By Laura Schmiedicke & Suzann Holland

Monroe Public Library

For this month’s column, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ron Spielman. Ron is a retired attorney, special projects advisor for Monroe Clinic and a prolific volunteer in our community.

Can you tell us what you’re reading right now?

I brought a number of books that I’m reading now, as I’m an eclectic reader. I’m all over the board and at my age, my eyesight, my attention span, I tend to pick up things that I like and read portions of them. My wife Jennifer and I went to Shiloh in April for two days, and I dug into enough of “Grant” by Ron Chernow to read the portion that was applicable to Shiloh. I haven’t read the rest of the book and it’s unlikely any time in the near term that I’ll wade through it. The book was a gift, as at least half the books I own are. I have a keen interest in history, the Civil War and local history. My wife and I have a second home in Galena, and you can’t go to Galena without knowing about Grant and the “nine generals.” 

I’m also reading books from Wisconsin authors. August Derleth from Sauk City is a favorite. He had his own publishing company, Arkham House. He wrote “Wisconsin: River of a Thousand Isles” as part of a public works project, and it’s factual. Taking that same information, some of the same information that’s in there among the other books that he wrote was, “House on the Mound,” which is the Villa Louis at Prairie du Chien. He tells you a lot about Hercules Dousman traveling to Madison and being very involved in Wisconsin, but then he also had some tales that are telling whether they ever really occurred or not, I pick the Derleth book because I like it. I have a shelf of Derleth books, as does Martha Bernet. She’s a collector of Derleth books. 

I’m also reading Harry Lathrop’s “Memories of the Wisconsin and Other Poems,” Jerry Apps’ “Whispers and Shadows” — I like Jerry because you can read him in chunks — and Dick Purinton’s “Words on Water II: An Island Journal.” Purinton spent his career running the Washington Island ferry line. 

Is there a particular book that you’ve read in your life that inspires you?

I do a lot of leadership reading, part of my work at Monroe Clinic. I’m on a ton of committees, and I’m part of the curriculum committee for Green County Leaders, have been, and so we’re always looking for leadership techniques, leadership discussions. And again, as a gift, I was given, “Who Do We Choose To Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity” by Margaret Wheatley. Wheatley is a prolific author also. She wrote a book a called “Perseverance.” That’s one of my mainstay words these days — it’s not how big of a flash you are, it’s a matter of if you’re going to get the job done. You stay with it. And so, Wheatley has a lot of yellow sticky notes, because they’re things that I found that I think are applicable to Green County Leaders, or they just struck a chord to me, and I have a bookmark in the chapter called “The Rise of Celebrity Culture.” The Kardashians come to mind when I read that. Wheatley is a thought-provoking and thought-sharing kind of author.

Do you tend to gravitate toward non-fiction or do you also like fiction, too?

Virtually, except that the historical fiction with Derleth. It’s got to be something that really connects with me anyway. Now, otherwise, my wife devours Hillerman and a variety of mystery novels and loves them. I just can’t get into it.

Did you read a lot when you were younger?

Earlier in my life is interesting, because in the second grade, my parents and I were called in by the teacher, and I was sent home with a whole arm load of books, as I was a poor reader. And thinking back, it may have been the same focus issues that I deal with now. 

Getting through 600 pages is tough, even with being interested in the reading. I have several of Derleth’s children’s books, and I think of what a mind he must have had in order to jump from being historically accurate and correct, to introducing his own piece of fabric to it, to then jumping and creating children’s works.

If you could be a character in a book, who would you be?

Oh, thinking about history and Lincoln, I think if I could have been a cabinet member at the time of the “Team of Rivals,” to be able to observe politics and the maneuvering, I think that would be interesting. You know, I’ve always said that when I read the books on Grant, and Lee, and Gettysburg, that I would have loved to have been at Gettysburg on the day of Pickett’s charge in the evening. Grant wasn’t there because he was taking over Vicksburg, but to be able to visit a Union campfire, and a Confederate campfire, and see how their day would have been. That doesn’t give you a character, but it kind of puts me in a time that I would have found fascinating.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take one book, what would that book be?

I’d probably take one of the Brian Andreas books, just because every day I could have another hoot, and he might give me some philosophy to bear with. You’d think I take Chernow’s “Grant,” because it’ll take me six months to read it.

— Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published monthly in the Times.