Thanks for asking about James Jones

This morning there came a query from a reader in Chicopee, MA: "I looked through the Table of Contents and your blog, and was surprised there was no chapter or posting on "They're Sending The Old Man Home", with it's reference to "great books by James Jones"  Oversight or no room?"

That, as we say, is a damn good question, not to mention a query which deserved an answer. So, I stopped everything I was doing and pecked out a long explanation that I thought I would save in my "Sent Items" file and post here for your enlightenment.

Oops! Wonder where that "Sent Items" file exists, because my note back to the reader is nowhere to be found in my life.

So, the short explanation is that we ran out of time to include James Jones on this edition. With luck, we shall include him in THE OCCASIONAL MARGAREADER, Volume II.

But the long explanation was that the most famous work by James Jones is FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, about Pearl Harbor at the outset of America's involvement in World War II. Instead of using an excerpt from his award-winning writing, I went in search of a smaller piece that could be included in its entirety.

As the reader does note, James Jones is worthy of inclusion, and I think I will let this acknowledgement stand for the time being. I do promise, however, to post something more complete about James Jones within the week. After all, I need to get back to this project and to bring you up to date.