, click on statitics, and then on the Legacy Libraries

But back to the question at hand. I clicked on them all, completed and incomplete, and what I found really interesting was the number with which I have no books in common. Since I have a number of books in my library that I think everyone with any claim to literacy should have, I think that a number of these famous dead people should be ashamed of themselves.

But there are two authors who stand out as sharing the most books with me. Or is that the other way around...yes, perhaps. The second is Ernest Hemingway, who I share 36 books with and the winner, Walker Percy, with whom I share 38 books. That seems like a lot. I must say it is a shame that they are both dead, because I could see Ernest and Walker and I maybe taking a boat down to the Keys and doing some fishing and talking about books. And since Walker was also trained as a doctor, it would be handy to have him in case I got a hook in my finger or something. Especially if we were flyfishing. Yes, salt water flyfishing. And maybe had a beer to two. Yes, that could be dangerous. But, back to the books....

The list of books that Mr. Percy and I share contains some of my very, very favorite books. The books I would take with me if I quick had to pick one box of books to take with me to a desert island...beside the survival guide that is.
And a knife. And a firestarter.
And a plastic tarp.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh..the book that caused me to join Library Thing.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder..I read it as a kid and it made a lasting impression on me...
Desert Calling by Anne Jackson Fremantle...another I read young that I will always remember.
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton...my favorite Merton and I am a great fan of Merton...until he went a wee bit nutty.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens..my favorite Dickens. What a great opening...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain...A rip roaring good story!

Well, it just goes on and on...all 36 books that Mr. Percy and I share are winners. Of course, I would have to include Mr. Percy's own Love in The Ruins, a very interesting and rather odd book.
I also discovered the excerpt from his 'self interview' on his profile page at Library Thing, "Questions They Never Asked Me". I found his answer on religious faith in the modern age excellent.

Q: How is such a belief possible in this day and age?
A: What else is there?
Q: What do you mean, what else is there? There is humanism, atheism, agnosticism, Marxism, behaviorism, materialism, Buddhism, Muhammadism, Sufism, astrology, occultism, theosophy.
A: That's what I mean.
Q: I don't understand. Would you exclude, for example, scientific humanism as a rational and honorable alternative?
A: Yes.
Q: Why?
A: It's not good enough.
Q: Why not?
A: This life is much too much trouble, far too strange, to arrive at the end of it and then to be asked what you make of it and have to answer "Scientific Humanism." That won't do. A poor show. Life is a mystery, love is a delight. Therefore I take it as axiomatic that one should settle for nothing less than the infinite mystery and the infinite delight, i.e. God. In fact, I demand it. I refuse to settle for anything less. I don't see why anyone should settle for less than Jacob, who actually grabbed aholt of God and wouldn't let go until God identified himself and blessed him.
Q: Grabbed aholt?
A: Louisiana expression.

Excellent...so Percy....lol