It is weird where hobby inspiration comes from. I get the itch to start a new hobby quite
easily. Often it is from talking to
people. When someone is passionate about
something, then you can't help but be intrigued. Often it is from television. Exposing the masses to something will
certainly catch some people's interest.
Most recently for me, it was from a book.
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| Looks pretty and organized. |
I started reading Lawrence Block's Hit Me on a
recommendation from a friend. He had
recommended another series by Block, but I couldn't find them in the library so
I settled on this one. The basic story
was that of a contract killer who loves..... wait for it...not alcohol. Not fast cars. Not loose women......stamps.
The character (his name is Keller) had such passion for
stamps. He also had a lot of knowledge
to impart on this impressionable reader.
He detailed the equipment and literature, as well as quite a lot of
historical information about stamps.
When I was young I shared a stamp collecting hobby until
that person took it over and became obsessed with it. I don't even know what became of it
afterward--probably someone benefited from it.
Either way, I do remember looking at the stamps and thinking of exotic
places. I loved the themes--trains,
cars, paintings, space travel, .... the ideas were endless. For some countries, it is really interesting
to see what they value enough to put on stamps.
Of course, for some countries, they are hoping other people from foreign
countries will value them enough to collect them--hence the Disney stamps
produced by some countries--I guess some country has already produced a Frozen
stamp. I wonder if that is a big part of
their GDP. (note...I checked, and yes, a stamp already exists)
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| I would love to have this one. |
As for the novel....I enjoyed its episodic nature and
reading about stamps. It was
entertaining and certainly made my commute more enjoyable.
