Bill Buckley on a scooter 1967

https://voxsartoria.com/

He wrote a lot of books, but I've only ever read one, Airborne: A Sentimental Journey. I was 16 I think, and my dad was upset that I never read any books that weren't adventure, sci fi, fantasy, or a mix of all of that.

I think it would rock his word to know I've read about 75 books of poetry, have about 50 more that I haven't gotten to yet, and plan to make one with just my favorites https://better-than-palgrave.blogspot.com/

Well, how can anyone find fault with a kid that read voraciously since 4th grade, not having any interest in non fiction in the 1980s? Divorced, out of your life parents find fault with most everything, as they simply have zero input, and get upset that you didn't evolve with their favorite hobbies, preferences, etc. They're even more ridiculous about anything that their ex did to carve you into whatever type of person you turn into. If you can't stay married until your kids are out of high school, don't get married, and don't have kids. It's a shit show being a kid of divorced bitter angry pissed off at each other parents.

How the fuck is a kid in the upper Peninsula of Michigan supposed to get good non-fiction in the first place?

Also, why read anything else?

Most importantly, whose fault was it? His. 2 reasons, one, my parents divorced when I was about 3. Exactly when, I've never known nor cared, but here this guy is who rarely ever came around, and did not do fatherly at all, giving me shit about being an enthusiastic fan about Tolkiens books. Yeah, the ones that Peter Jackson turned into billions of dollars worth of movie ticket sales. Those ones. I'm still irked that he was such a shit about my thinking the Hobbit was a fantastic book. It is. He simply couldn't stand that I was more interested in the Hobbit than Zane Grey books he grew up on, and he ranted about it.

Well... what the fuck? No one gave me a set of Zane Grey books, and I sure as fuck wasn't going to waste my lawn mowing money on anything that didn't show a hell of a lot of promise for being a thrilling book to read.

2nd reason it was his fault I didn't read anything else, he's the one that read me the Zorro story. Yeah, when I was 3 or so, and I loved it. So, don't get your nose out of joint about a topic that you introduce to someone because YOU like it, and then THEY like it, and it leads them through to Tarzan, Hardy Boys, Tolkien, Narnia, and Burroughs books of Mars and Venus.

Since I was a broke kid in a broke family, in the middle of nowhere (google map Sidnaw Michigan, see for yourself how god damn far from everything it is... like, how far from an interstate, a major city, or the Canadian border. Trust me, unless you're in Seattle, there ain't shit on the Canadian border but forest) and read all the fun stuff I could get from the school library. Tornado Jones even. Not that you'll have any idea of what those books were, but maybe you've heard of The Great Brain, or Encyclopedia Brown... good stuff. Anyway, I was never given many books ever, and I can count on one hand how many I ever got from adult relatives on birthdays or xmas. An uncle gave me Incredible Universe by Marion Zimmer Bradley, absolutely fantastic book, and my grandfather gave me Louis L'Amour's The Lonesome Gods. Why just that one book? Damned if I know. But Louis L'Amour's Sackett books became a favorite of mine too. Damn, those were some really good books. An aunt gave me a couple Hardy Boys books she found at a yard sale. Terrific books!

So anyway, my dad, on one rare occurrence when my mom was good and fed up with trying to raise a teen male, exactly like the ex that she was able to get the fuck rid of, and sent me to live with him in hopes that it would stick and she'e be rid of me - gave me the William F Buckley book - Airborne: A Sentimental Journey. What amount of pretentiousness you need, to be known by the full first name, middle initial, and Jr, I don't know. Maybe it's a curse famous people can't shed due to newspaper writers having some fucking ridiculous code of how to "properly" write for a newspaper.

Oh, and how weird is this, now book companies as me to do book reviews on car books. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/book%20review

I've written around 43,000 posts. Write the way you talk, it's how everyone else reads anyway,  and avoid the latin phrases.

So anyway, that was a good book, parents who aren't progressively trying to make a great person out of their kid, every damn day, are simply creating people that are going to have tough row ahead of them trying to adapt to this planet without the 18 years of "parenting" that would give them a distinct fucking advantage (like give a kid a guitar, and lessons, and they'll have it fucking made with getting girlfriends! Just my viewpoint) in succeeding in this life.

Why did I type all this out? Because this IS a blog. And, I can recommend that book to teens. I doubt girls will give it more than a couple pages though, There is damn little they'll find they have in common will Bill fucking Buckley Jr unless they love sailing on the ocean. I didn't have shit in common with him either, but I did join the Navy, and spent a decade living the life of a sailor, in title only, but I also qualified as a quartermaster by learning a shit ton about navigation. Think I'm wrong, just try and fucking qualify to stand QMOW on a sub.