Old Friday Night Bleacher Reads and Their Unintentional Souvenirs – Daily Quote

/ JoHawkTheWriter
growing-up-in-san-antonio-i-was-the-dork-at-the-friday-night-football-games-with-my-head-buried-in-a-book-jack-kerouac-or-oscar-wilde-years-before-i-really-understood-them.-amy-chozick

While I didn’t grow up in San Antonio, I spent most Friday nights at high school football games. Tucked into my jacket, I kept a paperback handy for the boring parts, otherwise known as all the parts except halftime. Our team was not very good because I recall starting and finishing plenty of volumes while they competed.

Kerouac and Wilde weren’t on my list, but I remember many stories as being bleacher reads. They still evoke the aroma of fall leaves and bonfires. Touring my bookcase, I pulled titles with an indelible link to the gridiron. To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, 1984, The Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, Heart of Darkness, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s remind me of homecoming games and referee whistles. A few stories create a visceral reaction, including the Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein, and Macbeth, which I read around Halloween. Who needs scary movies when you have diabolical books, read outside where real shadows creep just below your feet?

Then there is my all-time favorite, Fahrenheit 451. Besides being assigned reading, the teachers treated us to the 1966 film adaptation. They remade the movie a couple of years ago, and I have yet to see it. I enjoyed the old François Truffaut movie and loved the final scene with the book people reciting their memorized novels. Somehow, I don’t want to disturb the poignant ending.

Do some books conjure the place and time when you first met them?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

11 thoughts on “Old Friday Night Bleacher Reads and Their Unintentional Souvenirs – Daily Quote”

  2. This is so great and I wish I had been that curious and studious back then. Instead I was on the field calling out the wrong offense cheers when it was a defence play… soooo embarrassing. It served me well since my arms always flailed as my bff in high school would say (she wrote a poem with those words about me) and I ended up in the world of health and fitness so it is all good. As I remember back I well up with tears when I remember her as she died the right before xmas before her 60th birthday.. She never wanted to get old or be 60. Sorry to take this off topic but thanks for the memories. I miss her. Those books are such classics and I think took your right where you need to be. ❤️ Cindy

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    • Thank you for sharing such a heartfelt story, Cindy. Your friend sounds like a lovely person, and your words tell me how much she meant to you. I am glad to have stirred some fun and poignant memories. Really good memories have a way of doing that, don’t they? 💕💗💕

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  4. books are awesome where wold I be without them! I read a lot in my teens, and still today if I read any of the books I read as a teen, the memories flood back to me of that time in my life. Xxxbooks are awesome. they can conjure up so many wonderful memories! Xxx

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