I'm not exactly sure when she owned it, but the date on the first page is 1923, and inside the front cover is written in her own handwriting:
Miss Viola Lempke
Technical High School
Buffalo, N.Y.
I've been reading Ulysses this week for Banned Books Week and since it echoes Homer's Odyssey, I've been thinking about this book. I do plan on reading Odyssey as well, but in a slightly different way than my great-aunt read it.
In case you've been wondering why I haven't been around, it's because I bought a Kindle a few weeks ago and have been madly in love ever since. (My husband approves. I have enough love for both of them.) Nothing will ever replace a "real" book, the feel of the pages, that old-book smell - but there's something to be said for being able to carry around your ENTIRE library in your pocket. And not having to get out of bed to fetch another book to read. And having access to thousands of free books, right from your couch. And... okay, I'll stop now.
Most of the treasures I have are because of my Auntie Vi (as we always called her). She kept everything. Because of her, I have books, photographs, scraps of papers with names and dates, funeral cards, funeral books, obituaries, old letters (English and German), bibles, and so much more. Long after her death, she is still helping me fill in the blanks on that branch of the family tree.
