Virgie Bell's View: History

Well Anna Nicole is still at the top of the news along with Britney Spears. Britney begs for privacy while in rehab. She shaves her head in public and she wants privacy ... get real! I will not be sending in a bid to get her cut off hair where starting price is reported to be in the vicinity of a million dollars. Does anyone buy that perfume that is named for her? If so, poor you, but Kayla was absolutely smitten with Britney at one time. I think she may have gotten over this. Kayla gave me a Britney Spear’s Valentine years ago. I didn't even know who she was and when I finally did catch her on TV, she was wrapping an albino Python around her neck. I decided then that she was loco and nothing I've read of her ever changed that opinion.

As I reported before, I’ve been reading Winds of War. No one will ever know how grateful I am that God made me a reader. I can never tell you how much I enjoy Hermon Wouk's writing. I see that the end is near on this pleasure because I am just about through with his war stories. If you enjoy reading, this is a series you will love. I have read every book I could lay my hands on concerning World War II, and I can tell you the historical setting and the geographical descriptions are dead on.

I know that some people do not read fiction, but I enjoy it. MarilynVos Savant (with the highest IQ in the world) said that fiction writers have to know a little more than non fiction writers and I find it to be true. I was telling our editor yesterday that she could take this period in history and add just our family to it, throw in current news and entertainment, and with this, and we could write a novel. At any rate, here is a free tip from a proud mother of a great writer: If you read and do want some great material, then I can't endorse anyone more than her Hermon Wouk.

Here is the order that his books go in. First read , Margorie Morningstar, then Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Finish with The Caine Mutiny. He has also written The Glory and The Hope, which I know would fit in the same time period. Be warned that the only bad part of reading his works is that you get through much too quickly and find yourself back to reading the same old same old. I do enjoy other writers, but nonetheless, I recognize the difference. I try to stick with mysteries because a least there is a new story line. I love a historical and geographical accurate setting as well as the local color for that time that a novel is written. History is, after all, only the writer's interpretation of the time.

If you go to museums, you see that history is written in blood and preserved in weaponry. I didn't realize this until a couple of years ago. Santa Fe, NM is one of the oldest cities in the west. The Palace of the Governors is one of the oldest buildings and it has walls in excess of three feet thick. It is a collection of military equipment and uniforms. That is our history when you think of it. My history starts with being a slave in Egypt and my cry reaching the ears of God and the wandering around in the desert for forty years in the desert. Did you know that the desert was named Sin? And I am still wandering the same desert. I expect manna to rain down on my face anyday. Manna means "what is it" in the Hebrew language. My first choice in reading is usually the Holy Bible. Unlike Hermon Wouk, you will never get through with it. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!